Show off your songwriting chops

If you're a songwriter, why not ask your followers to suggest inspiration for your next composition?

You could invite them to come up with:

• A title for you to work from
• A subject for your next song
• Key words or phrases you could include

Now you've got a conversation.

But you've also created something else that's really useful. A reason for people to come back.

Let's say someone suggests the title for your next song. You could then post an update showing how you're getting on. Maybe you've written the chorus. Maybe you've changed the subject completely. Maybe their brilliant idea turned into something absolutely terrible. It happens.

Keep them involved. You could even invite them to a concert or live stream where you perform the finished song for the first time. Suddenly they're not just watching you make music. They're involved in it.

And that's a very different relationship.

Musical knockout

Ask your followers to suggest a song for you to cover.

You could just pick your favourite and leave it there. Or you could make it more fun.

Put two songs up against each other and ask your followers to vote.

Then promise to post a video of yourself performing the winning song at the end of the week.

Maybe even do it live. Then take the winner and put it up against another song.

Round two. Then round three.

Before you know it, you've created your own little musical knockout tournament.

The important bit isn't really the voting.

It's the reason to come back. Someone has picked a song. They now want to know whether their song won. So they come back to find out.

I actually use a similar idea for a radio station I manage. They put two songs, artists or albums head-to-head and ask people to choose their favourite. Then they have a reason to tune in at a particular time to find out which one won.

That's the trick.

Don't just give people something to watch. Give them something to look forward to.

Collaborate

I have to give full credit here to my Instagram friend Semaj Dee who does this regularly.

Gary Barlow also made plenty of collaborative content during the Covid-19 lockdowns, giving people another reason to come back and see who he'd be working with next.

The principle is simple.

Ask another musician to duet, collaborate or play with you on a video. It doesn't have to be complicated. A cover version will do.

For starters, you're meeting new musicians.

But more importantly, their followers get introduced to you and your followers get introduced to them.

That's potentially two audiences discovering something they didn't know existed.

Instagram's Collab feature makes this even easier. You can invite another account to co-author a post or Reel, meaning the content can appear to both audiences if they accept. And suddenly your content isn't only being shown to the people who already know you.

Stop chasing followers. Start building fans.

Here's the bit I really want you to remember.

A follower is just a number until there's a relationship behind it.

If you want those followers to start buying your music, coming to your shows or telling their mates about you, you need to give them a reason to care. And that starts with talking to them.

• Ask their opinion.
• Let them influence something.
• Give them a reason to come back.
• Show them what's happening behind the music.
• Let them feel like they're part of the journey.

Because when somebody has helped choose a song, suggested a title or watched something develop, they're no longer just watching a random musician on the internet.

They know a little bit about you.

And that's where a follower can start becoming a fan.

I love helping independent musicians turn attention into actual fans.



If you'd like some help figuring out what to post, how to use video or how to build a marketing plan around your next release, come and have a chat.