The Ultimate Guide to Twitter for Musicians

With various social media platforms available for artists to utilize as a promotional tool, Twitter is often disregarded as an option. With 353 million monthly active users, a question that begs to be answered is why does Twitter receive such treatment? Oddly enough, Twitter is the platform of choice for fans.

Unlike Instagram and TikTok, Twitter does not limit its users to one content-sharing medium. For instance, fans on Twitter are given a chance to share their adoration for their favorite artists through images, videos, 280-character Tweets, and audio messages. With such variability, itt serves as the perfect space for fans, but artists tend to neglect its potential. Here is an ultimate guide to Twitter that will prove the platform is fit for artists!

CUSTOMIZE YOUR ACCOUNT

In order to garner attention for your musical talents, you need to customize your account. More importantly, you need to establish yourself as an artist. This can be accomplished through the following:

• Obtaining a concise username that includes your artist name (Bonus tip: aim for consistency with your other social media usernames)
• Using a clear image of yourself as the profile picture
• Writing a brief biography consisting of SEO keywords that showcases your personality and talents
• Including any relevant links for fans to explore you beyond the Twitter space (Ex. A link to your latest single release).

As we have mentioned before, first impressions matter. Take time to curate your brand look and incorporate it into your profile styling.

FOLLOW USERS

Curating innovative tweets is a bit of a challenge when you are initially familiarizing yourself with Twitter, so let us start by following other artists! We recommend following users that align with your musical career goals. This includes: rising artists within the same genre as you, any label or management team that you currently or aspire to work with, fellow artists you have previously worked with, or musical role models that serve as beams of inspiration.

Next, follow users that provide regular updates on the music industry. As we know, the industry is consistently growing and evolving. In order to thrive successfully as an artist, it is important to remain up to date with the latest music trends, releases and general news. This includes any journalists and news publications that you enjoy reading.

We save the best category of users to follow for last: your fans. These individuals deserve the utmost appreciation and praise because they provide you a platform to share your music. In order to reciprocate the love, follow your fans! Although you may not see it as an act of grand significance, it means a lot to your fans.

FOLLOW TOPICS

A unique feature to Twitter is its “Topics” tab, which essentially provides users an opportunity to follow topics of interest that will personalize Tweets, events and advertisements that appear on their feed, also known as a timeline. The platform generates a suggested list of Twitter Topics to follow based on individuals you follow or Tweets you favorite. Once you follow a Topic, you will see an influx in Tweets and news related to it appear on your timeline.

Topics function similarly to hashtags as they intend to increase user visibility. The only difference is that hashtags are no longer necessary to trend on Twitter– a simple SEO keyword will suffice. It is important to remember this when curating tweets of your own!

This is a great tool for musicians as it brings exposure to accounts who are looking to expand their following list with other users who share similar interests. In addition, it benefits the artists themselves as it grants them a chance to be featured on the timeline of another user, further increasing their exposure and audience on the platform.

TWEET REGULARLY

Twitter is an ideal platform for music promotion because of the various content formats it supports. Although the application is mainly viewed as a text-based sharing platform, users have the opportunity to share their content through photos, videos, and audio! This provides artists ample room for creative freedom to dictate what to post and which format they wish to do so.

Here are a few ideas of what you can tweet on your account to help you get started:

• Updates from the studio or tour bus
• Teasers and countdowns for new music releases
• Reminders about concerts, live performances, public appearances, and much more.
• Images of art concepts from the latest music project
• Short behind the scenes clips of music recordings, photoshoots, interviews, etc.

As mentioned previously, there is a possibility your tweets will appear on another user’s timeline if you incorporate a Twitter Topic keyword. To attract potential followers, it is recommended that you equip your tweets with a variation of media formats such as audio, links, videos, etc.

In addition, take advantage of Twitter’s threading feature which allows users to continue one single tweet through a chain of subsequent tweets. In action, this feature allows users to view the initial tweet and follow along with upcoming tweets as they all remain in one Twitter window. It is a convenient method of telling stories to fans, updating them on your music endeavors or even announcing tour dates!

INTERACT WITH USERS

Twitter is all about social interaction, so interact with users you see on your feed, also known as your timeline. If you find content admirable, comical or even interesting, it never hurts to express that to the creator. Start a conversation and continue the interaction!

A good method of practice is by tagging venues that you performed at or brands that align with your artistic style. Users are generally notified when accounts tag them in tweets, so they will most likely retweet the post. Thus, increasing your exposure to their followers in addition to your own.

Utilize the ‘retweet’ and ‘favorite’ function when you see a tweet that you enjoy but do not necessarily feel the need to add commentary to. In contrast, utilize the ‘reply’ and ‘quote retweet’ function to incorporate commentary to tweets posted by yourself or other users.

As this guide is tailored for musicians, we cannot forget to mention that it never hurts to engage with fans! These groups of admirers create fandom communities within Twitter and they formulate plans to gain public exposure for their favorite artists as a collective. They play an essential role in breaking a rising artist into the industry. Therefore, it is important to demonstrate actions that indicate that they are heard and appreciated. Reply to their tweets with tokens of gratitude and set time aside to host Q & As so they can learn more about you! This small task on your part means a lot to them– they will not forget it and they will not forget about you.

TWITTER ANALYTICS

Similar to other social media platforms, becoming well-versed in the realm of analytics is beneficial as it assists music promotion and marketing. Twitter provides valuable insights on how well your content is performing through Twitter analytics.

Here is a brief preview at what users can check through Twitter analytics:

• Tweet impressions– Utilize this information to view individual tweet performance on a daily, monthly, or 28-day basis. This information is vital as it provides users with metrics as to what style of content performs the best.
• Tweet engagements– This metric provides users with the number of interactions their tweet received. If certain content receives less engagement than others, you want to avoid tweeting similar content.
• Top Tweets– This category details what Tweets received the highest number of impressions. Similar to tweet engagements, take note of the content medium and keywords utilized in your top tweets to incorporate these details into future tweets.
• Follower growth and profile visits– These analytics provide insights into how many followers users gain or lose and the number of visits to their respective profiles. If you notice an influx or drastic decrease in followers, check your tweet engagements to determine what content produces that effect.
• Video Content Performance– For those utilizing the video format, this analytic can track video views and user retention rate. This information assists you in tailoring your videos within a certain time frame that will guarantee video viewing completion.

All of these measurements contribute to the success of your Twitter profile! Make sure to check in on your Twitter analytics on a daily basis to see what style of content performs well and poorly. Overall, it strengthens your content, thus increasing your reach on Twitter.

TWITTER ADS

In conjunction with Twitter analytics, the platform offers users an opportunity to promote their content in order to increase engagement among existing followers and other Twitter users. As stated by Twitter, “these advertisements are labeled as ‘Promoted’ when an advertiser is paying for their placement on Twitter.”

Similar to other tweets, any user can interact with “Promoted Ad” tweets through replying, favoriting and retweeting. However, these tweets are more visible as they appear at the top of relevant search results, timelines, and user profiles. The process to promote a Tweet is fairly simple, but it requires an advertising budget. You are required to input billing information during the application process, and users are free to spend anywhere between $10 to $2,500.

We do understand that this is not a viable option for many as it requires financial resources. However, if you have the means, it is a good way to promote your upcoming single or music video release on the platform! Twitter will send your Tweet to individuals who have similar interests as your followers, therefore they will only show individuals who will appreciate your content. The duration of your promoted Tweet depends on your budget, follower count, and much more. However, Twitter will notify you once the promotion concludes.

CONCLUSION

As we have learned, there are various elements that contribute to a successful Twitter account. Many artists may find the multimedia platform’s interface and style of content difficult to assimilate to. However, establishing a presence on any social media platform requires time, effort and persistence. Similar to other aspects of life, it is a learning process, but this is the beauty of social media promotion. Everything is based on trial and error. Remain patient because it will pay off the long-run. Through this guide, you should be able to navigate Twitter like a professional!

Contributor: Ashley Torres