The current state of digital marketing in the music industry is one of hyper-fragmentation. Picking and choosing marketing tactics for the extensive number of platforms and media outlets through which fans consume content is a representation of just one of the extremely daunting tasks that marketers have in today’s music business. The digitization of the social sphere has helped, by amassing communities of like-minded fans interacting, sharing, and participating on unparalleled levels, but there remains a problem of accessing these fans as they sit amongst the hundreds of millions of other (“non-fan”) users. For these, and a myriad of other reasons, digital marketing in the music industry is a very promising field. Fans are out there, and they are consuming and sharing content like never before, it is merely a matter of finding ways to reach them. There are infinite opportunities for new strategies, new methods of analysis, and new ways to target a fan base—success depends only upon ones ability to be creative. Though there are no surefire systems for attaining marketing success, there are some proven methods for maximizing effectiveness in the current digital landscape.
The first is accessing social networks and integrating the artist into the conversation. Keep in mind that these networks are communities, and must be treated as such. Marketing within these communities is problematic because input seen as inauthentic (i.e. a sales pitch) is immediately recognizable and risks exclusion. Therefore, marketing within the social media context must be performed very carefully. Traditional push marketing techniques are not appropriate, as members of the community are interested in the communal aspect of discovery and sharing, not a commercial agenda. Marketing strategies need to take this into account, and should first seek to join the conversation, before pursuing any attempt at monetizing the social sphere. This is not to say that marketing isn’t permitted via social media, only that it must be done tastefully, with careful attention paid to the attitudes and interests of the community. The artist’s interactions facilitate the formation of relationships directly with fans, but it is up to the marketing team to devise an appropriate means of turning these relationships into revenue.
The second, and quite possibly the most important aspect in creating effective digital marketing, is the aggregation and evaluation of analytics. The proliferation of software tools for information collection has made it possible to acquire data from almost any online interaction—data that is invaluable for reviewing the efficacy of marketing strategies. Not only can marketers assemble information about how many people opened an email, but they can see who clicked which links, bought items, or any number of other important statistics. An artist and their marketing team should garner all the information they can get from their fans, so that they may find ways to more efficiently and more effectively market to them in the future.
Digital marketing in the music business is a hustle. Social media etiquette and a scientific attention to analytics will help, but there is no blueprint for an effective digital marketing plan. One has to keep in mind that marketing is about each individual user experience. Fans want authenticity, relevance, and personalization, and providing these is the only way to create a successful digital marketing campaign.
Originally posted at Fame House.
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