Social Media for Record Labels

How to create a sustainable social media strategy for your indie record label.

Social Media Mistakes

Record Labels Make

The sins of copying other labels, failing to de-platform followers, and lacking goals and objectives!

Number 1
Copying Other Labels…

“Mastering social media doesn’t mean doing what you see other popular accounts doing.” - Justin Welsh
What works for them may not work for you... and what works for them, may not be working for THEM!!
Creativity over competition!
Copying people is a great way to make yourself invisible, by creating homogeneous, uninspired content!

Number 2
Failing to De-platform

People are not easily moved from one platform to the next, be conscious of this fact when you’re promoting something. It’s easy to join a Facebook group when you’re on Facebook, or to follow someone on Twitter when you’re already on Twitter.
Secondly, make your cross-platform promotions as frictionless as possible. If your objective is to have someone “exit the scroll” on Instagram to go sign up for a newsletter, or entering a contest, make it idiot-proof and a frictionless process.

Number 3
Not Having an Objective

Why are you on these channels? Why do you show up everyday? To be honest, for a lot of us, it’s probably FOMO… You see other labels and businesses do social media, and so you assume you should be too. A record label’s objective on social media should be to simply get their artists and releases heard and paid!
GOALS: What is your primary destination? What is your primary goal for new visitors/followers? What is your greatest ROI for fans?
Have a goal (ideal result) for each post, or each social activity.

Social Media

Worksheet

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Building a successful record label shouldn’t be a mystery.

Drop me a line if there’s anything I can help you out with…

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-Scott

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Social Media FAQs

Do I need to do social media for my record label?

I suppose no, you really don’t NEED to have social media accounts for your record label. In fact, many record labels survived and thrived long before social media even existed.

Having said that, any “impressions” you get by posting on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. will all generate free advertising for your label. Ensuring you capture an audience from these “impressions” is another task in itself. But at the very least, posting on social media is free (for now) and can create free touchpoints with new and future fans!

Should I manage my artists’ social media accounts?

This is a grey area, the most ideal situation is for your artists to manage their own social media accounts. This will be the most organic and authentic approach, and will result in the best overall experience for fans.

Having said that, there have been times where I needed an artist (who was decidedly a hermit when it came to technology) to repost any press and playlists he got as a way to “thank” the publications and curators who support his release. So that was my one exception to this rule…

Do some platforms perform better than others for specific genres?

You should already have a clear picture of what your ideal customer avatar looks like. Make a list of as many descriptors of this ideal customer, even give them a fictional name. List where they shop, what shows they watch, what brand of clothes they wear, what charitable causes are important to them, and how they consume music.

This exercise will help you identity where online your ideal fan is, what formats they like to buy, and what social media platforms they most frequent!

Should I hire someone to manage my label’s social media?

Eventually, this may be the ideal route that you should take with your record label’s social media strategy. A dedicated social media team member can build relationships with fans, encourage and equip your artists to be prolific on social media, and ideally measure the results of your social media efforts.

In the early years of an indie label, it may not be possible, and the responsibility may fall on you.