When crafting your online presence, there are various steps and techniques you can choose to follow to help create social media pages your fans will love. But when it comes to incorporating who you are and what you personally love into your brand, things can get tricky. It can be difficult to know what aspects of your personal life are okay to share with your audience and what’s best kept to yourself. Below you’ll find some tips, advice, and inspiration to help you with personal branding on social media.
A Personal Touch Creates Genuine Connections
Posting about yourself and what matters to you in your day to day life helps inspire genuine connections between you and your fans. It humanizes your online image and shows your audience that while you do create unique, amazing music, you’re also a regular person just like them. Not only are you talented, but now you’re also relatable. Being relatable and human creates the groundwork for some seriously dedicated fans.
Don’t Overshare
Being authentic and personal is great, but only to a point. Oversharing can come across as desperate, out of touch, and annoying. Before you post anything about your personal life, ask yourself if it’s something you would be comfortable telling to a random stranger or announcing on live TV, because that’s essentially what you do every time you post to the internet.
When it comes to family, especially your kids if you have them, it’s important to set boundaries. While you’ve signed up for fame, those close to you might not be okay with the possibility of being recognized by strangers in their day-to-day lives. This can also unfortunately be a safety issue. Keeping your family off your social media completely might be something to consider if you’re concerned about backlash from anyone regarding your brand, music, interests, or personal identity.
Share What You Care About
Your social media audience is a great group with which to share topics you care about. This can be related to non-profit organizations, social justice movements, or even other brands. But when you do this, make sure it’s in moderation unless it’s a major part of your music and brand. If you haven’t established these organizations or interests as pillars of your aesthetic or a significant part of your day to day life, your fans likely aren’t going to want to see that sort of content regularly. Doing so can seem out of place or come across as virtue signaling, both things you want to avoid.
Ask Yourself: Does This Relate To My Music?
No matter what you’re posting, it’s good practice to ask yourself this question. At the end of the day, you and your fans are here for the music. Not every single post needs to directly relate to your art but the majority should.
Stick To Your Aesthetic
Whether it’s music related, a random thought, something you care about, or something cool you saw today, make sure you’re sticking to your brand’s visual aesthetic. This is vital to making social media algorithms work to your advantage and keeping a professional image. As an Intercept artist you have access to Canva for help in creating aesthetically minded posts that feel true to you and your brand.
If You’re Unsure, Brainstorm Ideas!
If you’re still establishing a brand aesthetic, try brainstorming some ideas. Chances are you already know what kind of music you like to create, so start from there. Or if you’d like a bit more help you can use the list of questions below to help you explore how you want to exist on social media.
- Who inspires me?
- What parts of my life am I comfortable sharing?
- What parts of my life am I not comfortable sharing?
- What are three words that describe my visual aesthetic?
- What are three words that describe my music’s sound?
- What are three of my brand’s values?
- What are my passions?
- What drives me to create music?
- Are there other topics, movements, or hobbies that are related to my music? If so, what are they? Could they be used in some way as content?
- What are my music career goals?
Where To Find More Ideas & Inspiration
If you still need more help figuring out your aesthetic for social media branding, try looking at what your favorite well known artists are doing. Don’t ever imitate or copy anyone, but feel free to be inspired. For some people Pinterest can be a great place to find visual inspiration and ideas related to your aesthetic. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box, especially when brainstorming. If something doesn’t work you don’t have to use it, but it might pave the way for better ideas.
Personal branding is more an art than a science, and no one is perfect at it. These bits of advice are here to help you as you build your online presence, they aren’t meant to be an ultimate guide by any means. We hope that they serve as a framework for personal branding best practices and help you grow in your ability to navigate the strange world of social media. There might be a process of trial and error but after some practice you’ll find what works best for you, your music, and your fans.