Social media is all about connecting and sharing with other people. For up and coming rap and hip hop artists, there is no better way to reach a huge audience than social media. There are millions of aspiring artists (singers, songwriters, musicians) out there clamoring to be heard, be seen and be recognized. How do you stand out from the crowd? First you have to have some of the basics in place.
Basic sites you must have
These are sites where you have to set up a profile, tell something about yourself and share links to your music. These sites give you credibility and widen the range of people you can connect with.
Set up your profile. Use a good clear clean/non-offensive headshot as your avatar. List the URL of where your music can be found. Use lots of clean/non-offensive photos of yourself. Write a bio that tells about yourself and what your music is about. List your email address.
1. Twitter – https://twitter.com
- On Twitter, you can follow anyone and tweet to anyone. There are no restrictions as on Facebook, where you have to approve a ‘friend’ or not.
- List a link to your music site in your profile.
- Follow people whose music you admire.
- Follow people who can help get your music out there (promoters, online magazines, music reviewers.)
- Tweet all your individual songs to your own followers and in individual messages to people who can help you.
- Set up your music link tweets to go out automatically on a schedule.
- Thank those who retweet your links.
- Respond to comments and always be nice!
2. Facebook – not your personal account but a fan/business page – https://www.facebook.com/. Click “PAGES” on the left and create a page for your business/music.
- Send out Facebook messages and ask for “Likes” on your page.
- You can also tweet your Facebook page and ask for ‘likes’.
- List links of your music site(s).
- Post photos and music links regularly to keep your content looking up-to-date and fresh.
- This will also look like you are always monitoring the page.
- Respond to comments and always be nice!
3. MySpace – https://www.myspace.com/. MySpace is coming back to life as a music hosting site.
Sites to host your music; choose one or all:
3. YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/
4. Soundcloud – https://soundcloud.com/
5. ReverbNation – http://www.reverbnation.com/
6. Dat Piff – http://www.datpiff.com/
Use other sites that automatically post content to get your message out there without taking up too much of your time:
7. Online newspapers that automatically generate your content like Paper.Li – https://paper.li.
This site lets you set up your own automatic online newspaper and lets you choose content from your own Twitter/Facebook accounts to populate the paper. Rap & Hip Hop News is a paper I set up pulling from various rap/hip hop Twitter, Facebook and news sites. It puts all these sources into an online paper format. I just added in the links and the paper comes out automatically, AND tweets the link of each new daily edition to my Twitter followers automatically.
8. Blogs – I use https://wordpress.com, and I regularly post reviews, messages, and general communications on my blog site. A blog site is good for writers, and you can feel free to blog if you want, but I find that a blog should come later, after the other items above. It’s fairly time-consuming, and you should be focusing on your Twitter and Facebook accounts.
9. Your own website
This is a good idea if you want one central location to house all your links. A good example of a well-done website is the one by Morris Concas: http://www.mawdotmaw.com/. Right on the homepage, he has an awesome photo that shows exactly who he is and what he does (guitarist) and has links to all his Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other accounts:
Free websites:
Sites like Google also offer free webpages. Or you can create a page on Facebook for yourself.
Some Final Thoughts, Do’s and Don’ts:
Think of your social media accounts as a business. This is where you are trying to sell yourself. Be professional. Be legal. Use personal accounts for everything else. Use your business accounts to get recognition, create a fan following, interact with celebrities/famous artists (gives you credibility) and show love to your fans.
DO:
- Post/tweet often – share your music as much as possible!
- Seek out new fans/followers online
- Follow your idols/follow back your fans
- See how successful artists use social media and copy their methods
DON’T:
- Post photos of illegal substances. It’s childish and makes you lose credibility with people who might want to help you.
- Tweet or message a lot of profanity, sexist or sexual comments, or anything that makes you look immature, foolish or criminal. Act like a professional.
- Let other negative people get you down. There will always be haters. Rise above it and ignore them, and concentrate on your fans.
Good luck! I hope these tips help! If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me on Twitter at @WebDiva423.
Thug Life Social Media 
First off gd day to u sir.my name is Seppy and I’d just like to send all my love n respect for the sincere help and guidance on all the uplifting positive advice for a young a young music lover n follower who have a strong passion u da rap field but didn’t really no to much of which direction to go or take it was a really big help on where to focus my time n efforts. Thank u again 4R ur time n help. Sincerely Seppy