Love it or hate it we all use it and when it comes to being a musician social media accounts are so important, it's the place that everyone will go to find you and likely the place most people go to now to find out about shows and look for your music.
Being as this is everyones first port of call when they look for you getting them right is the first step when you're looking to promote yourself.
Here are my top tips for making sure that your accounts are effective and working for you.
CONSISTANT BRANDING - If possible make sure that the handles you have for all your accounts are the same, it makes it easier for people to find you. Make sure you have the same imaging/branding across all accounts so it's easy to see who you are.
HAVE A PROPER BIO! - I can't stress this one enough! Especially if you're starting to pitch to media, look for shows or are wanting to impress any potential a&r or labels. There are so many accounts that have 1 line of info in their bio or 'about us' section on Facebook. This is your opportunity to shout about your achievement's, tell the world about your band. An interesting engaging bio will be so much more attractive than a 1 liner.
PITCHING TO RADIO? MAKE SURE YOU HAVE TWITTER! - Twitter is not by any means a dead platform! Radio Stations and Media Outlets still tend to use this as one of their preferred methods of communication. Many stations have a 'Now Playing' stream embedded in their systems that will automatically tweet out and tag whatever they happen to be playing. Some stations I've approached will even refuse to play artists who don't have a twitter account that can be linked! It's a really great tool to see how your track is performing coverage wise.
SCHEDULE YOUR POSTS - Social Media is time consuming, especially if you have multiple platforms that you use. Using a scheduler to make sure you have some regular content is great. There are so many different ones out there that have free options, including Hootsuite which now also includes TikTok. Personally I use Creator Studio on Facebook for that and Instagram and Tweetdeck for Twitter, both free options, with the ability to schedule a good amount of posts in advance and they all tag accounts correctly.
ENGAGE WITH PEOPLE - Engaging with fans on socials is a given, replying to comments and giving them a follow is a good way to get them to shout about you to their friends but I do see that artists don't really do this as much with some of the outlets who cover them or that they want to cover them. Spend some time sharing any posts like playlists that include you or bands like you and just add a little message saying thank you or commenting on how good the playlist/show/outlet is rather than just giving it a like. Little things like this really make a difference when you're starting out and trying to promote yourselves. Building up nice relationships with outlets and peers will only encourage them to support you in the future.