Forming a band is an exciting time in many musicians’ lives. It is a chance for similarly like-minded and goal-oriented musicians to come together and form something magical. The combination of a number of different artists’ perspectives, talents, and creative minds is what makes a band so special.
However, regardless of how exciting the moment may be, there is also a hint of apprehension that comes with forming a band. You are oftentimes unaware of the image you would like to form as a band, the sound you are going after, or how to reach your desired target audience.
You and your band members may be at a loss as to how to gain recognition among the music scene in these previously listed areas. This is where the concept of promotion and marketing can greatly help you when forming your new band.
Additionally, not only is promotion important in the start of a band’s career, it is also important to continuously elevate your promotion over the years in order to stay relevant. You may be wondering: Where do I even begin in promoting my band? If this sounds like you, don’t worry!
In order to answer this question, and several others, let’s discuss some of our top marketing strategies regarding how to promote your band.
One of the best, and simplest, ways to promote your band nowadays is through the several social media platforms available online. Millions of individuals around the world use social media. Because of this, social media platforms are the most effective way to reach a multitude of people, including your target audience.
Some of the best social media platforms for promoting your band include:
The first step in promoting your band on social media is to decide which social media platforms to use, and then set up accounts on those specific platforms.
When setting up your account, make sure to create a username that is both relevant and memorable. Avoid pointless numbers and letters, and rather utilize underscores and periods in order to create a unique username that has not been taken.
This is extremely important in terms of band promotion because if you have a relevant and memorable username, it promotes name recognition of your band.
One of the biggest social media tools for band promotion revolves around hash tagging posts. Hashtags allow you to categorize your post underneath a phrase that people can then use to find your content.
For example, let’s say you hashtag your post as: #PopMusic. Someone that is looking for pop music posts may decide to scroll through that hashtag, and therefore may happen to come across your post.
If they like what they see, they may decide to follow your band’s account and keep up with your content. This method is a great way to form fans of your band.
Live Streams, available on platforms such as Instagram, Tik Tok, and Facebook, are another useful social media tool at your disposal. You can host livestreams on your account in order to play your band’s new or existing music. This essentially can become a way to host virtual concerts.
Live Streams are a great way to promote your band among your existing followers and fans. They can help you form a deeper relationship with fans, interact live with fan comments, and even give you a chance to invite fans to partake in the livestream.
When promoting your band on social media, one of the most important things you can do in order to generate web traffic is to follow an established aesthetic or theme. The first step in this is establishing what you would like your band’s image to be.
Once you decide this, you can base your aesthetic around this image. It is important to keep your aesthetic consistent across all your social media accounts. Additionally, make sure to use similar colors, post types, and photos to create your aesthetic.
Doing so provides a consistent theme that will attract your target audience to your social media pages.
Another great way to promote your band is to form a website where fans and newcomers alike can go to obtain information. Websites are important to a band’s promotion because they can show up in search engine results, can be linked to in social media bios, and can easily be shared to others over text.
Essentially, websites provide a central information hub for your band. Your website should be user-friendly, neat, and have a mobile-version in order to increase search engine optimization. Additionally, some things you can include on your website in order to promote your band include:
Another band promotional tool is to create a brand that is easily recognizable and distinguishable. This is similar to creating an aesthetic in your social media pages. In fact, your brand’s band often informs the aesthetic you construct.
Things that help shape your brand’s band include your sound, band logo/symbolism, outfits, social media aesthetic, album covers, etc. When forming your band’s brand, it is important to remain consistent. That does not mean that your brand can’t ever change, it simply means that there must be enough consistency in order for your band to form an identity and fanbase.
For instance, many music artists change their brand several times throughout their career and label the different brands as “eras.” This allows them to establish an identity in each era, while the change in brands allows them to stay relevant in the constantly evolving music scene.
To learn more about brand and marketing strategies regarding music, check out these music marketing books!
Uploading your music to Spotify allows you to promote your band’s music across the popular streaming platform. To do so you must first register for a Spotify for Artists account in order ro upload your band’s music on Spotify.
Once this is done, you can begin sharing links to your spotify account, creating playlists that contain your music, and continuously update your spotify discography whenever you release new music.
Word of mouth advertisement is a simple and often overlooked form of promotion for your band. In order to create enough buzz around your band to generate word of mouth promotion, you can post to your social media accounts regarding an exciting announcement that is to be released in a few days time.
Additionally, you can ask your friends to participate in this word of mouth advertising in order to have someone who is personally informed spread information about the band.
Collaborating with other bands is a great band promotional strategy. Partnering with bands can allow you to grow your current fan base by introducing your music to the other band’s fans, and vice versa.
Band collaboration can take the form of joint concerts, songs featuring both bands, and social media interaction.
Another way to promote your band is to perform at live events such as concert venues, restaurants, fairs, etc. Doing so allows you to establish new fans and retain existing ones. Hearing live music is often much more effective than recorded music, therefore live performances are essential to a band’s success.
You can also advertise your live performances on social media, your band’s website, flyers, etc, in order to create even greater promotion.
Promotional tools are a great way to establish your band, grow your band’s reach, and actively receive feedback from your fans. Now that we’ve talked about a multitude of ways you can promote your band, it is time you put some of these strategies in action!