Everyone you know is on Facebook. Even my mom is on Facebook. She still can barely check her email, but Mom knows how to upload vacation photos to her Facebook account and post comments on my “Wall.” If you are not on Facebook, you might be the only one. Or perhaps you are using Facebook socially, but you’re unclear about how to use it to promote yourself as a singer. Either way, this article is for you.
First of all, if you’re confused about how to put yourself out there as a musician on Facebook, don’t feel bad. It’s not your fault. It can be confusing. There are multiple options for reaching out to fans on Facebook. Some artists choose one, while others spread themselves across all musician platforms.
As a musician on Facebook, you will be dealing with two separate and very different accounts, your Profile and your Page. Facebook’s tool for artists is the Page, but you can’t manage a Page without a Profile, so we’ll start there.
The Profile
If you don’t already have a Profile on Facebook, create one immediately. This is a personal account where you can fill in as much or as little information about yourself as you want, and then you “friend request” people you know. When they approve your request, you become friends with access to each other’s Profiles. You also get constant updates on whatever your friends choose to share with their personal friends network, from links to articles and videos to posts about their current musings or doings.
If you’re new to Facebook, you’ll want to take some time familiarizing yourself with the interface. Update your status to talk about what you did in your coaching today. Write on your coworker’s Wall just to say hi. Friend request everyone you know (whom you don’t mind knowing all about your life).
Explore the random gifts, notices, and requests people send you through various applications. This part gets a little odd—you will receive everything from virtual cups of Starbucks to requests to save the environment by sending imaginary fish. There is even a “Classical Singer Gifts” application, where you can receive a pretend gift of costume jewelry or a contract with the Met. These toys are beloved by some but irrelevant to our larger purposes. You may choose to humor them or to block such applications altogether.
The main use for your Profile, besides to manage your Page, is to network with singers and industry professionals you know. Every time you are in a production, meet singers at an audition, or attend a social event, it’s the norm for anyone whom you’ve spoken to for more than two minutes to ask if you’re on Facebook and offer to friend request you as soon as they get home (or, for us iPhone users, on the spot!). From that point on, you will be updated about your new friends’ upcoming events (including where they’re singing and with whom), see contacts they add (maybe they know someone you would like to meet), and just read and respond to little things about their lives—a light, low-maintenance way to maintain a friendly connection.
But what if you want to promote yourself to people you don’t know? What if you want people to be able to find out about your concerts without knowing all about your private life? What if you find yourself inundated with friend requests from people you don’t know to the point that you reach the 5,000-friend limit on Profiles?
Then it’s time for you to create your Page.
The Page
A Page, unlike a Profile, is public—viewable and addable by everyone, and without your permission. Most importantly, this friendship is a one-way street: people become your “fans” rather than your “friends.” When they add your Page, they don’t automatically get access to your personal Profile. You can add your music, videos, and upcoming performances to your Page for all your fans to see. And the number of fans you can have, unlike the number of friends, is unlimited.
So let’s get started. Go to www.facebook.com/pages/create.php, select “Artist, Band, or Public Figure,” and then select “Musician” from the drop-down menu. Finally, type in your stage name or whatever it is you want your Page listed under, and then click “Create Page.”
The next part is pretty self-explanatory. You add information about yourself, upload photos, list your influences, maybe import your blog if you keep one. And, of course, you should add your upcoming events—all your operas, concerts, and other public appearances that you want to draw an audience to.
Slightly less self-explanatory, you can edit which applications appear on your Page. Of course you want Photos and Music Player, but if you’ve never performed on an album, you might want to delete Discography. Maybe you want to add iLike (explained in the sidebar) or My Merch Store.
After providing all this information, you still have to publish your Page. This is done with a simple click, and now you’re “on the air.” Now you need adoring fans. You can start by becoming a fan of yourself. That is, your Profile becomes a fan of your Page. Then you can post your Page to your Profile, to make sure all your Facebook friends (and their friends and friends of friends . . . ) see it in their News Feed. Finally, you can use the “Share” option to send a message to all your friends, requesting that they become your fan, or at least have a look at your Page.
At this point, if all goes according to plan, your fan base should expand virally. When someone becomes your fan, this update automatically gets posted in the News Feed of their friends, who just might think to themselves, “Hmm . . . Steve has become a fan of Amanda White. Who is this Amanda White? What is so great about her that Steve is her fan? I must investigate!” And when they go to your Page, hopefully they’ll listen to your music and then become fans themselves. And that will start the cycle all over again, as their friends see the News Feed posting that they are now fans of yours.
You can send updates to everyone who’s signed up on your Page as a fan, as well as provide a forum for your more enthusiastic followers to virtually gather and discuss you and all things you-related. Now you’re on your way to Facebook superstardom!
