Last week, I asked this list three questions about social media:
1) Which social media platforms are you using?
2) What strategies are working?
3) What’s not working?
Today, the results are in. Some of them, anyway.
Actually, out of the 12,649 people who received last week’s email, only 18 people responded to my survey. That’s a laughably small sample size, and it means that in all likelihood the data I’m about to share is not representative of this little email list, much less all musicians everywhere.
But still – while you can’t know the whole ocean from a single cup of water, a single cup of water will tell you that the ocean is salty.
My sample size is laughably small, but when it comes to social media, my survey is suggesting that you guys are pretty salty, too.
Here’s what I’m talking about.
This is a sample of answers to two questions. I think it gives you a good idea of the general mood of my respondents, which is eloquently summarized by that last line:
“social media suuuuuuuuuucks”
I imagine that this person has just fallen off the edge of a cliff. One moment they’re walking along, whistling, and then BOOM – the ground drops from beneath them, their eyes go wide, they plummet: “social media suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks” they scream in surprised frustration, voice petering to nothing as they fall into the black silence of the void.
I find this relatable.
Judging by 17 other responses, some other people do, too.
I was planning to make this week’s email an exploration of good and bad social media marketing tactics.
As I mentioned last week, I put out this survey rather selfishly; I’ve been struggling with using social media for my own music, and I was hoping to get a few strategic pointers from the wisdom of the crowd.
But given the results, I think it makes sense to reiterate two essential points to which I keep coming back:
You need to know why you’re doing things
It’s easier to do things that you like
First, ask yourself: Why are you using social media?
(And try to ask yourself this in a tone that’s sincere, not sardonic. If you’re like me, that’s hard.)
Is it because you feel strangely obligated? Is it because you want more people to hear your music? Is it because you watched a Nic D video and got the vague sense that you were missing out?
Your answer should shape your actions. On the other hand, if you don’t know the answer, your efforts are bound to be frustrating. Because social media is not designed to be inherently fulfilling; it’s designed to suck up your attention and hijack your focus.
Personally, I think my own lack of clarity about my goals is a large part of the reason I’ve found social media to be a grind. I literally wrote a couple of weeks ago that my point in using social media was to “try stuff,” which, it turns out, is not a great guiding light for marketing strategy.
Second, ask yourself if you like a given social media platform enough to use it well.
I’ve skipped sending this newsletter a few weeks over the past few years. But, in general, I’m able to stay relatively consistent with it because I happen to like writing.
On the flip side, I’ve skipped posting to Instagram almost every day – because I don’t like short-form content and feeds make me anxious.
You can think of this in terms of the following chart:
If the reward for something is really good, you can gut out an unenjoyable process. But the best, most consistent performers in any space value the outcomes and love the process.
So be honest with yourself.
If you hate TikTok, your odds of crushing it on TikTok are small. You either need to learn to love it (usually this means finding your own way of engaging with it well), or you need to acknowledge that it’s probably not your path to superstardom, then look for other avenues to the outcomes you want.
And, pro tip: Have some grace for yourself.
Okay, that’s about all I’ve got for today.
I think I’ve pretty well covered the gist of the survey responses, but it’s worth noting that there were also a couple of good tactical ideas buried beneath the mass of quiet desperation. So let me know if you’re interested in another newsletter unpacking some actual social tactics. (Or if you’re not.)
Either way, thanks, as always, for reading. Here’s hoping you’re encouraged knowing that other people are trying to figure this stuff out, too – and that at least a few of us are a little salty about it.
