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May 22, 2023 • 5 mins read
Is Facebook still important for emerging musicians?
Wondering if you really still need to be active on Facebook in this day and age as an emerging musician? We think so! Let us tell you why.
Alright, so Facebook – I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of it, right? It’s this massive social network where people post pictures, share updates, connect with friends, join groups, and even run businesses. It started out as this small project by Mark Zuckerberg and his college buddies in 2004, and now it’s one of the biggest websites in the world. It’s changed a lot over the years, but at its core, it’s about connecting people.
Now, about Meta. In late 2021, Facebook Inc., the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus, decided to change its name to Meta Platforms Inc., or Meta for short. Zuckerberg, the big guy behind all of this, announced that the company’s focus would be shifting towards creating what he called the “metaverse”.
The metaverse, as Zuck describes it, is this virtual reality space where you can work, play, socialize, you name it, kind of like in sci-fi movies. It’s not just about using your computer or smartphone; it’s about immersive experiences that could involve VR headsets, AR glasses, and who knows what else they come up with.
So, Facebook is still Facebook, the social media site we all know (and some love), but Meta is the big umbrella company that owns Facebook and is trying to build this futuristic virtual world.
Aside from being one of the largest social media platforms in the world, Facebook also has some other tricks up its sleeve.
You may not like Facebook and think it’s irrelevant or for “older” people, but if you are on Instagram, which you absolutely should be – then you are shooting yourself in the foot if you aren’t also on FB.
There is a lot of integration between Facebook and Instagram. If you don’t have a FB account, you are missing out on some special features that this integration offers. For example, you can connect your Facebook and Instagram messages so you can receive and reply to either on one platform.
You can advertise directly from Ads Manager to both Facebook and Instagram in a very targeted way. If you don’t have FB, your ability to advertise on Instagram is quite limited and broad.
Sharing posts and stories can be done from one platform to another. Once you build an Instagram post or story, you are often given the option to share via FB as well. This is an easy way to get more reach and engagement instantly. However, there are problems that arise from this also – when you tag pages on Instagram they do not actively cross over to FB. This means that if someone wanted to click through to that handle on FB, they will not be able to.
One of the best integrations that FB has is Meta Business Suite. Meta allows you to schedule posts to both Facebook and Instagram seamlessly. You can create separate posts with the correct handles, links, and hashtags for each. You can even schedule each of the posts to publish on different days. Meta has the ability to schedule stories and reels, but this is still a bit patchy and could use work.
Ads Manager is one of the cheapest platforms to advertise on. For as little as $5 a day, you can advertise on Facebook or Instagram. Given the vast amount of data and targeting that FB has at its disposal, this is an incredibly cheap price. Compare this to Tik Tok or Snapchat which have a buy-in cost of $500 minimum spend for advertising.
You can also choose to specifically target Instagram followers or Facebook followers on this platform and Ads Manager offers suggestions and tips along the way to help your ad perform better. However, people are often fooled by the “front end” of Facebook ads. The front end is on Meta Business suite and allows you to create a basic ad with very little complexity. This is great one would think! Only, it isn’t. When you use the front end to boost or publish an ad, you let Facebook choose your audiences to target. Generally, in order to get you higher results, Facebook will target broader and less relevant audiences. This means that they are targeting audiences for the sake of clicks, not for the sake of relevance or interest. Those people may give you 10k views on your single video, but you may never see them return to your page again.
It is more strategic to use Ads Manager properly to target audiences that are either following you, has engaged with your pages, or are very similar to your current followers. You are more likely to grow your following and networks this way!
Facebook Events is like your digital invitation tool. You create an event right there on Facebook, name it something catchy, add all the details like where it’s happening, when it’s going down, and what’s gonna happen. You can even add cool photos or videos to make it look extra inviting.
Once your event is all set, you can invite your Facebook friends to it, or if you want it to be a big bash, make it public so anyone can see and join. Then, people can RSVP right on the event page, letting you know if they’re going, interested, or can’t make it.
They can also see who else is going, start discussions, ask questions, and you can post updates too. It’s like having a mini-website for your event, and it’s super easy to manage.
Aside from the ease of the tool, Facebook events are a key feature that collects important data. When people RSVP, even if people don’t end up attending your gig, you now know they were interested at some point. You can use this information and so can Facebook Ads Manager! Did you know you can retarget people who clicked attending or interested in your events? Maybe they didn’t physically attend this time, but a bit of marketing might be the thing that encourages them to attend the next show.
In addition, what other social platforms have such an easy event-creation tool? Facebook events are an easy way to let everyone know about your upcoming gigs in record time. Furthermore, the events feature has some cool integrations with ticketing platforms and depending on which one you use, you can have the tickets available in the Facebook event itself which means that patrons don’t even need to leave the page to purchase.
Facebook Insights is a powerful analytical tool that provides detailed metrics about the performance of your Facebook Page. It’s designed to assist businesses, marketers, and social media managers in understanding the behavior and demographics of their audience, and to optimize their social media strategies accordingly.
With Facebook Insights, you can track a variety of metrics, such as the reach of your posts (the number of people who saw your post), and engagement (the number of people who liked, commented on, shared, or clicked on your posts). It also provides insights into the best times to post based on when your audience is most active on Facebook.
Moreover, you can delve into the demographic details of your audience, including their age, gender, and location. This information is invaluable for crafting targeted content and advertisements.
And finally, it’s absolutely free! All you need is a business account and it will start tracking your insights. This is Facebook’s way of offering you a boost when it comes to marketing strategy. Make sure you look at these frequently to help gauge your growth and levels of success.
So, should you be on Facebook? Heck yes, unless you want to miss out on all of the useful features mentioned above!
Want to know more about social media? Read our recent blog >> Best social media platforms for musicians.
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