Social ME-dia
I post somewhat regularly on Social Media, mostly focused on the artist advocacy work I do. I get a decent number of likes, shares, engagements and retweets. But my largest responses occur when I post pictures like the ones at the top and bottom of this page.
?
I hope it’s not a statement about the importance or relevance of my work.
What does it mean?
When I was at SiriusXM, I directed announcers to post materials to accompany what they were playing on the air. They got creative, and posted videos, articles and pictures that “extended the range and strength and influence of their individual shifts.”
Their posts received a notable number of “likes,” views and “engagements.”
But the posts that delivered stratospheric responses had very little to do with music, and specifically the music on their shifts.
What delivered the bigger numbers? One announcer was a gifted abstract painter. He posted pictures of his new paintings. Another host is a romance author whose characters are all musicians (beware of French Horn players). Another announcer had the gift for finding contemporary cultural relevance to certain pieces he would play on his shift.
This was true with the other SXM music channels as well.
You have two lives: artist and the other activities that define you – parent, teacher, spouse, foodie, tennis player, wine connoisseur or travel enthusiast.
Each informs the other. Each can coexist nicely.
Your fans would probably like to see what else lights your fire. Many of you are committed to outreach – post about those events, or be a tour guide for the cities where you perform; show off your amazing garden, or confess that your garden is a complete disaster – post almost anything that shows your other side…except for kittens and the amazing food you eat at restaurants. (I know…I’m no fun.)
I post what I think is interesting and hopefully helpful content for artists like you, but the numbers don’t lie. People like fun, the unusual and the joy of surprise.
Maybe posing with guys dressed like Hulk Hogan and wrestling “promoter” Jimmy “Mouth of the South” Hart and skeletons named Bertha show off my other side.
