Brand and fan engagement is the lifeline to attracting and keeping music fans. Marketing experts agree that you have mere seconds to capture the attention of your audience and when you do, the pressure is on to keep it. That can only be accomplished through engagement.
What is Music Fan Engagement?
Fan engagement is the relationship between you and your music consumers. It consists of involvement and interactions, In short, it is keeping your listener’s attention and emotionally drawing them in.
Why Fan Engagement Matters
According to a study that was conducted on Microsoft, the average individual has an attention span of eight seconds. That’s not long. There four basic types of attention spans – selective, sustained, divided, and alternating.
Selective attention is the one to focus on when engaging fans. It is based on providing enough interest and stimuli to convince your viewer to choose your content and music above the options. This is where you must get creative.
Without fan engagement, you’ll lose your listeners. It is up to you to captivate their attention through whatever means you can and to find innovative ways on hooking them.
Benefits of Music Fan Engagement
The bottom line is that fans are the most imperative part of your music career. You would be nowhere without them but without you, they wouldn’t have your music, so it works both ways. Because they are such a vital part of what you do, it’s important to creatively engage them.
There are many advantages to engaging your music fans including:
1. Fan engagement helps you attract new listeners.
2. Fan engagement also gives you the opportunity to build even deeper relationships with your fans.
3. You will be able to convert fans into loyal fans by engaging them and making them feel a connection with you and your music.
4. Fans who engage are more likely to take action like downloading your music or buying your merchandise.
5. Engagement shows you appreciate and value your listeners.
6. Engaged fans don’t feel like they are wasting their time on your site or page.
7. Listeners who are engaged get excited about what you have going on and tell their friends and ultimately get you more followers.
Seven Suggestions for Engaging with Your Music Fans
These days, people are busy. You must make a big effort to engage your fans and even when you do, it can be challenging to succeed. Here are some tips on how to accomplish engagement:
1. Going Live.
Fans love when you perform live because it draws them into the action. If they can’t see you live in person, allow them the opportunity to catch live footage of your performances so they feel more a part of it.
2. Polls.
One of the most genuine methods of showing you care about what your audience thinks, feels, or believes is asking their opinion through polls. Get creative and come up with unique ones that draw them in and make them feel involved.
3. Question and Answer.
Regardless of whether you opt for putting Frequently Asked Questions up or going with organically generated ones, answering questions your fans have is thoughtful and makes for a great way to engage.
4. Start Conversations.
By finding innovative ways to start conversations on your page or site, you’ll bring fans into the action. Taking the time to really get a relationship going is key to becoming a music star in their eyes. Think of things you’d ask someone if they were a new friend you’d just met and get ideas from that.
5. Relative.
Keep your content relative so you aren’t losing your audience by going off on a tangent on subjects that don’t matter. Ask open ended questions that encourage them to say more. Let them know you want to get acquainted on a personal level because you care about them and what they are all about.
6. Storytelling.
Everyone loves a good story. Storytelling bonds you with your listeners and entertains them at the same time. OnlyFans is a social media platform that is ideal for telling stories of yourself, your music, your band, or anything else you can come up with.
7. Timing.
Timing is ultra-important. Research each platform you are on to find out the most conducive times of the day to post and which days are best to post on as well. Keep in mind and time differences, especially if you have audiences that live abroad. You may have to stretch a bit and be on sever. Schedules if you deal with various time zones.
8. Autographs.
Fans go nuts over signed autographs. You can think of intuitive ways for your followers to compete for your autograph be it on a piece of your music merchandise, on an album cover, or just on a simple piece of paper or a book like an autobiography or biography about yourself.
9. Messaging.
Believe it or not, one on one messaging is a constructive way to interact with fans. You can bet you’ll gain dedicated fans when you take the time to personally message them. One piece of advice is to save this communication and engagement method for loyal fans who you feel you can trust.
10. Spreading Love.
Whatever gestures you can throw out to your audience will be welcomed. Merchandise giveaways, special incentives, and free music downloads are all examples of sharing some love to keep engagement at its peak.
Now That You’ve Got Their Attention…
Keeping your fans’ attention is one of the most important things you must do as a music artist. If you need a little help making engagement happen, no problem. That’s what musician marketers do. They are professionals at drawing viewers in then keeping them through creative content, tried and true proven strategies, and all the things listed above. It doesn’t matter how you go about retaining and maintaining your audience as long as the end result is that they are entertained, informed, and well engaged.