As a part of the Industry Takeover series, we invited UD Members and the wider community to an exclusive Social Strategy Workshop delivered by un:hurd, a specialist marketing partner for artists and managers. The 90 minute session broke down the essential skills, logistics and ideas to help you build a successful and consistent social media strategy around your music…
UD Low Down: SOCIAL STRATEGY WITH UN:HURD…
Both Emily Heffernan (New Business/A&R Manager) and Steph Santos (Project Manager) dropped gem after gem during this exclusive workshop. Allowing those present to really understand the core elements of helping your music reach its full potential, in a world where it seems you have to be a full time content creator to get any positive momentum in your music career.
One of the best parts of the session was where they broke down the essentials of a great social media strategy, helping many in the room feel more focused by debunking myths and sharing key guides. They also held a live Social Health Check, where they asked the audience to share their social profile accounts and gave them immediate feedback and tips to improve their strategy in real time.
Luckily we’ve compiled some of the take aways in this Guide to kickstart your social media journey in the right direction!
Understanding social strategy
- Communicate your brand
This allows you to stay in control across your narrative and brand image – un:hurd’s advice was to understand your identity as an artist. Explore your core values, interests and personality traits that you’d feel comfortable to highlight. - Connect with your audience
Creating a direct connection between you and your supporters is vital. During the panel, the key exerciese Emily and Steph suggested was to first understand what type of content you’re already posting and build themed content pillars (catagories) that different types or styles can sit within. For example: personal moments, behind-the-scenes, hobbies, live shows, story time etc. If you’re just starting out, it might be useful to explore the feeds of artists you feel have a similar sound to you, as well as artists who’s social media output you respect and enjoy, to evaluate what elements they use to connect with their audience. - Platform Focus
One of the key takeaways from this segment was to not feel pressure to post everything across every channel. Steph explained it’s better to work smart and build a strong community within one platform, potentially one that you feel connects easily to your journey, than spread yourself thin across every social media platform. This could lead you to you not managing to connect or build a community on any of the platforms. It is better to have 100 engaged fans than 10,000 followers who don’t care that much.Emily believes its important to tailor your strategy to where your audience is. Also, understanding each platform and what type of content they work better for. For example, Instagram works best for high quality visuals, Tiktok for virality and being discovered. YouTube is great for long form music content.
Engagement Strategy
The un:hurd team spoke indepth about understanding the elements of what makes up engagement in your social media journey to build your own community. They suggested small ways in staying consistent with responding to comments, DMs and repurposing user-generated content. Building a two-way exchange within the community where you offer value in taking the time to connect with your audience.
Analytics and tracking
It’s really important to take advantage of the tools apps offer you. Using analytics is powerful in identifying what is connecting with your audience. From understanding which posts perform best and key niches to what days and times your audience are most active. From there you should experiment with adjusting your strategy based on your personal data. Maybe what works for someone, may not work for your specific audience, so adjusting to see what fits is what will allows you to work smarter and utilise great content around your music in the best way.
Promote your music online
Allows you to generate revenue through things like merchandise, ticket sales, streaming and more.
Platform-Specific Strategy and Tips
- Instagram: Best for visuals, stories, reels, and building a personal brand. Focus on aesthetics and consistency, make use of stories and reels.`
- YouTube: Music videos, tutorials and long-form content for deeper fan engagement. Post regularly .. videos, behind-the-scenes, live performances and vlogs.
- TikTok: Ideal for short-form, viral content and reaching a younger demographics. Create fun, trend videos that tie into your music and personal brand.
- Twitter/ X/ Threads: Quick updates and announcements, engagement and fan conversations.
Best core practices across platforms
- Being consistent with your branding. From logos, to colours and tone of voice.
- Staying authentic to yourself. Be real and share your journey.
- Engage with your followers.
Key questions to do your own digital health check
- Does the profile picture reflect your brand?
- Is your bio clear, concise and consistent with your music persona?
- How regularly are you posting?
- Is your content aligned with your music and brand?
- Are you responding to comments and messages?
- How often do you engage with followers and other creators?
- Does your tone sound consistent across posts?
- Are you portraying the right energy for your style / genre?
Join us on January 29th @ Talent House for the next event in our Industry Takeover series,
un:hurd x Plugging & Playlisting.
Tickets are £5 or free to members, sign up HERE via udtickets.com
