Build A Music Fanbase Without Social Media (The Blueprint)

As a musical artist, having a fanbase is one of the most important things that will define the success of your career.

Music is business and the fanbase you build will be clientele that will pay for your services so you can sustain your living.

This is why it’s very crucial to build not only a large fanbase, but a loyal one too.

Loyal fans serve a key function for musicians because usually comes with more commitment and consistency. This means a great deal for your musician brand.

This post will discuss how you can go about building a fan base without using social media. This is a tough career move because social media is basically running things as far as artist marketing goes.

While that may be the case, it is still important to know how a fanbase can be organically grown without social media influence because knowing this can change the way you approach your career which can mean a great deal for your brand.

With that said, let’s get into some ways you can build a fanbase without social media.

Treat your existing fans well

This is absolutely of great importance to the success of your overall fan building.

Treating your already existing fans well shows just how human and relatable you are.

Always remember that fans do correspond and when they do, you as the musician they follow may come up in their discussion.

How well you treat will reflect in how they speak about you. Good opinions about you will likely engage new fans that may have been on the fence about your music.

When this effect is scaled, your audience and fanbase rapidly grows.

Give out free stuff

Free giveaways are effective because of the principle of reciprocity.

People will more likely be able to participate in something if they are offered something for free beforehand. This will work the same with building a fanbase.

Free giveaways such as concert tickets, mixtapes, EPs, merchandise etc. can attract people and build you some goodwill among potential fans. This can then ultimately lead to new fans.

People always want to give something for something, the idea of them receiving something from you for FREE Softens them up and can turn them into loyal fans that will support your music consistently.

You basically see this technique used by people that use social media as a tool for fan building and overall growth.

Giving away free stuff offline serves a greater importance and you can package your giveaway in a unique way that can help either promote your brand or an offer or simply rake in some new fans.

Perform live as much as possible

If you’re a musician that is not using social media for promotion or fan base building then the only option you have left as far as marketing goes is by meeting people face to face.

What is a great way to meet new people as a musician?

Yep, you guessed it! Live shows. Live shows provide a paying audience which is a great thing to look out for but you should know that NOT everyone that attends your shows is a fan.

Which is why you have to make sure your performance is top notch and something is done to make some new fans.

Giveaways or competitions can be great aswell as after parties where you can meet face to face with some people and interact. The key thing you have to focus on is that fans want to know you, or at-least get a good sense of who you are, which is why its important to interact with them as much as possible.

Live shows are a great to achieve this.

Content, content, content

Don’t forget about this part.

All ninja marketing tactics aside, always remember that you’re an artist and what is important to people is your art.

Therefore be consistent with how much content you put out and always keep things fresh and interesting. This can definitely help you get some new fans.

Put out new music more often plus great video content.

Every release has the potential of attracting and gaining you new fans. Therefore don’t underestimate the power that comes with regular content output.

Keep on building your content portfolio and you’ll start to see some growth.

Get on influential podcasts

There exist various media outside of online social networks. One of these are podcasts.

Podcasts are a great way to interact with different show hosts and basically share some good information to potential fans.

By nature, podcasts are meant to be more natural and less formal as compared to radio interviews.

With podcasts you can share insights into various issues which can reflect back well on your brand as well as increase your brand awareness.

Therefore reaching out and scheduling podcast features is a great way to appeal to peoples human nature. The more relatable you come off, the more likely it is that you’ll gain some fans.

Pursue offline media coverage

Media coverage is another great way to build brand awareness and basically put yourself out there. This takes some doing and having a manager can help you tap into various media and have your spot.

This media can include, press releases, articles, newspaper features etc.

We can all agree that this is an old school method of doing things, but trust me. It is still very much influential even in this new era where the internet is basically at the centre of everything.

Media coverage can help you penetrate various audiences which can help you grow and build your fanbase so don’t over look it.

Things like media coverage will be an absolute necessity for somebody that is doing away with social media completely.

Offline radio airplay

Radio play is still King!! even if its offline radio play.

Get your records on various radio stations and your potential for gaining new fans suddenly skyrockets….

You may be wondering why?..

With radio airplay, you have the potential of tapping into the radio stations following/fans and cultivating potential fans from them. Which can then greatly improve your growth strategy.

For example; say you get your songs on two radio stations that have a following of around 10,000 people each. With each radio spin of your record, you have the possibility of your music reaching 20,000 people.

Which is great and can really boost your overall fanbase.

Final Thoughts

All these methods for fanbase growth discussed here can be a good way to go about things, but it is vital to basically have a plan of approach.

A plan should be your guide.

Have a clear understanding of who your music appeals to and who your actual fans are. This will help you to tailor your approach to a very specific potential fan. If you can’t describe your fan in detail, then you have some work to do. Drill down until you have enough of a good understanding to form context around.

Secondly, dig deep into what actually motivates your fans because this will be your magic wand!

Discovering what motivates your fans will help deliver the right content, message and brand to them. This can put you in a unique position to actually make a difference and see some fanbase growth.

Finally, once you know who your fans are and what motivates them it’s time for you to optimise your brand identity to appeal to the needs of your fans. This will help you grow and help keep your fan base loyal.

Ultimately, you’ll notice growth in your overall fans because you have a well carved out brand identity.