09
Mar
Facebook Marketing for Bands
The path of the musician has become easier in the modern age, with online resources allowing musicians to get their music to the masses quicker than ever before. While persistence, dedication, and actually having good music all play a major role, there’s an additional factor that’s even more critical: you have to approach marketing correctly.
One of the major things to keep in mind is that MySpace is no longer the musical mecca that it once was. While still an excellent resource to check out established bands, much of the MySpace flock has moved over to Facebook. Facebook has some major advantages, such as the ability to quickly sell band merchandise and music through the ReverbNation Store, the opportunity to set up events, live music players and a veritable mosh pit of other useful band applications synced with Facebook.
One of the most common mistakes bands make on Facebook is setting up a “Group” or a “Profile” instead of a “Page.” What’s the difference? While you’ll have to manually go in to manage permissions, add friends, or otherwise interact with people from a “Profile” or “Group” page, an actual “Page” is designed to allow for the fastest possible spread of your band. Beyond allowing people to “like” your page without you giving them permission to do so, Pages have integrated advertising options, are displayed or suggested to users more frequently, and give some major revenue opportunities.
One of the most important and difficult parts of getting exposure is selling merchandise. Selling music, t-shirts, and other gear will help spread word about your music, and it generates the cash you need for simple things like gas for the band vehicle or recording fees, etc.
Now that you’ve set up a page and populated it with some basic content, you’ll need to actually bring people there to see it. As always, one of the best approaches is “word of mouth.” Word of mouth can be done online. As always, start by spreading words to friends, existing fans, family members, and anyone else in your social network. From there, begin including your Facebook info in your other materials, including:
