Outside of the Facebook ecosystem — Twitter is the best place for artists, musicians and content creators to create value. The social media platform is all about creating conversations and developing deep connections with fans through one-to-one communication.
Twitter allows its users to tweet videos, create polls and feature Group Direct Messages, etc. This allows content creators using the social media platform as a marketing medium to engage with traditional media outlets, label executives and music fans turned tastemakers.
Twitter provides content creators with the opportunity to communicate in real-time. Over the years this has created a gateway for artists, musicians and content creators to build a fan base without the use of traditional marketing.
Twitter allows its users to create value through the organization of information through Twitter lists, Advanced Search and hashtags. The platform has also become a way to for musicians to reach concert goers while artists perform in their city.
Using artist associated hashtags allows fans to follow live events and performances.
Some great examples of already established Twitter fan bases are:
- #BeyHive — Beyoncé
- #BTSArmy — Bangtan Boys
- #Beliebers — Justin Bieber
- #Arianators — Ariana Grande
- #LittleMonsters — Lady Gaga
- #Smilers — Miley Cyrus
- #Sheerios — Ed Sheeran
- #Selenanators — Selena Gomez
The use of hashtags is a great way for artists to study fan bases of artists or similar genres. Brand associations on Twitter have become a mainstay for the platform through Retweets, Mentions and Likes.
The real power is that artists, musicians and content creators can now update the appropriate parties with a single tweet. Given it be a previewing unreleased music, tour updates or presenting new merchandise.
Now, lets deep dive into 20 facts that make Twitter a go-to for artists, musicians and content creators.
Facts About Twitter
- Twitter has 145 million monetizable daily active users.
- 30 million (or 20%) of Twitter’s daily users are American.
- 92% of the U.S. population is familiar with Twitter (even if they don’t use it).
- 22% of adults in the U.S. use Twitter.
- 44% of U.S. 18- to 24-year-olds use Twitter.
- U.S.-based Twitter users are younger, have more education, and more income than the general U.S. population.
- The most active U.S. Twitter users have 20x as many followers, on average.
- 12% of Americans get their news from Twitter (71% of Americans on Twitter are using it to read news.).
- Twitter’s site referral traffic is up 6%, year-over-year (Instagram: 56%, Facebook: 29%, YouTube: 22%).
- Twitter users are more likely to like brands that are inclusive and transparent.
- Twitter ad engagement is up 23%.
- Twitter ads with video are 50% cheaper in cost-per-engagement.
- Twitter users spend 26% more time with ads than other social media users.
- Twitter users spend 24% more time with ads posted by ‘creators’.
- 25% of Twitter’s most prolific users use scheduling software.
- Tweets with hashtags gets 100% more engagement.
- People watch 2 billion videos on Twitter per day.
- Watching video is the #3 reason people use Twitter.
- Tweets with video get 10x the engagement.
- 93% of video views on Twitter happen on mobile.
5 Reasons To Use Twitter — DEEP DIVE
1. Easy To Communicate With People
Twitter is fairly simple to use. If you’re wondering what you could post on your profile feel free to visit some similar accounts to do some research on content strategy and how other artists approach Twitter.
Below Are Some Ideas To Explore:
- Entertaining, striking or eye-opening pictures.
- Concert or tour announcements etc.
- Spontaneous life or industry insider tweets.
- New music announcements, unreleased music previews etc.
- ‘Retweet with a comment’ follower questions with valuable answers.
- Retweet follower’s tweets that you’re mentioned in.
- Show support for other artists and music professionals.
- Tweet videos of new music you are working on, preview new sounds, etc.
Engaging on Twitter is a great way to grab a follower’s attention. I would suggest liking comments and retweeting to let followers see that you’re active and involved. This is a great growth strategy if you’re a rising artist and haven’t built a full-fledge fan base.
RELATED: 3 Growth Strategies To Build A Fan Base
A great way to gain followers is to reply and comment on topics to cultivate a community of like-minded individuals. This is essential when growing a Twitter fan base and engaging with fans is a great way to experiment with content to see what works.
Utilizing ‘pinned tweets’ is a good way to showcase what you’re currently working on or presenting in a new video. Most artists use ‘pinned tweets’ to showcase their tour schedule or promote new merchandise that has been recently released.
‘Pinned tweets’ aren’t a permanent placement so be sure to change it up when necessary!
2. Direct Messages (DMs) Allows For More Opportunities And Creative Collaboration
Twitter is a great way to network with fellow creators and industry regulars. The Direct Messaging feature is a great way to contact fellow creatives privately. The DMs allow you to bypass emails, texts and tweets to go directly to the source.
DMs can be used as a way to gather research, get advice and even show your followers appreciation for their support. Thanking fans is great way to show appreciation and build your Twitter fan base. DMs are great way to add a personable touch when like or replying isn’t enough.
Direct Messages are more static as well. In comparison to replying to a tweet that might get lost in a timeline. Directing Messaging also increases your chances of a reply. Twitter’s Direct Messaging feature is a great way to take advantage of potential networking opportunities.
3. Retweets = Boost In Engagement, Reach And MORE FOLLOWERS
Retweets are viewed as Twitter gold. When you’re active on Twitter, retweets can bring in a good amount of traffic to your tweets and profile. For artists, musicians and content creators — Retweets and likes from different artists can be pre-arranged, spontaneous and even better (a given).
By supporting other content creators and being active on Twitter, you will naturally gain a good number of followers from your engagements with other users. This can grab the attention of bigger artists too. Support from other artists can garner more support on a larger scale.
4. A Straightforward Way To Interact With Fans And Followers
Twitter recently acquired Tweetdeck. It is a platform that is essential for most content creators. Tweetdeck allows you to organize multiple feeds by columns. It creates efficiency by allowing you to view multiple lists at one time. Tweetdeck is another facet of Twitter creating value around the organization of information.
Tweetdeck as a tool is critical when you have built a following and you need to reply and engage with your community. This can be difficult to execute if you’re just utilizing the Twitter app or desktop site.
Be sure to choose a tool or platform that will help you focus on your business goals and objectives that you have set up for your supporting team.
If you’re focusing on growing your account, networking and messaging multiple parties or managing different situations. Tweetdeck gives you the opportunity to view lists, tweets and retweets from followers and future collaborators.
For example, you can create following Twitter lists:
- Content Creators & Music Blogs
- Magazine & Blog Writers
- Fellow Artists, Videographers & Music Producers
- Local Rising Artists.
- Music Professionals (DJ, Promoters, Managers & Engineers)
- Top Followers & Fans
Keep in mind that these are ‘deliberately’ chosen individuals that you should target, engage and follow. Who you target depends on your career path and where you want to take your content. You can start local or national and continue to build an international network that will help you execute your desired goals and objectives in the future.
Content creators and music blogs can help you grow your fan base and expand your reach. These are long-term relationships that should be nourished. Always leave a comment and support their movements (Likes & Retweets).
Magazine and blog writers are fellow content creators. Be sure to network and develop relationships. Their success is your success. Always get to know writers, they distribute different content formats outside of audio and video. They can also provide you a familiar face when you’re visiting a new city or town on tour.
Fellow artists, videographers and music producers are like your co-workers. Even though they may live in different cities or states, the Internet has knocked down all borders. The benefit is that we are all a part of same industry.
Their content format is audio and video. So there’s definitely an opportunity for brand association. So always offer support to help grow the overall community.
Networking with local rising artists is great way to give back and build support among the individuals in your city or town. This could be applied to regional cities as well, breaking down barriers is a great way to drive creativity. Drake uses this tactic often to tap into what’s hot and also give a co-sign to artists on the come up.
“I fight to promote the music that I love.”
— Drake
Music professionals such managers, engineers and booking agents are also a great way to build your following up on Twitter.
These interactions and engagements are what help content creators grow a fan base. Twitter is all about making deep connections and creating conversations. These relationships will help you get booked for shows, secure features and work with content creators in general.
So always keep a good energy and never burn your bridges.
Interacting with your “Top Followers and Fans” is a great way to engage with your fan base on Twitter. They spread your content and make great recommendations when potentials fans are considering supporting your content.
Be sure to let them know that they the love is always appreciated and you are grateful for their continued support.
5. A Practical Advertising Platform, Equipped With Re-targeting
Twitter’s advertising features have developed into an essential aspect of social media marketing strategy. It is simple and you can re-target followers who have engaged with your content through retweets, likes or comments. This is efficient because it allows you to reach those users directly when you have a new song, video or plan to go on tour.
Twitter advertising platform also allows users to create ‘look-a-like’ audiences of artists that are in the same genre as you and target that specific audience.
I would suggest posting organic content first to see what works and what speaks to your current audiences. Then dissect that data to create a more focused Twitter Ad campaign.
Extra: Setup Lists and Follow Hashtags
Twitter’s is the perfect place to create conversations and engage with users who support your content. Twitter has continued to improve user experience by improving features such as Twitter Lists and Hashtags.
One of the knocks on Twitter is that it used to be hard to follow. Now artists, musicians and content creators can organize the information surrounding their associated industries fairly easy.
Overtime, the Twitter UX team has addressed these issues by making the Twitter experience more enticing for the casual user.
It used to be that if you weren’t on Twitter and someone tweeted something of relevance you wouldn’t see it until you access the app later. Then you would have to search for the user’s Twitter profile or scrolled through your timeline.
The overall idea of Twitter is that you are online with other people at the same time (in real-time). Naturally, you won’t be able to see what everyone is tweeting at a given moment. This is why Twitter lists and hashtags for associated brands are key to the flow of communication.
Twitter is essentially a giant public chat room for all to see. This includes anyone who Google your or your content.
RELATED: How to Use Twitter to Influence Google Search Results
Twitter also provides a setting for you to filter your timeline by ‘Latest tweets’ or ‘Top tweets’. The ‘Latest tweets’ setting will display real-time tweets and the ‘Top tweets’ setting will display tweets from the accounts that you interact with the most.
This timeline setting can be switched back and forth, so you can stay up to date with everything that is happening while you’re not on Twitter.
In addition to using these tactics, here are some tips to help make your Twitter experience more efficient.
- You can go directly to the page of the person you want to follow and see what they’ve tweeted or ‘set up alerts’ to get a notification every time they tweet.
- Search for the hashtags of the event or conversation you want to join. Then select the “Live” tab to see ‘real-time tweets’ that are apart of the larger conversation.
- Turn on your push notifications. Download the mobile app on your phone so you can get push notifications, such as ‘Popular Tweets’, Network activity and related news when it breaks. This is a great feature when you are trying to keep an eye on certain topics or content creators and can’t be online at every second.
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