This post is #6 of a group of articles called, the Facebook Series. I’ve written a handful of resource articles centered around making a successful splash on Facebook for independent artists. These articles dive into topics such as how to write engaging content, super easy contest ideas, how to boost page likes, and more. Check them out here:
1. Save Time With This 3-Month Social Media Content Calendar
2. The Quick & Dirty Way to Boost Facebook Likes
3. How to Share your Music Page with a Like Button
4. 10 Easy Social Media Contests to Make Your Fans Engage
5. 3 Powerful Features to Use on Your Facebook Bandpage
7. Are you Cool? How to be Popular on Facebook
8. 7 Mistakes that will Kill Your Facebook Efforts
9. My Most Popular Posts on Facebook
Okay, so I thought of 9 simple things you can do to increase your visibility on Facebook and here they are.
1. Message Your New Fans
Anytime you get a new fan, the best time to connect with them is when they first like your page because you are fresh and new to them. Typically this is the time in which they will be most receptive to you. Offer something for free as a thank you like a free song, and ask them to turn on notifications. Make it easy for them by giving simple instructions on how to do it. More than likely they will be impressed that you took the time to personally reach out to them because they probably don’t get that a lot. More than likely they will return the favor by doing what you asked.
To do this, go to your fan page, click on ‘Notifications’ at the top and you will see all recent activity associated with your page. Look for a row that tells you who recently liked your page.
Click on that row, and a list of user profiles will pop up. Click through to each profile page and click on the message button to send them a message.
This is the message I have been sending lately. It’s kind of long and I’m still testing it. But it does what I want it to do.
2. Ask All Fans to Turn on Notifications
Also, you can periodically post an update about notifications and pin it to the top of your page for a few days. It lets your fans know how to get your posts on their notifications every time. Talk about a freebie you just gave in the post so they will correlate it with a sense that they might have just lost out on something good because they’re not subscribed to your notifications.
3. Strategize your Posting Times and Frequency
Get in the habit of posting when your fans are typically on Facebook. This will encourage a ‘live’ dialogue on your posts between you and your fans. Commenting, liking, sharing, and clicks to your posts help to increase your page’s overall ranking. The more you can get your fans to engage the better chances your posts will show up in their news feeds. Look at your page insights to see when your fans are typically on Facebook to get an idea of when the best times are to post.
Go to ‘Insights’ on your page and click on ‘Posts’ in the left menu. There you will see a graph showing what times of day your fans are on Facebook the least and the most. For my page, it looks like my fans are on Facebook most often between 6 and 9pm.
4. Post according to your page demographics.
In order to post relevant material that is specific to your fans, you have to have a good idea who they are and what’s important to them. If you do a bit more digging in your page insights on Facebook, you will find there is a section on fan demographics.
Under the ‘People’ category, you will find percentages by gender, age, and location of who makes up your fanbase. This information can be very valuable because if you post updates relevant to the people who mostly make up your fan population, you increase your chances of getting them to engage with you.
Also, if you click on the ‘Posts’ section in the left menu, you can find out which of your past posts received the most engagement. Try clicking on ‘Reach’ and ‘Engagement’ in the top of the chart to order the results by most engagements and least engagements. This will give you an idea of what type of posts generally get you the most shares, comments, likes, and clicks. If your fans won’t tell you what they want to see, this is the second best thing. You can find out from this data.
5. Post highly engaging content.
Ask your fans to engage subtly by including Calls to Action in your posts. You don’t have to make it obvious or cheesy i.e. “Like This” or “Share This Post,” but you can encourage your fans to engage by promoting a community atmosphere. Some examples of this are:
• Posts asking your fans to share their favorite story/video/pic on a certain topic. You can share a recent unique experience you had and ask your fans to talk about any similar experiences they might have had.
• Open ended questions (what do you think about this new t-shirt design for my merchandise table?)
• Ask for advice with a dilemma you might currently be facing.
• Tell your fans to “Tag a friend if they would be interested in _______.”
I included a link to my social media content calendar that I use to post regular engaging content up above, but I wanted to include it again here just in case you missed it. This content calendar includes 3 months worth of daily, customizable content that is highly engaging. Feel free to use it to plan and schedule your posts without having to constantly brainstorm new quality content. Download it here.
6. Vary your posts.
Diversify your posts to keep your content fresh. You can do videos, how-to articles, motivational quotes, funny jokes, celebrate a national day, images of you performing or practicing or touring, links to your blog, and the list goes on. Make sure your images are appealing and meet the size requirements. A good size to shoot for with your images on Facebook is an 800 x 800 square image. You can use free tools like Canva, to create great images with highly engaging fonts.
7. Don’t promote as much.
Promoting yourself is necessary. But,I’ve found that in terms of getting shares, likes, and comments, non-promotional posts tend to get the most love. Just think about how annoying it is when you first meet someone and all they want to do is talk about themselves and not show any interest in you. Would you want to see them again? That’s how you look promoting yourself non-stop on social media. It’s not cool. For every self-promotional post you do, you should have 3 or 4 non-promotional posts to balance it out. Don’t let every post on your timeline be about your next show, your new song, or selling a merch item one after the other. Disperse self-promotional posts in moderation in between non-promotional engaging posts. Your social media strategy should involve you being a good conversationalist.
[bctt tweet=”Your social media strategy should involve you being a good conversationalist.” username=”@IndieArtistsDIY”]
8. Utilize trending hashtags (they get shared more often).
Facebook tracks what’s trending. There are always trending topics in the music industry that you can piggyback on. For example, you can chime in on Kanye’s latest rant or a recent passing away of an industry great. Be sure to include a trending hashtag in the post. Posts with hashtags get shared more often. If the hashtag is trending, Facebook is more likely to serve it up in the newsfeeds. Plus, when someone is searching under that particular hashtag your post will show up giving you exposure to new people.
9. Give Your Two Cents.
Give your opinion on matters, especially controversial matters. A word of caution on this technique – don’t overdo it, remember to be respectful and be ready to moderate the comments or possibly even lose some fans altogether. Your opinion matters. That’s part of what makes you an artist and why your fans chose to follow you. If they are true fans, they will stick with you. These fans are the ones you want anyway. Learn this lesson early – you can’t win everyone. Not everyone will be your fan and the more you accomplish in your career, the more haters you will have. But the ones who do stick with you can be all the support you need.
[bctt tweet=”Learn this lesson early – you can’t win everyone.” username=”@IndieArtistsDIY”]
And these are the fans that will help you increase your page rank. Controversy and drama is cheap to produce and it sells! That’s why we have so many reality TV Shows. Learn to leverage controversial topics on your fan page to boost engagement. Content that is commented on receives a boost in news feeds. Plus, if it’s trending as mentioned in #8 above, it will be boosted even more.
In order to maintain visibility and exposure for your Facebook fan page, you have to get creative, get to know your fans, and be aware of the rules. Give your fans an opportunity to subscribe to your notifications, and be consistent by posting regular fresh content. Above all, remind yourself that social media was meant for conversation and community. The more you can integrate into this type of culture the better off you will be.
What are your ideas for maintaining exposure on Facebook? What’s worked for you? Share your thoughts in the comments section. I’m sure you guys will have more insight on this than me. Let’s help each other out.
