Connecting With Fans Means More Than Talking About Your Latest Work

from the open-up dept

Aaron deOliveira alerts us to this great quote from artist Michele Banks from an interview in Scientific American:

I think some artists don’t get the best out of Twitter or other social media because they mostly write about their own work. I talk about everything – art and science, sure, but also football, music, politics, kids, cats, whatever. If you think of it as a great free-flowing conversation that you can jump into any time, and you both listen and respond, then it’s amazing. If you just talk about yourself, then you’re that guy at the party that just talks about himself, and you’re not going to be very popular.

For years, we've talked about this concept of Connect with Fans + Reason to Buy (CwF + RtB), and too frequently have assumed that the really difficult part is the RtB side of the equation. But it's really amazing just how many artists have trouble with CwF as well. And this is a great explanation of why. We often hear from artists who say, "well, I have a Twitter and a Facebook feed, but it doesn't work." And then you go and look at the feed, and all it is is them announcing, "I just released this work," or "I'm performing at such-and-such on December 10th," or whatever. It's not just that there's little interaction, but that there's little that's interesting.

But then you go look at the Twitter feeds of folks who really connect with their fans and you see something totally different. You look at Kevin Smith or Amanda Palmer or Zoe Keating and you see that they talk about all sorts of interesting stuff that goes way beyond what they're famous for -- and they talk back to lots of other folks as well. They talk about their lives. And it's amazing how just doing that helps connect them even more to their fans. It makes their fans that much more loyal and committed. It really is about building a connection. Too many artists like to mock these forms of communication ("who wants to hear what someone had for lunch"), but they don't realize that sharing, listening, communicating... and just being human and authentic is an amazing way to connect with fans in a powerful, lasting and meaningful way.

Filed Under: connecting with fans, michele banks, social media