PR & Marketing Coach and Sing! Dance! Act! Thrive! host Diane Foy answers your questions on social media, publicity, and marketing for musicians and actors.

Social Media, PR, Marketing for Musicians & Actors Q&A

TRANSCRIPT: [fyi:*”Done is better than perfect” is my motto for transcripts]

Hello and welcome to Episode 56 of Sing, Dance, Act, Thrive.

I’m going to do a solo episode, which I haven’t done for quite a while, and I’ve been on some panels and conferences and other podcasts, and I thought I would share with you some of the common questions that I get asked from musicians and actors. So if this is the first time you’re listening to me, I’m Diane Foy and I help musicians and actors attract fans, media and industry so that you can book gigs and make money with your talents.

Without feeling overwhelmed or doubting yourself. The performers that I work with have an unstoppable drive to succeed. However, they may lack a strategic plan to get there. If this is you, you may feel like you’re trying everything. Like attending conferences and taking courses and reaching out to industry experts for advice, but you still feel confused as to what course of action is right for you. You may be feeling completely overwhelmed, wasting time, money and energy, working on what you think you should be doing, but the lack of gigs, media and industry leave you frustrated and defeated.

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You know, social media and marketing is important. But you procrastinate. And often dismiss it as a waste of time. You may feel like you’ve been trying everything and it’s just not working, so then you dismiss it. Or you want to hire people to do the work for you so that you can focus on your craft. The problem behind these issues is often fear. of putting yourself out there. Fear of failure. Rejection. Or maybe even fear of success.

The other major problem is just a lack of knowledge on the how. Social media, PR or marketing is such a huge thing, even if you just picked social media. It’s too overwhelming, you you quickly dismiss it of I don’t have time for that. But the solution is to take your time. Build a solid foundation for your career. Get clear on what you really want. And why you want it. What is your goal? Why do you want to achieve it?

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What about that outcome makes you desire it? And why do you want that? Continue to ask yourself why until you get to the core reason you desire your goal. For myself, I’ve done this exercise so many times that. I still get to new levels each time I do it. I find an even deeper reason why. So, for example, my goal has always been to work with performing artists. And my initial answer to why is. I love arts and entertainment, I’m passionate about arts and entertainment, I love music, I love movies, I love theater, I love musicals, I love it.

So I want to be around it. So why do I want to make that my career or why have I chosen because I’ve been around for 16 some odd years now.

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Because I want to help performing artists succeed. Why do I want that? So. There’s more arts and entertainment out in the world. Why is that important to me? Because artists can change lives with their talent. It’s powerful. To go even deeper. Why? Why do I care? Because. No matter what was going on in my life when I was young or even now, I can escape to the world that. You musicians, actors, dancers, performers create.

I think also because when I was young, I was really shy, so. I admired performers because they seemed full of personality. They seemed fearless. They express themselves through creating and performing. And I can go even deeper I go to new levels keep coming every time I do this. Ultimately, I’m drawn to that because. Performers, you inspire me. You inspire me to be more open with who I am. To be more fearless. And to express myself through creating and in life.

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So you see, when you get to the core reason. It becomes a driving force. If my reason was just because I love arts and entertainment. Well, the obstacles and setbacks come up, it’s easy to quit. Push that to a hobby, get a real job, you know, but when you’re clear on your why? It’s a driving force, it’s a motivation, it’s I’m doing this no matter what, because it’s that important to me.

It’s gives me life. And I want you to feel that way about your art, your craft. Because building a career in the arts. As a musician or actor, dancer, whatever it is. It’s a tough go and many people will try and talk you out of it because. It’s hard to make money, it’s hard to get noticed. I have a backup plan, you know, but if this is what you really want. You have to have that focus and be willing to do the work.

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It’s not easy. So do the work that most people won’t do. And success will come consistency. Is another one. Consistency stay consistent. This is just a small tip from. The fan media and industry attraction roadmap that I coach musicians and actors on. Now, imagine waking up every day motivated, inspired and confident. And what your next steps are to move your career to the next level. Imagine auditioning with confidence, knowing that you’re putting your best self forward.

Knowing how to market yourself authentically. And building genuine connections with audiences. And ultimately booking quality work that inspires you and showcases your talents. If this describes some of what your ultimate goals are, the first step, I would say, is to download my free resource. How to attract fans, media and industry for musicians and actors, the 6C road,map to book gigs and make money with your talents. And you could do that at Sing, Dance, Act, Thrive, dot com, slash freebie.

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Once you download it, you’ll receive a few emails walking you through the getting started tips and then you’ll be invited to book a free coaching session with me. Because of My why. I really am behind you. I love my artists, I love musicians and actors and walking you through this step by step, because I’ve spent many years not knowing, trying to be all DIY, trying to do everything myself, trying not to spend too much money on so many different things that you need to do.

And I just floated. I never really got where I wanted to go. And, you know, I learned to have a clear plan of action. And the thing about having a coach is. I can get you to where you want to go faster, because I have this road map. I can walk you through it step by step, teaching you what you don’t know, supporting you while you learn it and implement it and build the foundation for your career.

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The rest of this episode is a Q&A, I recorded a Q&A with myself, the most common questions I get asked about social media, PR marketing for musicians and actors. And so I sat down and answered them all and didn’t write anything ahead of time except the questions that I get asked often. And it turns out that my microphone was not set up properly with my laptop. So it did record is just the sound of the rest of this episode is not going to be the best because it was just my laptop microphone and I don’t have it in me to.

Do it all over again, because I have no idea what I said, so and that’s the best, isn’t it? Just you get genuine off the cuff answers from me. And so I hope you enjoy it. Just excuse the audio quality.

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And for a transcript and links, visit, sing, dance, act, thrive. Dotcom slash, 05, 06. And here’s the rest of the episode, some of the most asked questions I receive. One of them is, do I really need a website? Yes, my quick answer is yes. It’s kind of a pet peeve of mine, but you don’t have a website because you might think, well, what do I need it for?

I have if you’re an actor, you have to be you have like your agent site. If you have an agent, like there’s industry sites with your info. If you’re a musician, you have sites as well. And then with social media, you have Instagram and Facebook and all these different sites. Why do I need a website? Because the website is your home base. It’s where I can find everything else about you, like as a publicist, as a media person, if you.

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If I want to know something about you, I want to have your website so that I might want to go see your Instagram first. An agent might want to go see your YouTube and watch your live performances. You know, every industry person is going to want something different and even a fan, they’re going to want to know everything about you.

So the website is home base, so it’ll have your bio. Professional photos, you can embed videos, your real. And then it definitely needs to have links to everywhere else that you are online. Your Instagram, your social media, everything. So that’s the answer for that. I’ve been asked which when it comes to social media. And you’re just starting out with social media. Should I be? Trying to be on everyone. Or just pick one, learn it and go on to the next.

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I think it depends on where you’re at. Maybe you’ve had Facebook for a long time and you think I really should be on Instagram. So then through Instagram and make that your focus, but you’re still going to probably post on Facebook. I would say if you’re completely new and you don’t, you just have personal sights, you don’t have anything for your career.

I would say set up your profiles on all the sites you want to make sure that your user name is the same on all these sites. That would be the first thing so like with me. Oh, my social’s. I’m DianeFoypr. It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s my name, PR, there you go, if you go on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, wherever, that’s my handle.

So you don’t want to be going oh I’m first name underscore last name official on Facebook and then I’m on Instagram. I’m my name and that’s it. And then on Twitter, I’m something else. You know, you need to have it consistent when you’re setting up your profiles, test it on all of them and make sure you can get the username that you want on all of the sites, because you might get just your first name, last name on one of them.

But then you go to the other and it’s taken. Think of something that you can add to your name.

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Maybe it’s your middle name, maybe it’s, you know, I wouldn’t I don’t really like the official or real unless you’re, like, super famous and you really do need that official.

And but, you know, you get the little check mark. So but if you’re not at that level. It seems kind of community like official or real anyways, but think about something that’s connected to what you do that you can add, you want to be very clear with what it is that you do.

And when it comes also to setting up your profiles, you want to make the same image on all of them. So pick your main profile image of you, of your face not hiding and make it the same on all platforms if you have a Facebook personal profile and a page.

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Then I would say put the same image that you put on Instagram and all these other sites on your page. And then have a different photo for your personal profile. That’s if you kind of keep your personal profile private, OK, if I was your publicist and I was posting about you, I would want to tag your public. Facebook page. Not your personal profile. Now, the advice kind of switches, I’ve recently switched my own Facebook because the pages are great, but now unless you’re paying for advertising, very few people are seeing your page posts, unless it’s very active with other people posting on it.

And so I’ve recently opened up my personal profile. I haven’t made it public, but I’m allowing people who are not really my friends, but if you’re kind of musician, actor, performer, industry person, that’s kind of the that’s going to be where I can best interact, make connections. People are actually going to see my posts and then. If I were to post in my group, everyone that’s my friend will get a notification that I posted in the group.

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More so than if I post in the group as my page. This is getting complicated. I know. So let’s shorten that answer, yes, OK, setting up profiles. I would. Set up a Facebook page. Even if you’re not going to advertise now, you want to at least get that going, but I wouldn’t make it your focus just because. It’s so hard to get noticed with your page, but it is a page. That will have it’s like a public page that everyone can see your basic info, and I would keep it up still post a post on it, just because, like when you do get to the point where you are wanting to advertise, then at least your page has some followers and it is somewhat active.

For us, that answer. These days, Instagram is like the one that most people focus on. But it depends on your demographic. You know, if you are. A musician who has. More of an older fan base. Then Facebook is where you want to be. And when it comes to tick tock, you know. I wouldn’t say you have to be on talk unless it’s something you want to do, but if your audience is young.

Then that’s where you got to be, so Instagram right now is kind of the middle ground for everyone and it’s where most people are focusing.

It’s where I’m focusing my efforts, so, like, if you were just starting out building your profile. I would concentrate on Instagram, and I know it gets confusing with. There’s the feed, there’s stories, there’s reels there, spy TV, all the it goes on and on, right.

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So I would just stick with your feet for now. Make a plan to post on your feed. Maybe if you’re just starting out three times a week. Then as you get used to that, I mean, the ultimate goal is to post every single day. So that’s another question I get asked like. How often do you post and do you post the same stuff on Facebook as you do Instagram? So I will answer that next.

So say you get in the habit of posting every day onto your feet. And that could be video, too, if you love doing videos and going on video, Golove, do that right. But if you’re still kind of shy about it, to start with your feet, make a point of posting every single day on your feed. When that becomes like a habit. Then at stories. Make a point of posting one story a day. And then when you get that becomes a habit.

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Work your way up to five stories a day. Basically, the more you post, the more Instagram will show what you post. So say, if you only do a story once a day in the morning and people don’t necessarily check their Instagram all day long, they’ll come home six o’clock, check their Instagram. Your story is not going to be there. It’s whoever posted most recently that’s going to be there.

But if you were to post every few hours. You know, five times a day. Your most recent one will put you back to the front line of the stories, and then when someone clicks it, they see everything you’ve posted in your stories for the last 24 hours. About video and going live, breathe again, just step by step, but don’t try and do everything at once because you’ll get frustrated, overwhelmed and not do anything. Yes, so once you’re kind of posting every day, that’s a habit posting on stories multiple times a day, that’s a habit.

[00:25:03.250]

Then go to a video, go live, so you’re going to go live on video once a week. And that could be Facebook and Instagram. Wherever you think your audience is. Yeah, Soulive go once a week, and then once that becomes a habit, maybe we’ll go live more often. With the question of do I post the same thing on all the platforms? The answer is yes and no. So, yes, but not all at the same time.

It takes a long time to come up with content, so you want to be able to repurpose it. So content repurposing, take one of your stories and you want to tell the story, you go live on Facebook or Instagram once a week, you tell this great story. That’s one piece of content, then you get that transcribed and that’s a blog post. Take a clip of that video and make it a story. Take again the text of that clip and a photo, and that’s a post in your feed.

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So there’s multiple things you could do with that when you grow an email list, you could email the shorter version of the text and send them to your live. Send them to whatever the original was, say you post on Twitter again, send them to where they can see the whole thing. And so not at the same time, a lot of people connect their. Instagram and Facebook, so that whenever they post on Instagram, it automatically goes to Facebook and automatically goes to Twitter.

Don’t do that. It’s annoying to the people that are on those other platforms for Twitter. If anything that goes automatic to Twitter, it’s not going to show the way you think it does on Instagram. If a Facebook or Instagram goes to Twitter automatically, all I see is like a random link. No photo, no explanation or a little bit of an explanation, and then you sent me a Instagram to see it.

I’m on Twitter. I don’t want to deal with it right now. So and also people tend to look at their social media at a certain time. They’ll open up their phone, go to Instagram, then they’re going to go to Facebook, then they might go to Twitter. And if you posted them all at the same time, that’s all they’re going to see. It’s repetitive. And if they don’t happen to be checking that time, they’re not going to see any of it.

[00:28:07.220]

So I would post say on Instagram. And then maybe a week later, you posted on your Facebook. You just sort of spread it out and maybe at a different time so that different people can see your content. Now, what is the next question? Stories versus regular post, should it be the same? Four stories, I know everyone goes, oh, I got to post like three stories in a day. What on earth am I going to do?

Well, you could repost someone else’s post or feed. You could share the image and in your feed to your stories. Stories are things that don’t have to be forever content, so don’t be precious about it, like take a picture of your cat, take a picture of your workspace, show behind the scenes and show your interests outside of your craft. Another question that I get is, how do you balance the craft? With the business and marketing.

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I would say it should be at least a 50 50 split. And too many artists don’t want to deal with the business of marketing, but. More time working on your craft. Is not going to get you. A thriving career in the arts, because nobody’s going to know who you are or what you do. Learning the business and marketing has to be part of it if this is what you want to do with your life. The question I’ve gotten for many years because I was a publicist for a long time is when is the right time to hire a publicist or radio promoter or digital marketer and.

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Too many artists do that too soon. You need to build your story, you need to build your fan base, that is what I call my free resource in this episode How to attract fans, media and industry.

Because unless you can attract fans, media and industry. You’re not going to get. The gigs, you’re not going to make a living at this. So that’s the key and how do you do that? It’s laid out in the roadmap, but also there are steps to take you need to build a solid foundation. And we start with your vision, your wife and. It’s a slow build, too many artists want to skip all that work. And not even learn it themselves, but they just want to hire a publicist.

So many musicians and actors come to me because they have music to release or that got a part in a film and I need a publicist.

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Often times even their agent is the one telling them, go get a publicist. And for the most for so many of you, that’s not the answer, because you don’t have everything in place that you need in order for a publicist to be successful with you again, to attract the media, you need to have a fan base. You need to have gigs, you need to have active social media, you need professional photos, you need a story to tell, you need something unique about you.

And unless you have those answers, they’re not interested. So. No matter how amazing you are. The first thing the media is going to do when I pitch them is check out your socials and if you don’t have a lot going on next, there’s plenty of other artists out there that are doing the work. And building their fan base, building their career step by step. And so don’t hire a publicist. I know I am one, but don’t say it with the radio promoter or digital marketer until you’ve done a lot of the work on your own and you have something to offer.

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Hire a publicist when you have something major to announce. And you’ve already had some traction in your career. A radio promoter, when you have the entire next year planned out with how many singles and you have your budget for it. That’s another thing is like it’s not cheap. And, you know, if you hire a publicist or radio promoter, a digital marketer before you’re ready, you’re wasting your money. Unless you have an unlimited budget, then go for it, but do yourself a favor and build the foundation.

And that’s my goal when I take artists through, my coaching program is at the end. I want you to be a. Dream client for all the industry out there. Agents, publicists, managers, everyone will be coming to you. Media will be coming to you if you build the proper foundation. Go through the steps. Don’t rush it. At the end of my coaching with you, OK, let’s go for it. You have the industry will be dying to work with you.

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Again, that’s where the ultimate goal is. A lot of people ask me, how do I get an agent? Or I can’t do shows unless I get major. And agents are not going to take you. I know there’s musicians and actors, so agents mean something different for both, but for both unless you’re working and making money. They don’t get paid, so they’re not going to take you unless you have all this stuff going on. So for musician.

An agent will be interested in you when you are constantly touring this country, whatever country you’re in, on your own, booking your own shows. Creating a buzz, making money. Then an agent wants to come on board because with their connections and experience, they could take you to the next level, they can get you on opening slots with bigger apps. They can get you on bigger tours. That’s when you get an agent. If you’re an actor.

An agent wants you to be Castable. The agents going to spend more time getting you auditions if you’re also working, you’re also doing everything you can to get known. You’re just sitting there waiting for the agent to get you auditions. You’re not going to be a priority for them, but if you’re spending all your time active on social media. Putting yourself out there, creating your own work. That’ll get their attention. Musicians often ask, how do I get on the big Spotify playlist?

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Get on the small ones first. Often musicians will dismiss the small little independent playlists or blogs because they don’t have a huge following, but it’s a building process just like everything else. So get on as many small little blogs or playlists as you can and it’ll add up. Then the big Spotify playlists will start to notice that you’re getting added to a playlist. That’s how you do it. I could probably go on forever, but maybe we’ll do more of these episodes.

Be sure to join the Facebook group, Unstoppable Musicians and Actors. You can ask me questions any time there. You can go to Diane Foley, dot com, slash Facebook or just look up unstoppable musicians and actors on Facebook in the groups and you will find it, join it, and I’ll be doing some lives and putting in some free resources in there. And next time I do an episode like this, you can ask questions. If you’re enjoying this podcast, I rarely ask this, but.

I would really appreciate some reviews. I know you’re all listening. I see the download numbers and all the different countries that you’re from. I want to show you out. Wherever you’re from, leave a review on Apple podcast or there’s some other platforms that take reviews as well. Leave me a review. Let me know what you love about the show and share it with your fellow artists, it helps the show get noticed more and then I could do more with it to help you.

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For a transcript of this episode and any additional length, visit, sing, dance, act, thrive, dot com slash 05, 06 and again to download the free resource. How to attract fans, media and industry for musicians and actors, visit, sing, dance, act, thrive, dot com slash freebie.

I have some great guests coming up, so look forward to that and we will talk to you again soon. Come find me in the Facebook group. Let’s go.