Recently, I got a little caught up in a few famous singers’ Instagram pages. Then I got curious who the most followed celebrity on Instagram actually is. Spoiler alert: It’s Selena Gomez. Since Selena has had periods where she didn’t release that much new music, it got me thinking on how she manages to maintain such a huge following. And that, in turn, got me thinking on how artists use social media in general to promote themselves or to gain a new audience, whether they are producing and/or promoting their music or not.
First of all, keeping a big social media following is actually of some importance for artists because it provides extra income for them. This is a detail that seems to surpass a lot of people, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Instagram picture from your favorite singer you just liked, made them a lot of money. Brands give artists great sums of money to promote their specific product, or to even have it visible in one of their pictures. If you’re interested in seeing how much money that is, you can see that here. So if artists are ever in a period where they don’t have a new song or a new album coming out, social media makes sure that they are not without income. But still, if singers don’t have new songs, is it still interesting to keep following them?
There are a couple of ways that artists will make sure they’re still interesting. First off, they use their social media pages to communicate with their fans. Which kind of breaks the wall of unreachability that artists have. Fans start feeling more like friends this way, which makes them more emotionally invested and more willing to keep following specific artists. Artists also really have the chance to show a funny, quirky or lovable personality that fans can get to know better. This way, they make themselves more relevant and book more gigs or jobs this way.
Communication doesn’t always mean positive of course. There are plenty of artists who respond to haters or let people know when something bothers them. Some artists (a lot) even have their ‘beef’ online. Personally, I am currently very emotionally involved in the Nicki Minaj and Remy Ma feud. But this doesn’t always have a negative impact on artists popularity. Most fans actually appreciate artists more because of their honest side. I think we all heard of the saying; ‘Negative publicity is also publicity’. Well this really seems to work for most.
Whether artists are bringing out new music or not, they are very skilled in using social media to maintain their income and following. In an era where social media is the most used and important platform, this is a vital skill which artists benefit a lot from. Making music will always be a number one priority, but social media is a nice means to boost careers.
