Lindsay Ell
STONEY CREEK RECORDS artist LINDSAY ELL doesn’t consider herself a social media expert, but she still spends about six hours a day on social media platforms replying to fans. So she had plenty of useful advice during the “Digital And Social Media Boot Camp” panel on FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH during COUNTRY RADIO SEMINAR in NASHVILLE. The best thing for fans and listeners is to show your personality, she suggested, because your audience will want to follow you on all your social media platforms if they feel more connected. She also recommended “quality over quantity.”
ELL broke down her top social media platforms starting with TWITTER, explaining this not a platform to over-post, unlike other social outlets. She suggested that content be spread out throughout the day. Targeting influencers and like-minded pages allows you to start a dialogue by retweeting or helping others’ tweets going viral, which then leads to momentum, she said. There’s also a right and wrong way to use hashtags, and ELL admitted to having used them incorrectly on other platforms. “There is no perfect way to do it,” she said. Using hashtags during topical events (e.g. GRAMMYs, Super Bowl, etc.) or creating your own hashtag (e.g. a tour hashtag) makes it easily searchable for the audience, helping them engage with your posts. But using too many hashtags clutters your post and can be annoying to read.
“FACEBOOK is a little less immediate,” said ELL. But she is a big fan of FACEBOOK LIVE because it’s a great way to engage with the audience through the comments, and the video stays on your page forever and will continue to gain views.
Finally, ELL said, INSTAGRAM is about consistency, so she posts there a minimum of once a day. Less than that, she said, and you aren’t committing to growing your page. Examples of well-liked content on INSTAGRAM are: selfies; awards show snaps; puppies; babies; funny holiday traditions, and relatable, sappy posts. INSTAGRAM STORIES offer a different angle because the minute you post on your Story, you pop up at the top of followers’ feeds when they open up the app. Posting consistently every few hours throughout the day on your INSTA STORY will allow you to stay at the top of the feed,” she said.
Later in the panel discussion, OPRY ENTERTAINMENT’S “THE SET LIST” Producer/Host JILL WILDERMAN spoke about the importance of finding your audience and acknowledging what that audience is hungry for. Learning how to work the camera is crucial to bringing in the audience, she said, especially when interviewing artists. Incorporating a storytelling feel in your videos will allow your channel or page to gain an organic reach.
Lastly, SPOTIFY’S NASHVILLE-based Head of Artist and Label Marketing BRITTANY SCHAFFER discussed the best practices for digital service providers. Her first tip is maintaining a conversation with the consumer, which she said is key to driving consumption. This means consistently releasing content. “An important key to engagement is to engage on social media and give your fans a call to action that drives engagement (stream, save, share, follow),” she said. Her second best practice is to know your audience and trust the data. For this, one must understand the algorithms of social media platforms. “The data speaks for itself.” SCHAFFER said. “That’s the reality.“
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