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Minimal Marketing – How to Grow Organically as a Musician

Where to start when you’re growing your fanbase as an artist

The primary methods of strategically growing your fanbase as a is through organic growth. Organic growth is word-of-mouth referrals and people spreading your music amongst their peer group. 

The goal of growing your brand is to build a core group of people who will go out and evangelise your work to their friends. Thinking about growing your fanbase, and your followers on social media is an essential element of sustainable growth. 

New musicians especially can be prone to conceptualising fans as mere a collection of figures or a milestone to be achieved – 1,000 followers, 10,000 followers, 1 million followers – it’s easy to forget that there are real people behind the numbers. But behind each ‘like’ and follower is a person who has engaged with your content for some reason. The secret to sustainable organic growth is identifying the reason why a fan engages with you and filling the niche they’re looking for.

Give your fans something to get excited about

Think about the type of musicians that you follow and engage with. It’s likely that they have visually exciting branding, a cohesive social media presence and a tangible reason for people to keep coming back for more.

You know best what you/ your group does better than anyone else out there. So, make sure that everyone else can see it too! This will come from producing engaging content that give people an insight into who you are. 

Whether you’re putting on live shows or livestreaming your music, be consistent in your style and your timings to draw in your fans.

Of course, that’s not to say that you need to give away everything all at once. There’s a lot of interest to be gained from selectively releasing teasing trailers of a new video or allows fans to get an insight into what you’re working on.

Make social media work for you

It can be hard to know exactly how social media search engines work these days. It seems that there’s a new algorithm update every other week that impacts how you can reach your fans. 

But some things are always consistent. Use your own music inspirations to construct your online branding and online storefront. Canva is a great free tool to create bespoke logos, platform-optimised banners and other elements of branding (think font, colours, photos). Consider where to put links to your music, the type of essential information that should go into your bio and how to structure your events and activity sections. 

Encourage your fans to contribute by posting content from live events and then show your appreciation and recognition by reposting their content.

It’s all about creating a meaningful connection with your fans and showing them that you are interested in the two-way conversation between you and them. 

Don’t feel as though you have to constantly create cutting-edge new content, either. It’s a good idea to keep track of social scores/ data analytics to identify what strategies are working for you. If you’ve suddenly got glut of new followers, repost some of your most popular content because it’s likely new fans won’t have seen it before. It will be a good idea to consider field-testing your new content on a backup Instagram, or even a Tiktok account with a live audience. Wondering where to get a pre-made Tiktok account? There are plenty of marketplaces like Accsmarket, where you can get yourself such account and test your the most creative ideas without any risk. 

Focus on your music and let the professionals promote for you

Of course, you should do a certain amount of self-promotion. Even if you don’t gain much traction, you’ll at least get a good sense of what separates you from other musicians. You’ll know a bit more about the aesthetic that you feel comfortable with and the tone of voice that resonates best with your fans.

There are plenty of stories of musicians that have made their mark through their own innovative marketing and promotion. You can also opt for music promotion companies like Now Listen PR to ensure you’re not worrying about whether your marketing budgets are being spent in the right places. 

Either way, it’s important to put together a detailed strategy from the outset to maximise the potential of organic growth. 

Organically growing your reach is not an impossibility

Where would we be without the internet? Effortless global connections mean that with a savvy approach to marketing, it’s possible for someone in a country thousands of miles to listen and share your music.

You know better than anyone that being an artist, a marketer, an outreach and PR expert alongside a part-time or full-time job can take its toll.

While there are plenty of options open for people who want to do it all themselves, consider whether the investment of a team dedicated to your success is the right option for you and your music. 

Go get creating!

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