So fed up of trying to grow on social media. HOW do you do it?!?!

[OnTheFerry]

AIBU to just give up?

I've been trying to grow a following on social media for the best part of 2 years, having recently started taking it much more seriously in the last year.

I feel like I am on there all the bloody time, engaging, posting, following the 'rules' (hooks, SEOs etc). I am trying to make engaging content to the best of my ability, but STILL I am getting nowhere.

I make videos in my niche (music), engage with similar accounts etc etc.

Can anyone give me any other advice I can use? I just despair. I'm finding it so soul destroying but can't give it up as it's such a huge part of the industry now days!!

Thank you, from a desperate music maker!!

Being blunt but are you good enough and do you have "the look" and lifestyle for your niche? What's your USP for your specific take on your style?

Can you do some online lessons - snapshots of how to master tricky technique, the history of your genre, dance styles that go along with it etc?

Probably not to be honest - I just get so overwhelmed by it all!! Are there people you can pay to help with all this stuff?! My actual art is great, I'm just crap at the rest of it!!

You need a Social Media manager, but if your thing is so niche are you going to get much buy in any way?

With what you are putting out and producing would you want to follow you? And if not why not?

I never click Music stuff on social media ; there is too much of it and the sound is crap when played on my phone - is social
Media the right way to be promoting your stuff? I do regularly pay to see small gigs though

I think its really hard these days now that everything is reels and mostly it just seems like the luck of the algorithm whether you will gain traction or not. I've got a large following on an account I don't use anymore(I just got fed up with it) and it was so much easier when it was just hashtags and pretty pictures. You could try threads and bluesky? Bluesky is taking off at the moment so getting in there now might be easier than elsewhere?

Give up and get a proper job.

Is this Instagram? If so, try tik tok or YouTube. Good luck with it!

Make a mistake - your engagement will go up with people falling over themselves to correct you and the number of comments will mean you will reach a wider audience. Eg. I saw someone post a recipe for 3 ingredient brownies and then list the 4 ingredients needed. Thousands of comments all saying "there are 4 ingredients".

Not sure what the musical equivalent is!

Can you do some gimmicky posts? Record yourself playing a piece backwards and then play it in reverse to see if you hit all the right notes? Play something on a kids xylophone?

Honestly I think the ship has mainly sailed. Quite a few got lucky in lockdown when everyone was sat at home on their phones but since then it's a lot harder

This might work, but aren't you a bit ashamed of yourself for encouraging the OP to fill the internet with yet more slop?

Well you've engaged with my comment, so I guess it works!

I'm not saying do that and nothing else, I'm saying it is a way to get more engagement which is what she asked.

Feel free to make your own suggestions of how to do this. Or feel free to not engage with this internet slop.

Touche! I guess that I see mumsnet AIBU as a sort of internet swamp (prosecco 4chan) where there is nothing of value, but youtube actually has some good stuff on it. Putting influencer slop on youtube is like farting in company.

Like the spelling mistake on Open All Hours!

You have to have a spark and be interesting. Forcing it is also obvious so post what you enjoy filming.

OP what’s your aim with the social media?

I run 2 music accounts quite unsuccessfully tbh 😂 it’s just all bullshit and phoney and I actually hate it. But then you’ll every so often make an awesome connection.

Anyway, do you actually need to have a big following on insta, to meet your goals or whatever? For example we are run off our feet with gigs, doing things in the real world, but not massively bothered by growing more nationally/internationally because we all have kids and are busy working musicians etc.

You should see social media as a place that you share what you are doing.

As a music maker, what are you actually doing in real life? How are you building your community in real life? That matters way more. Some people have only 1k followers and a strong solid community - they are out doing gigs and with the right support or competition they can grow what they have.

Some people have 100k followers but can’t turn them into fans/profit.

What do you want social media to do for you?
What are you giving to others? Why should I care?
What are you doing to put your music out there in real life? Are the completions you can join etc?

I think you have to be quite niche.

So find the thing/post that people really liked or engaged with and do it again. And again.

For eg, there is that busker (can't remember her name!) who posts on insta about the hassle she gets from passersby: 'I'm going to ring the council' etc. She does this over and over and gets lots of views which lead people to her music.

Or Anna Lapwood, the organist who posted her rehearsal vids playing inside the Albert Hall etc and then continued to post just that - and now she is mega famous.

It's a bit chicken and egg though for sure. Do you go to SM on the back of a successful song. Or do you hope SM will find the audience for your song?

(Edited to add, obviously these people are also mega-talented so they had the substance to back up the viral, if that makes sense?)