Keep Your Eye On These Next 3 Social Trends

Social media is the lifeblood of so many artists, bands, musicians and record labels in terms of engaging and growing their fanbases. That means it's important to stay current on the latest developments so you don't get left behind.

With that in mind, there are 3 new trends in social media that are really heating up that you should keep an eye on, according to Kevan Lee of of the social posting tool Buffer in a post on thenextweb. Look out for the following:

1. Purchasing items directly from your News Feed.
We're already seeing this on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest where your fan can make a purchase from within the app, which means she's avoided linking to the multiple steps in an external shopping cart and possibly losing the sale. Facebook has also been testing a Buy button for more than a year, and is slowly rolling it out to a specific group of advertisers.

One of the downsides of News Feed purchasing in the current crop of social platforms is that you usually need to be involved with a third part app like Shopify, Stripe or Gumroad to use as a payment processor/gateway, but if you're selling merch online already, chances are that you're already connected.

2. Custom social networks at work.
Companies are beginning to see the advantage of having their own internal social networks. The thought being that if employees are going to be on social media during the workday anyway, the company might as well have some control over it. Facebook at Work is the first network to jump into this game with a customized work version, but expect others to follow.

There are still a lot of unknowns here, but the trend is worth watching since it could affect the timing of your posts. In other words, it might be better to wait until after 5PM when people are away from their work networks so you can catch them on their personal networks. On the other hand, a work network might be able to be penetrated by a certain type of post, which then gives you the inside track at engagement. We'll know more as it rolls out.

3. How to reach people who aren't checking their feeds.
Social media is more broadcast while messaging is more personal. Many people prefer messaging because there are no algorithms involved, nor are there ads. As messaging becomes more popular, the influence of social lessens, as does your ability to reach your fans who depend less on a social platform. But what would happen if you could broadcast to a group of fans over a messaging app? Whatsapp has already started something like this with a newsletter that is broadcast to a wide group of people, and Everlane for Facebook allows a broadcast over Messenger.

The upside of this is that it gives your fans another way to hear from you if you give them multiple options when subscribing. The downside is that it can definitely clutter up a service with unwanted messages.

Many of the social distribution companies are also trying to wrap their heads around this one, but the hope is (at least from me) that messaging stays private. Don't be surprised if ads start to pop up in places that you never expected though.

(Photo: Sebastiaan ter Burg via Flickr)

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How Many Hashtags?

Hashtags are such a successful feature with Twitter that other social networks have adopted them. They're great as a resource for finding topical posts fast, at least on Twitter. On other networks, not so much. This was the case with Linkedin, who experimented with them for a while before giving up.

There's been a lot of study on effective hashtag use in terms of the number that can be effectively used. Here's the latest.

Twitter - 2 hashtags work best, with the amount of engagement decreasing with the more you add. That said, there's 100 % more engagement if you use them, and tweets with them are more likely to be retweeted as well. Remember not to trivialize your hashtag, since they're best used to categorize a tweet. 

Facebook - It's been found that hashtags actually decrease engagement. Don't use them. 

Instagram - Contrary to all other networks, the more you use, the better since on Instagram, hashtags are used primarily to build community. 11 hashtags or more get the most engagement. 

Pinterest - Once again, it's been found that hashtags actually decrease engagement. Stay away from them here.

One thing to remember is that they now turn up in a Google search and many people do search for them, so they're worth using.

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Pinterest Ideas For Musicians

One of the fastest growing social networks online, Pinterest is now the third-largest behind only Facebook and Twitter, with users pinning images just as much as they're tweeting. Unlike other networks though, Pinterest is equally popular with different age demographics. Although at one time it had a larger difference in gender mix than any other of it’s social counterparts with five times more women pinning than men, this is changing rapidly as both men, businesses, and brands discover its features and reach. Here's an excerpt from my upcoming book Social Media For Musicians about how artists, bands and musicians can use Pinterest as a promotional tool.

"Pinterest allows you to save and categorize images of things that you like (called “pins”) even when you’re browsing . The process of selecting or uploading a pin is called “pinning.” You pin things to folders that have a common theme called pinboards or “Boards,” which can be either public or “secret.” Every time you pin something, it shows the link of where the pin came from, which can be a good way to get traffic if you pin your own site’s graphics. You can follow people and use keywords and trending item hashtags just like Twitter. You can also link your account to both your Facebook and Twitter accounts so that when you pin something, it simultaneously publishes to those networks as well if you desire.

There’s a lot more about Pinterest than meets the eye. Here are some additional hints and ideas for using Pinterest.

• Pin pictures of your fans and then paste their testimonials in the pin’s description. People love seeing faces with testimonials because it seems more credible and friendly. 

• Your Pinterest page has its own RSS feed! Your (or anyone else’s) RSS fee can be found by going to the user’s Pinterest URL and adding /feed.rss to the end of the link. Here’s an example using my username “bobbyowsinski:” http://pinterest.com/bobbyowsinski/feed.rss.  You can also view a specific Board feed by going to the board URL and replace “feed” with the board name like in this example where my board name is ‘noms’) http://pinterest.com/bobbyowsinski/pictures-from-everywhere.rss. Use the RSS feed anywhere that a feed is appropriate (Facebook, LinkedIn, for syndication on other sites, etc.). Alert your fans and readers to your feed and ask them to add it to their RSS feed readers.

• Add prices to your pins to create your own Pinterest shop. To add a price to a pin, type the $ or £ symbol followed by the item’s price in the pin’s description. The price then shows up on a diagonal bar across the pin. Also, when you add prices to your pins, the pin may also be featured in Pinterest’s “Gifts” section.

• Create a special board to highlight your band or album project team members. Use the description area under each photo to write a bio of each person.

• Show behind-the-scenes photos of your gigs, rehearsals or studio recording. People love knowing the back story of what you do.

• Become an information curator. Gather the last news and resources regarding your type of music on a board or boards. If you become a trusted source for information on Pinterest, your following will grow by leaps and bounds.

• Highlight old content on your blog so that people can repin your archived posts. 

• Schedule your pins using Pingraphy.com. It provides some analytics as well.

• Create seasonal or holiday boards that relate to your brand. For example: New Year’s Resolutions, Fourth of July, etc. These are always a hit on Pinterest.

• Create a board that tells the story of band and communicates your core values. A “History of the Band” board is the perfect way to show your evolution.

• Create “thank you” boards for fans that send special messages. Pin their pictures to the board and thank them in the description.

• Have a blog? Create a board for it. 

• Going to a conference like SXSW? Create a board for it."

Social Media For Musicians, which is all about using social media for promotion, should be available by the end of the month. For excerpts from my other books, go to bobbyowsinski.com.

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What Is Pinterest?

You may have heard about a new social site called Pinterest, which has exploded from 1.2 million to 4 million users in about 6 months. Pinterest is a place to organize and share online images that you find interesting. Once they're uploaded or shared on Pinterest, these images become known as Pins, which the user can place on customized themed Boards, which can be for any topic imaginable, from cats to classic cars to cats driving classic cars.

While most people will use this for their main topic of interest, artists and bands might use it as a place for fans to pin pictures of a tour, or for behind-the-scenes pictures when in the studio, or as a place to gather artwork for an album.

Pinning is easy with the official Pin It Button, which is a simple drag-and-drop browser extension. When you come across an image you like, just click the button and select the corresponding picture, then assign the pin to a Board and add some identifying text. If the Pin is something you want to buy, include the price in the description and it will attach to the Pin for easy reference. You can also take a picture with your iPhone and add it to your Boards with the mobile app (there's no Android support yet).

The social part of Pinterest is that you can share pins on Facebook to help expand your network, and you can check out the Popular button to see what pins are trending at the moment, which is a way to find new content or Pinners who share your interests. Share a Pin with another Pinner by using an @mention in the description, just like you do on other social sites and they’ll get an email to let them know they’ve been mentioned. While most Pins are photos, you can also pin videos by hitting the Videos button at the top of the page, which allows you to see all the available videos as well.

One of the problems with Pinterest is that it's currently not open to everyone so you have to be invited. You can sign up on their website, or get an invite to someone who's already a Pinner. Either way, Pinterest looks like it might be the next hot social network.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.