Hello you beautiful musician, and welcome back to another blog.
This blog is going to be all about music marketing, because let's face it... it's mandatory.
I know you have heard that, and I've said it multiple times, but now it's time to implement it, because even music's biggest and brightest stars are doing it, despite already having a presence worldwide.
Don't believe me?
Well let's take a look at what Ed Sheeran is doing...
At the time of writing this blog (October 17th, 2022), Ed Sheeran has the most monthly followers on Spotify (78,000,000+).
In addition to that, he has about 100,000,000 followers across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.
And guess what?
He is currently running over 150 Facebook ads (at the same time). You heard that right 150. You can see some below:
Okay so why would global superstar Ed Sheeran need to run over 150 ads at the same time? Well... because he can, but also, because they work!
Let me just address the elephant in the room, which is that Ed Sheeran is not personally running those ads. His team is, which probably consists of 10-20 marketers.
Moreover, Ed Sheeran is a major label artist, meaning he has a major label budget behind him.
I understand you're most likely not in a position to have a team of 10-20 people promote your music, along with having a budget to run 150 ads, let alone at once.
But that's okay! I mean seriously... no one has that budget or ability to bring on that many people unless you're, well... Ed Sheeran, or another major label artist.
BUT luckily for you, you can learn EXACTLY what Ed and other superstars are doing with Facebook Ad Library so that you can use their practices and apply them to your music.
What I would like you to do is for you to look at what ads an artist that may have a similar audience as yourself is running. Again, you can do this on Facebook Ad Library.
Take notes on: 1) Where are they directing traffic to?
Is it their website? If so, what is the first thing you see? Is it a newsletter sign in form? Is it promoting their tour or new release? Is it asking you to buy an album or merchandise?
Is it to a ticket sales website? Is there an offer (ie. 20% off)? Is there urgency (ie. only 3 tickets left)? Is there FOMO (ie. Don't miss my biggest and best concert ever).
2) What is the message they are using in the ad?
Is it direct? Does it invoke emotion? Hope? Fear? Is it humourous?
3) What is the offer?
Is it to buy a ticket? Is it to leave a comment? Is it to visit a website?
4) What is the ad type?
Is it a video ad? A carousel? An image?
Take note of it all, because it's working for Ed, well, most likely. Have I seen the return on investment (ROI)? No. Have I seen the return on ad spend (ROAS)? no.
But what I do see is Ed selling out stadiums worldwide.
Okay, now that we know the importance of marketing, and that literally every major label artist is doing it, let's get into specifics.
If you run Facebook ads, (or other social media ads) without knowing what you're really doing, it will not work. You will lose money. That is just the reality.
It's not as easy as inputting a target market, uploading a creative to use as an ad and then selecting a budget.
Let me rephrase that. It is that easy to get started, (because social media platforms make money from people running ads, so they want to make it as easy as possible), but it's much harder to run profitable campaigns.
So before you even think about running a campaign, I want to provide a disclaimer, which is... to run successful social media ads, you need a plan.
Switching that plan up every campaign is not what is going to provide you the best results.
And deciding on a plan is not as easy as picking one at random and going through with it. Your plan will be decided by your goal, message and target audience.
Let's break it down.
What is your goal?
For example, if you want purchases for your album, selecting "sales" on Facebook would at first seem like the best choice, but the truth is... that really only works when you have previous sales.
This is because Facebook needs to have an idea on who is most likely to make a purchase.
Without that, Facebook will show your ad to all types of people and see who buys. From that, they will then find similarities between people who buy and target them more and more.
It all sounds great, but that requires quite a large budget.
It may be best to run a leads campaign, but that all depends on your audience size and also message.
What is your message?
I was helping an artist last week who had a great story, and great message, but was not gaining as much traction as they were hoping for on social media.
After analyzing their approach, in my opinion, how they were presenting their story and how they want to present it going forward was not a fit for Instagram.
Instead, building an email list and sharing the message that way could be more beneficial. If that is the same for yourself, then when you decide to run social media ads, rather than going for views, or link clicks or purchases, you would select leads.
This way you can build up your email list, and then sell your album (or anything else) to them at a later date, while also providing them your message in a way that is more suitable.
In other words, forget everything you've heard about which platform is best. It varies based off your message, so first take a step back.
Is your message something that can easily be digested? Is it something that will be presented in a shareable way? If so, maybe TikTok or Instagram is a good platform for you.
Or is your message more in depth and requires thought? If so, an email list may be the best way for you to present and "distribute" it.
Who is your target audience?
It's no secret that Facebook, TikTok & Instagram have billions of users between them, and as a result, we often get so caught up in using such platforms to find our target audience, but in reality... your target audience might be more prevalent somewhere else.
Do they check their emails more than they're on Facebook? Do they watch YouTube videos more than they scroll on TikTok? Do they listen to the radio more than they watch TV?
Whatever it is, you have to know where your target market is most likely to be.
I don't want to dive too deep into all the intricacies however, because every artist is different. Instead, the goal of this blog was to let you know that marketing is not just important when starting out.
It is going to be a constant throughout your music career, and so whether you decide to do it yourself, or have someone else handle it, it is critical to the success of your music career. If you're not sure where to start, check out our marketing plan here, or if you do not have the time to market your music yourself, and want it handled for you, feel free to contact us here.
Take care, and keep making music : )
Mack B. Founder of Musician Guidance
"The guy in the hat"
Big time music lover, below average golfer