While social media may receive a lot of criticism as a marketing tool, with many artists instead touting the virtues of old school methods of promotion, social media still holds a number of advantages over traditional media. Here we look at eight reasons why.
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Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0
Social media holds quite of number of advantages over traditional media when it comes to promotion. It’s the hub around which the online wheel that we live in today turns, and the following (inspired by marketing guru Simon Mainwaring) provides some of the reasons why.
1. Cost: Beyond your time and production costs, social media promotion is anywhere from free to very inexpensive. Traditional media has a high barrier to entry cost-wise.
2. Intimacy: Fans crave a personal interaction with the artist, band or brand and now it’s possible. Traditional media broadcasts to thousands or millions of people at once, which is far less intimate.
3. Targeting: A large portion of the audience that traditional advertising reaches doesn’t care about your message, which is a waste of money. Social media is able to target only those people that will respond to what you have to offer.
4. Nimbleness: Social media promotion allows you to respond to any changes in the market instantly, while traditional media requires a larger infrastructure that can’t move as quickly.
5. Measurement: Social media has a variety of tools that can provide all sorts of data that’s just not possible with traditional media.
6. Potential Growth: While a viral hit is unpredictable, just about any promotion has at least the chance of seeing exponential growth in a short period of time. Traditional media requires a significant investment to grow, and has nowhere near the possibilities provided by a post that’s gone viral.
7. Participation: Social media allows artist to fan, and fan to fan, interaction to take place, while traditional media does not.
8. Proximity: Social media allows communication and interaction anywhere in the world. Traditional media is limited to the areas of the media buy.
We’re lucky to live in a time where self-promotion is so inexpensive and easy. Once again, the biggest trick is knowing how to do it, and that takes some specialized knowledge to do it well.
You can read more from my Social Media Promotion For Musicians 2nd edition handbook and my other books on the excerpt section of bobbyowsinski.com.