Build A Fanbase
The ultimate goal of using Twitter as a musician is to connect with your fans. So that means first you must have fans follow you on Twitter. Always be promoting your Twitter account to the audience at shows and your fans on other social networks such as Facebook or Google+. You can also link your various social network accounts together so that your tweets automatically get posted to your Facebook, or vice versa. Another approach that is useful when you have some recorded music and a few loyal followers already, is to use Tweet For A Track. Put up a song or two that are only available via Tweet For A Track. Your more faithful followers will tweet about you to their followers in exchange for the song download. As a result you can pick up a few more followers, who may just do the same thing.
Build Your Network
Getting fans to follow you is great, but that’s not really building your network. Instead build your network by following similar artists or music industry professionals. Interact with them the same as you interact with your followers. Favorite, re-tweet, and mention them in your own stream. Hopefully they may do the same for you, which then exposes you to their followers, or better yet toss an opportunity your way.
Create Better Tweets
1. Be Personal and Interesting
You can’t just tweet the “business” side of things. You won’t get followers that way. Sure, your followers want to know when you have some new shows booked or that new album coming out, but your followers will connect with you better if you get personal with them as well. Post some about what is going in your personal lives. A good rule to use is the 80/20 rule. Make 80% of what you post about things other than your music, and the rest can be about your music. Also reply to tweets and mentions to create further engagement with your followers.
2. Share Photos
Post photos of the audience at a show or something special you did for your stage setup on a certain night. See a funny road sign while driving to a gig? Post a picture of it. People like having things that engage their senses more. Adding the visual element to your posting will engage more of your fans.
3. Be Descriptive
When most people get started on Twitter, they post about everything they do. What they ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Where they are heading. As an artist, you should focus on being descriptive, but not about every little thing that happens. Tweet about things relative to what you do as a band and be descriptive about them. Tell about how your tour is going or how a specific gig went. Posting about an interesting pre-gig meal every now and then is fine, but leave the constant food posts to the food blogs. For example, you might post “Our bassist John Doe just had sushi for the first time! Don’t think the eel agreed with him.” Something like that is not the normal “I just ate…” post. It is interesting and descriptive by mentioning the sushi and specifically the eel.
4. Be Useful
Just got out a new guitar, amp, or other piece of equipment? Post a short opinion about it, or if you have a blog then create an in depth review for it and tweet the link. Just heard some interesting music news? Post about it. Not only are you providing information to your followers, but also if it becomes a trending topic then you can get great exposure to new people.
Retweet Others
Once you have started building a decent network by following various accounts, you need to start interacting with those people, especially those that could be instrumental in helping your career. What better way to build a connection with them than by retweeting some of their posts to your own followers? Not only will you be helping them, and may in return get help from them, but should these be “useful” posts then you will also be following that suggestion as well.
Use Hashtags
Hashtags are how Twitter organizes tweets centering on a certain topic. For example, let’s say you’re at a McDonald’s drive through, and decide to tweet about something on the menu. You could use the #McDStories hashtag to make the tweet searchable via the hashtag. Anyone who looks up that hashtag would be able to find your tweet even if they don’t follow you. Just don’t be a spammer and hijack unrelated hashtags. Better yet, create your own hashtags for things like an upcoming tour or album release information.
Get Fans To Promote You and Your Tweets
Tweet For A Track is great for some people, but not everyone has recorded music to share or likes the idea of essentially “bribing” your followers to tweet about you. Instead, just ask them. Not all the time obviously. Every now and then, post something really good and ask for a retweet. Or like so many bands do on Facebook, tweet to your followers to please tweet about you and your music to their followers.
Get Your Fans to Help You In Other Ways
Artist Amanda Palmer is a great example of someone who has done this successfully. She has done everything from getting donations and funding for completing a project to getting fans to help with lyrics. How did she do this? She just asked. Not only does she do all the other suggestions to gain fans, but she also further involves them by making them part of the creative element.