by Alissa Ordabai
– Sr. Columnist —
Social media remains one of the most confusing career development topics for musicians. How do you establish and maintain a presence in an environment that is fickle, constantly changing, and impossible to predict? Not only artists, but managers too see social media as a Trickster’s game: a playfield which disrupts its own rules and then re-establishes them on a new basis. One moment the entire Facebook is worshipping a new starlet, and the next it mocks the TV talent show which produced her.
It helps to remember that the basic tenet of all social media — its raison d’etre, if you like — is amusement, and it will pursue amusement relentlessly, at anyone’s expense. But this hunger for pleasurable distractions can also be used to an artist’s advantage, if handled well, even though the terrain will always remain precarious. Play it safe, and you will be deemed boring (a social media kiss of death); play it risky, and things can get dangerous.
Managers and PR agents advise their clients to post regularly, but not too often, to share, but not to over-share, to talk about interesting subjects, but nothing divisive. Does all this sound like one big contradiction? You bet.
Surprisingly, there is a lot musicians — irrespective of their genre — can learn from old-school rock stars, some of whom have developed huge social media following by sticking to their gut instincts and writing about subjects that genuinely interest them. After all, it’s individuality that makes people interesting, and not PR gimmicks that all people always instinctively recognize for what they are.
Here I have selected five rock stars whose social media presence recruits new followers every day and who can teach us all a lesson or two on social media interactions.
1. Nikki Sixx. Motley Crue mainman uses current events to start conversations with fans. A particular knack for tying personal stories to global issues makes Sixx’s Facebook page a magnet not only for his die-hard fans, but also for a wider range of music lovers and industry professionals.
Sixx has some amazing personal stories to share, but also shows genuine curiosity about his fans’ opinions. Here is an excerpt from his recent post that received over 10,000 comments on Facebook: “I just read in the news recently twenty-four people died on a Friday night alone in Akron, Ohio from heroin overdoses. And a lot of the heroin is mixed with fentanyl. That’s what Prince died from. And carfentanil is like an elephant tranquilizer, for large animals, and 40 percent of Ohio’s overdoses is attributed to this.”
Sixx knows that if you make yourself the only subject of your posts, then no matter how popular you are, this won’t give a lot of opportunities to fans to contribute and to share their stories. By writing about a topical issue everyone can relate to, he starts a meaningful dialogue with fans and makes them want to come back to his page again and again.
2. Slash. The guitar legend posts shock art followers share instantly across the net. Stills from vintage horror films, photography, digital art — and always with a disturbing edge — attract thousands of comments and shares. This image Slash recently posted got 22,000 “likes” and 3,000 shares on Facebook. Shocking people out of their usual ways of seeing things works not only for his music, but for his approach to social media.
3. Dee Snider. The singer’s surname is not only synonymous with his band Twisted Sister, but also gives a good indication of the man’s character. His sarcasm-filled humor and plainspoken intelligence fit in perfectly with social media’s combative edge. “Ringo is going to tour as the Beatles!” he twittered after a certain classic-rock-era drummer announced a solo tour sans his bandmates but under the band’s name. The quip went viral within just a few hours. Not only a musician, but a social commentator for the entertainment industry, Snider uses his knowledge of show biz and his innate wit to entertain vast numbers of followers.
4. Perry Farrell. Stream-of-consciousness confessionals from Jane’s Addiction singer attract a steady fan following. Usually confessional is a risky genre to engage in on social media, but when done with sincerity — as in Farrell’s case — and with a view to express his true self without attacking others, it becomes disarming. Farrell talks about love, marriage, his children, and day-to-day occurrences such as family outings and restaurant dates with his wife Etty. The subject matter may seem trivial, but the unselfconscious honesty with which the stories are told show a unique take on reality, and an emotional response which is equally unique. A glimpse into how a true artists’ perceptions work is something that virtually no one else offers on social media these days and explains popularity of Farrell’s posts.
5. Stephan Forte. The French guitar virtuoso shares technique tips, insights into musicianship, and gear information. Behind-the-scenes peeks into songwriting process, gear walk-throughs, videos of rehearsals, previews from work-in-progress albums, and video guitar lessons attract hundreds of fans and fellow musicians. If you are willing to share some practical tips and knowledge with others, you will always have a steady steam of people regularly checking your page.
To sum up, here are the few things I tell my clients. Fashions come and go, but a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves will always be one of the main factors that drives social media — be it a connection to a celebrity, an important cultural figure, a politician, or a religious leader / spiritual cause. This is the reason why Angela Merkel has hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram. And this is also the reason why quotes from Dalai Lama or Confucius go viral on Facebook — they give us an instant feeling of belonging to something which takes us beyond the everyday. A connection to an artist through social media can also fulfill this need.
Your PR agent may tell you that posting your tour dates and your new album cover is important, but neither that, nor pictures of the cities where you perform, or amusing anecdotes from the tour bus — although entertaining — will provide the kind of connection that fans really crave. What they want is a dialogue and a feeling of getting to know someone better than they can through listening to music.
You don’t have to bait the indifferent with revealing selfies or shocking statements, but if you genuinely want to engage with your fans, you can always find ways to make your online presence exciting for them. It won’t be a substitute for great music and great performances, but it will help keep your existing fans interested. Ultimately, your social media popularity will always be equal to your popularity as an artist, and will not recruit you many new fans. But keeping those you already have is no mean feat in 2016 when people’s attention spans are getting shorter and the budgets they are willing to spend on music — tighter.
[Sydicated post from Backstage Workstation blog. Republished with permission. Original post can found http://backstageworkstation.blogspot.com/. Copyright Alissa Ordabai, All Rights Reserved.]
