How should artists manage social media?

The primary job of an artist is to create, to express themselves through their art in more and more innovative ways. But today, that's not the only thing that demands their attention. As more and more artists embrace the "indie" route (short for Independent Artist) they realise that apart from creativity, marketing themselves and ensuring adequate visibility among their fans is also an important aspect that they must work on. In the era of the internet, social media is a necessary evil to stay visible/relevant/connected to fans etc. And artists are always overwhelmed about content creation and pushing on all the different platform and several new ones that keep popping on the horizon every now & then! Artists must focus their energy on their art and not be bothered too much about distribution & publicity (not saying that it is any less important, but then it is not the crux of their existence)


As an artist myself, I am very aware that social media management can become quite an unruly monster if we don't have a clear practical approach on how to deal with our content. Honestly, I also did not have any clue when I started out and whatever thoughts I am sharing through this post, are learnings over the past 3 years working as a full time musician/music educator.


Before one dives into the vast ocean of social media, the most important question to ask is "What outcome do I expect from Social Media?"


Some of the possible outcomes that an independent artist desires to derive from social media can be one or more of:

  1. Increased popularity/visibility
  2. A showcase for their art
  3. Generate leads that they can monetise
  4. Create a community of fans who like and support their artistic pursuit.
There is no “one size fits all” approach here. But as a generic suggestion for all those who are completely clueless, there can be two approaches to manage social media:
  1. Hire someone (usually an intern) to manage all the social media handles of the artist.
  2. Do it themselves (I fall in this category at the moment because, creating content is another aspect of my artistic expression and I enjoy the process).

Here's the approach I use (after a long time trying to juggle everything and getting overwhelmed):


  1. List out all the social media handles that you have, be it Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, twitter, tiktok, snapchat etc etc. Evaluate, which ones have gotten you more visibility and traction? I am sure it will be a subset of the main list and not simply "everything".
  2. Once you've narrowed down on your platform of choice, focus your content creation for that platform. The purpose of this exercise is to help the artist pick a primary platform for which they would create content. And the strategy is - create for one platform & distribute on others. There really is no need to spend precious time & energy to create separately for each platform. The same content can be shared everywhere. For instance, My strategy is as under:
    3. Platform Purpose
    YouTube New Videos, Live Concerts, Music Highlights
    Instagram Content Distribution, Photos from past programs
    FacebookContent Distribution, Photos from past programs
    LinkedInContent Distribution, Photos from past programs
    Google Listing Leads Generation, Services Offerred, Photos from past programs

  3. It makes sense to have a "content calendar". A content calendar is simply a schedule that will indicate the"what" & "when" content will be posted by an artist. It need not be rigid, it need not be "create everyday" (there are a few social media influencers who do this). Just a realistic schedule that defines the "type" and the "frequency" of content creation. This helps because it provides some structure to the abstractness that usually defines an artist. It's perfectly alright if one misses a scheduled post, after all that's the freedom of being "independent". We make our own schedules. But it is highly recommended to stick to a practical and realistic content calendar and keep putting out great quality content out there on the internet.

In conclusion, content creation for social media should have its place in an artist's arsenal but if left unchecked, it has the potential to overwhelm the artist and take up more attention that it truly deserve. 


So, what's your take on managing social media as an artist? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments box.


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