If you have ever had any of your music re-tweeted by a bunch of people you will know that it can be an instant source of new fans for your music. There is no doubt that Twitter music promotion needs to be on your radar.
But is it possible to ‘decode’ the mysterious ‘re-tweet’ so that we can create more followers on demand?
This is the question I asked myself a couple of weeks ago, and one that I will be trying to answer in this post.
What I’ve noticed so far is that some posts will get maybe 3-4 re-tweets, and some will get 20-30.
…why is this?
The first thing I did was look around for people who get the most Twitter action and watched their stuff like a hawk. These Twitter masters tweet a lot and often re-post the best of their own work over and over.
…but rather than be labeled “spammers” they pick up a whole bunch of new followers each time they post.
Interesting!
The first thing to realise is that clever tweets and the best music will always get spread most, but there is more…
Understanding Twitter First
Unlike Facebook or any other social network Twitter is always updating, and for most people trying to catch every tweet in their stream is just not possible.
People dip in and out like a buffet, which is important to remember when making a Twitter plan to market your music.
For instance, you might only post once per day at the moment, or feel bad about sending more than a couple of tweets about something cool you have done. But the fact is that your followers will be online at different times of the day. This means that if you continue with a low post count, 80% of your followers may miss some music that you spent hours creating.
Your work will be lost forever!
So the simple answer to this problem is that you need to tweet more.
Why should you keep tweeting your best new work AND old school stuff?
- The number of tweets on your Twitter widget will go up which shows people your stuff is popular, plus each time you post your work may be spread by a few more people which will also swell your re-tweet count.
- Your website hits will also go up because you’re hitting a larger percentage of your audience.
- You will get more followers naturally.
- Engagement with your fans will be deeper as you have the opportunity to create a conversation.
I know that a song you wrote three years ago does not seem very relevant to what you are doing now, but most fans will not know the difference and they will be just as impressed by your older work.
Also, if you are getting new followers on Twitter every day then you need to keep reintroducing people to your stuff, and having a large amount of music to tweet will keep your long term fans happy as well.
But I know that a lot of you might be worried that you will annoy your followers, so let’s address that point now.
What Will Followers Think About You Tweeting More?
Since I started using this strategy with a couple of musicians, I have been closely looking for any complaints from fans, and so far I have not noticed anything at all. I even went so far as to ask the followers directly if they thought the artist was overly self-promotional, and the answer was a big fat no.
There might be 2% of people that will get annoyed and un-follow you, but to be honest this is the same 2% who would refund your album or be constantly moaning about getting emails from you.
From my point of view I would rather them not follow along in the first place.
I’m so cold 
What Time Of Day Should You Tweet
“The Gurus” seem to have all different theories about the perfect time to post, but I have found that it’s quite random and is something that needs to be tested with each set of followers.
You should set up your tweeting schedule to try and target your audience whenever they might be online, because there will be times when they are just scanning and other times when they will be more likely to click through and listen to your music.
If you use a tool like Social Oomph you can set up a tweet to go out every two hours throughout the day which should cover all the bases.
That way you have a good chance of catching your followers no matter what country they might live in.
Obviously you should also mix in non promotional tweets and cool stuff you find from other bands to keep things fresh.
Don’t Let The Conversation Die
You must also make sure that you monitor what is being said about your postings because the worst thing you can do is let a good conversation die.
To make this a little easier you can use a tool like Tweet Deck to keep track of everything right from your desktop.
Another good option is to keep up-to-date on your smart phone with the Twitter mobile app.
Warning: Reserve an hour out of each day to work on Twitter otherwise it might take over and make you very unproductive.
Be Smart With This Method
Think of Twitter like a party, if you turn up and only talk about yourself the whole time people will ignore what you have to say after a short while.
It’s fine to tell people what you do as long as you also promote other great music, tell a few cool stories and let people engage with your life.
Don’t get stuck in the self-promotional trap. If you always focus on providing a great experience for your followers then you should be fine.
Let’s Test This Out Together
I’ll be using this method over the coming weeks and sharing my results with you, but why not come along on the journey with me and try it out for yourself.
At the end of the day, if you make music and nobody is listening you are just a dude with a guitar, this is depressing and will lead you on the long road to quitting after a few years.
So we all need to learn marketing. In fact we need to become as good at marketing as we are at making great songs.
Maximizing your impact on Twitter is just one example of becoming a marketing Jedi.
How are you promoting your work in 140 Characters? Let me know in the comments below and we can have a chat about it.
- Chris
P.S If you want a little bit of help building up your twitter followers this is a cool program you can use
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