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)

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

How Gen Z Is Using Social Media

Gen Z is coming of age and they have a whole different take on communication than the generations before. Gen Z is generally defined with birth years ranging from the mid or late 1990s through the early 2010s or starting from the early 2000s.

A study by the college marketing insights agency Fluent examined the online active of Gen Zers and found a number of interesting points.

• Facebook is still the top network for many users. 51% use the platform for keeping in touch with high school friends and family, while 39% used it for keeping in touch with college friends. Gen Zers like the fact that the platform keeps on top of new technical trends like messaging and video.

• Snapchat and Instagram were used to keep in touch with closer friends, particularly at college. 34 and 35% used Snapchat and Instagram several times a day.

• They spend their time online looking for content rather than social interaction.

• 24% sample new apps every month.

• YouTube is a major destination with 80% of respondents.

• That said, Facebook has become a major video destination as well for 79% of respondents.

• 32% watched at least 1 hour of video a day, 30% watched 2 hours a day, and 21% watched 3 hours a day.

• They cannot live without the following brands in order of popularity: Apple, Samsung, Google, Netflix, YouTube.

Notice that Twitter isn't a part of the social mix. This goes to show that pictures and video are a big part of the Gen Z lifestyle, so if you're fan base is in this demographic, this is something to strongly consider in future marketing campaigns.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

Twitter Can't Get Young Users

If you're an artist or in a band then you're probably on social media to reach your existing fans and to expand your fanbase. There's a problem though, in that it's getting a lot harder to do that, especially with the biggest social platforms available.

This is especially evident with Twitter, which still has 320 million monthly users, but most of those seem to be business, sports and celebrity users or journalists. Gen Z and younger millennials are staying away like the plague.

It seems that, unlike Facebook (which they reluctantly use), younger users really don't have a good reason to use Twitter when other alternatives like Snapchat, Instagram and Kik fulfill their needs in a better way.

Twitter is hard to define and even harder to describe why you need it, but any social network is in trouble if the user doesn't have any friends on it, as is currently the case with Twitter and the Gen Z and millennial crowd.

Brands are beginning to recognize this as well and spending less on the platform, understanding that it probably won't be growing much in the future, and that you're buying current users, not future ones.

That's why it's important that you know exactly where your fans are before you invest your time in a social platform. You only have a limited amount of energy and as a result, can't be everywhere, so go where you can get the most bang for your buck in terms of time invested. If you know that your fans are on Twitter, spend your social capital there, but if more are on Instagram (for instance), that's where you have to be.

Also, be aware of the ebb and flow of social media platforms, because they change every year both in terms of users and features. What works this year might not work next, and vice versa.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

Instagram Users Consume A Lot Of Music

Nielsen just completed a new study assessing Instagram user's music behaviors, and discovered a number interesting facts.

It turns out that Instagram users are above average music consumers. They spend more time listening, and they spend more money on music items than other music consumers for starters. They also take artist's live performances more seriously than most other music consumers.

Their tastes in music is also different, as they listen to more pop, hip-hop and R&B than other music consumers (check out the chart below).

They're also more than twice as likely to pay for a premium streaming tier than other users.

The upshot: if you're not on Instagram already, it's time to sign on, as there are a lot of music fans there.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

6 Strategy Tips From Instagram Experts

iDigic has an excellent post with a great infographic containing bits of advice from 31 Instagram experts. You can check it out here, but below is a summary of what they feel is important to use the platform to its utmost.

1. Have a pre-load strategy. Before you begin posting, know who you're trying to engage, how often you'll post, the number of times of day you'll need to do it, and the times.

2. Provide value. You need to post content that your followers find useful or engaging, but also reinforces your brand as well.

3. Communicate with your followers. The most critical part of a good Instagram strategy is engaging your followers. Contests are a great way to do that. Commenting and sharing photos of other Instagrammers is another way.

4. Relevant hashtags are critical. Hashtags are as essential on Instagram as they are on Twitter, but you must treat them strategically. Find the appropriate hashtags for your feed and then use them consistently.

5. Build a community. Followers have to feel like they belong to your community and identify with your brand. The best way to do this is to repost their pictures, which shows that you're willing to engage them, and be sure to reply to all their comments.

6. Treat it as a unique environment. You need your account to stand out and the only way to do that is by treating it differently from your other social media platforms.

Check out the full article here.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

Why Teens Love Instagram

If you want to know what a typical teenager thinks of the various social networks available, there's a great post by 19 year old University of Texas student Andrew Watts on BackChannel. In it he describes how he and his friends use all the popular networks, but what they love and hate about them as well.

It's especially interesting what he has to say about the current darling of the teen world, Instagram. In an excerpt from his article, here's why he says it's so beloved.

• "I'm not terrified whenever I like something on Instagram that it will show up in someone’s Newsfeed and they'll either screenshot that I liked it or reference it later. The same goes for commenting.

• I am not as pressured to follow someone back on Instagram, meaning my feed is normally comprised of content I actually want to see. That being said, I will come back and scroll through an application that has content I enjoy rather than one where I have to find the occasional diamond in the rough.

• The content on Instagram is usually of higher quality. People take time to edit their photos with filters, use different brightness/contrast settings (it’s even one of the steps to posting a photo), etc., to make the pictures look the best they possibly can. This means the content on Instagram is normally “better” (photo-wise), so I am more likely to go back to the application.

• Instagram hasn't been flooded with the older generation yet (not everyone has an Instagram) meaning it’s “hip” and “cool” to the younger crowd. However, it is popular enough that if you have a smartphone it’s almost unheard of for you not to have Instagram, if not to take pictures, but to at least tag people in photos.

• Another point: tagging. I don't have to constantly check Instagram to make sure I wasn't tagged in any awkward or bad photos. That’s because you can't easily see them in your feed, making the whole experience seem way more private. Am I looking weird in a photo you posted? Who cares—I can just delete the tag if I really am that upset about it without fear that my friends from another social circle (who don’t follow you) will get to it first. I know Facebook has the ability to let you check every single photo tagged of you before it appears on your profile, but many people I know do not have that enabled or know it even exists.

• People do not post 10000 times a day on Instagram. Many are much more polite about posting, either doing once a day, a few times a week, etc. This means that there isn't a constant flow of content being shoved down my throat every time I open the application, and it is possible to be “caught up” with my Instagram feed.

• There are no links on Instagram, meaning I'm not being constantly spammed by the same advertisement, horrible gossip news article, or Buzzfeed listicle about the “28 Ingenious Things For Your Dog You Had No Idea You Needed”

There's a lot of great additional insight about social use by teens, so if you market to that age group, I suggest you take a look.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

Could This App Be The Instagram Of Music?

Three undergrads from Tufts University have launched a new app that's catching on like wildfire. It's called Cymbal, and many have called it the "Instagram of Music" because of its less-is-more user interface.

Cymbal describes itself as "music powered by friends, not algorithms." That's because users are allowed to share just one song at a time along with album art.

The whole idea is that the user gets to post that one song that's most important in their life at that moment.

Like Instagram, Cymbal uses a home feed, personal profile, followers, likes, comments, hashtags and tags.

You can share tracks from Soundcloud or Spotify, and since it was created from the ground up as an iOS app (an Android version is coming), it's perfectly at home where more and more do their listening - via the phone.

There's less than a million users at the moment, but the app seems to be coming on strong, so look out for more about Cymbal in the future.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

Instagram May Have Hit A Plateau

Social networks are a lot like artists, bands and music - they're hot for a period of time but usually don't stay that way. This looks to be the case with Instagram, which may have already hit a plateau in terms of users and engagement.

According to social analytics company Locowise, Instagram follower growth is down to just 0.34% in July, a decrease of 77% from May alone.

Engagement was also down by 19% from May.

Both these figures are still better than Facebook, although not by much, and way better than Twitter.

That said, the days of Instagram being the hot new network on the block may be numbered.

That doesn't mean that you shouldn't abandon the service though. If your fans are there and they're actively engaging with you, then there's no reason to change your strategy.

If your posting and no one seems to be home, then it might be time to re-evaluate whether Instagram fits into your long term online goals.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

Here's Where To Put Your Social Media Promotion Energy

I'm frequently asked the question of which social networks to concentrate on, and the answer is a moving target. Social networks tend to trend and wane, and we're see that right now with two of them.

Take a look at the following infographic by WebpageFX. It shows that Twitter is stagnant at best while Snapchat is quickly on the rise, as is Instagram. Of course, Facebook is still the 800 gorilla of social media but you have to pay for most of your exposure these days.

If I were just starting fresh with my social media promotion, Snapchat would be high on the list of networks to concentrate on, followed closely by Instagram.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

The Social Video World Is Changing

Until recently, YouTube had the market cornered on video both by users and brands. If you wanted the greatest interaction with your fans, that's where you'd go.

That's all changed recently since Facebook has put such a huge emphasis on video. As a result, a number of surprising facts about social video have come into play thanks to data from Socialbakers. Here's what they found.

• The top 1,000 profiles on both YouTube and Facebook are uploading 4X the number of videos on Facebook now. Many big brands have even stopped posting on YouTube altogether in favor of Facebook. That said, there are still brands and large media publishers that still enjoy big gains from posting on YouTube.

• In terms of interactions, Facebook videos perform much better than other platforms. Organic fan reach is 3X higher than YouTube. They're also shared a lot more. 

• Instagram is still mostly a picture platform, but it's being used more and more by brands for short videos. The problem is that most people still don't relate to videos on the platform, and would prefer to get their videos from elsewhere.

• YouTube videos are still the most commonly shared on Twitter.

The takeaway is that YouTube is losing market share to other platforms, and what that means is you should also consider other platforms besides YouTube for your videos. Don't abandon YouTube though, because it's still a powerhouse.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

The Most Popular Drugs At American Festivals

Music festivals are cool for all sorts of reasons but apparently one of them relates to drug intake. A study that monitored social media postings from festivals found that a surprising number of them have to do with drug use.

The following infographic comes from DrugAbuse.com, so it's probably biased, but it's still interesting to see how different the drug of choice is depending upon the festival. By the way, the website looked at over 3 million Instagram postings across the 15 largest festivals to determine the numbers. Still, consider the source as you peruse the following graphic.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

Instagram @Music Community Tries To Succeed Where Twitter Failed

Instagram has announced a new community dedicated to music and musicians called @Music, in an effort to leverage the platform’s user interest in the topic.

Unofficially, music has always been a large part of Instagram, accounting for an estimated 25 percent of all the platform’s activity. Recognizing this, Instagram executives have instituted this official music category as well as a number of subcategories as well.

For instance, #LocallySourced is designed to cover unsigned artists and bands (which will be handled by a team of curators), #15SecondLessons will include short music performance lessons, and #DoubleTrack covers musicians interests outside of music. 

The account, which was announced this morning on the Instagram blog, will update six times a week with an emphasis on unsigned acts. This might be deemed an unusual tactic as the music portion of Instagram is currently driven by music superstars like Beyonce (with 30.8 million followers and the platform’s most followed artist), Arianna Grande (30 million), Selena Gomez (28.9 million) and Taylor Swift (28.2 million). Read more on Forbes.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

3 Rules For Instagram Posting

For many artists, bands and musicians that are promoting their brand online, Instagram has become a favorite tool. There's been a lot of data collected on exactly what works and what doesn't on the platform, and that's lead to 3 main rules for using it for promotion.

1. Don't ask people to follow you.
While asking for follows is not forbidden like it is on Facebook (although few are disciplined for it), it's a decidedly uncool thing to do. If people really like your post, they'll follow you without you asking. That also includes using hashtags like #tagsforlikes, which is just bad form.

2. Don't bunch your posts.
While it's been found that most major brands post an average of once or twice a day, some average as high as 12. That said, they work best if they're spaced out throughout the day. No one likes their feed filled up by one user.

3. Use the right number of hashtags.
Unlike just about any other platform, the more hashtags you use, the more engagement your Instagram post receives. While Twitter studies have found that 2 was maximum on that platform, it's way higher on Instagram, with the ideal number at 11!

While many studies of social platforms revolves around users with serious numbers of 10,000 followers and up, its been found that the above rules work even for those with followings of 1,000 or fewer.

---

Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this blog at no cost to you (just click here).

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.

---

You should follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business, Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Instagram Now More Effective Than Facebook Reaching Fans

It doesn't matter how large a social network is, it's all about how many of your fans you can reach. That's the message from a study by the research company L2 when evaluating Facebook and Instagram.

It turns out that brands, bands and artists are posting much more content on Instagram these days, mostly because the fan reach is so much greater on that platform. On Facebook, the only way to reach all your fans is to promote your posts, and even then it's debatable if you can reach all of them. On Instagram, their fans will see everything they post.

Although Instagram has only 300 million users as compared to Facebook's 1.3 billion, it doesn't matter much if it costs you too much to grow your fan base. That said, Instagram's audience is growing much faster than Facebook ever did even during it's peak periods of growth.

If you choose to post more on Instagram, there are a few things to remember though:

1. Photos on Instagram perform much better than video, which is the same on all social platforms, even though Facebook is pushing video sharing at the moment.

2. Instagram's Hyperlapse fast-motion feature has fallen out of favor after a big start last year. While it's a cool effect, it's definitely a special effect and using it sometimes makes it difficult to incorporate calls to action.

Social media is a constantly moving target. What works today may not work tomorrow, so you have to be prepared to roll with the trends. That doesn't mean you have to abandon your existing marketing strategy altogether, but it sure helps if you're willing to adapt as needed.

---

You should follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business, Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Facebook Isn't Cool Anymore, But It Doesn't Matter

Once again research shows that Facebook's popularity among teens continues to wane, as a new report from Frank N. Magid Associates found that the number of teens that use the social network is down 6% from last year.

That said, 88% of US teens still continue to use Facebook, and that number rises among all age groups over age 25. In general, Facebook user numbers still continue to grow in all age groups, especially outside the US, so you won't see a panic in the FB boardroom any time soon.

In fact, teens that leave Facebook tend to go to Instagram instead. You know who owns Instagram? Facebook, of course, so the service is losing teens basically to itself.

What this means to  band or artist is that if your fanbase is comprised mostly of teens, then Instagram should definitely be part of your social media promotion mix. But don't forget Facebook, since a great many teens still do check it out, especially outside the US.

Social Network Info You Can Use For Promotion

Social media is constantly changing and evolving, and the stats that worked last year can be enormously out of date only 6 months later. That said, here's some of the latest social information of 2014 gathered by Digital Insights, and how it can be useful to bands and artists.

• 75% of engagement on a Facebook post happens within the first 5 hours. Don't post too many close together or too far apart for maximum engagement.

• The most common reason to unlike something on Facebook is an uninteresting post. Make sure your content is always informative and relevant. Don't just post for the sake of posting.

• 53% of interaction between a Google+ user and a brand is positive. You've discovered and established your brand already, right?

• 22% of adults visit Google+ once a month. It's not as big as Facebook, but it still has over 540 million monthly users, so it's worth being on.

• 44% of users on Twitter have never sent a tweet. That doesn't mean that they don't read what you're tweeting though, so don't worry if the engagement seems lower than other networks.

• 84% of women and 50% of men stay active on Pinterest. It's a great network to be on if your audience is there. Poll them to find out.

• 23% of teens consider Instagram their favorite social network. Once again, it's a great network to be on if your audience is there.

• Weekends are the most popular time to send Vines. This is contrary to most other networks, where during the week sees more activity.

• 40% of YouTube traffic comes from mobile. Make sure that your videos look good on mobile devices.

• Marketers using blogs generate 67% more leads. Blogs are a great way to build and engage an audience if you're willing to spend the time and do it on a consistent basis.

Information is power, so use the above info to help expand and engage your audience. You can also find out some powerful ways to use social media with my Social Media Promotion for Musicians book.

----------------------------------

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

Instagram Launches The Hyperlapse App

Every platform needs a "killer app" and while Instagram has always been about pictures, it's new Hyperlapse feature might be just the thing to push its use in video over the top. While time-lapse video has always been pretty cool, it's been a major production pain, requiring hours of shooting time. Hyperlapse allows the user to instantly get that same look without any pain other than holding your smartphone still for a while.

Hyperlapse is different from most platform apps in that it doesn't require an account since its a dedicated app that sits on your smartphone. You just tap to begin recording and it automatically defaults to 6x speed, although you can change it to something slower or faster if needed.

You can shoot the video for as long as you like (providing you have the arm strength to hold the camera still that long), but like all video shared on Instagram it's limited to 15 seconds and presented in its signature square format.

Music video directors should love it though, and here's a video called "Overblown" by Doctor Popular as a sample. If you have an iPhone, you can get Hyperlapse from the App Store here.

----------------------------------

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

The Millennial's Choice For Social Networks

Millennials love their smartphones and they love their social networks. Here's an interesting Statista infographic derived from comScore and Mobile Metrix info that shows their most popular social networks while using their phones.

What's interesting is that Facebook is still the number 1 choice by far, followed by Instagram and Snapchat. Now you can see why Snapchat turned down a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook last year.

What this chart tells artists, bands and musicians is that no matter how badly you feel treated on Facebook, don't give up on it yet. It can still be a powerful marketing tool if you know how to use it.

----------------------------------

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

Vine Migrates To The Web

Vine, Twitter's answer to Instagram, has released it's latest version complete with some new features that may be of interest to artists, bands and fans. Vine is known for its 6 second videos, which is a lot longer than it seems and can be used in surprisingly creative ways.

Until recently, the network was only available through the Vine mobile app, but the service has now launched a website that allows browsing through a desktop computer. The new website (vine.co) also features enhanced search functions that weren't previously available, allowing the user to browse the entire network for specific videos, all without having to register.

The user can search by not just by video title, but by location, user name or tag. The site has also divided its content into "channels" that are very specific, such as animals, places, people, trending, most popular, and more.

The one thing that you can't do from the site is upload a video, which is still reserved for the mobile app.

Vine can be an interesting tool for an artist or band, enabling brief video snippets of shows, behind-the-scenes, back stage, rehearsals, studio recording, and more. Some find that Instagram has more features, but Vine's proponents say that it's simpler to use.

----------------------------------

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