The Sunday News
THE assumption by many, especially the old, traditionally inclined and those with a phobia for technology, is that online social media is childish and should be left to the young, teenagers especially. It is true that teenagers and youths are very crazy about online social media. For most teenagers and young people hardly a day passes without them diving into the intricate virtual world for news, gossip, chats and other information.
Millions of Zimbabweans are on social media. The number gets into billions once you include the whole of Africa, Europe, America and Asia. It is an understatement to just say the popularity of social media has reached astounding levels; it has also had a great impact, not only on our social lives but on many businesses as well. Social media has revolutionalised how the world communicates, relates and does business. And it is only fair to say any artiste in this country who considers himself/herself serious needs to jump onto the social media bandwagon now! (That is if they are not on it already.) For an artiste who is not aware of the impact of social media on the business side of the arts deserves to be somewhere else, and not in the arts.
It is not a secret that online social media has come and dealt a heavy blow to traditional media. Almost all the important information about many artistes can now be found on the Internet. Biographies. Work in progress. Tour dates. Current shows. Almost everything. News is now broken on social media. With focus on “the arts as business”, creative economy and every artiste being urged to monetise their talent only the “blind” cannot see the opportunities that social media presents in terms of business. All serious artistes should know their money comes from fans and audiences. The more an artiste has fans or audiences the more their worth. Social media has made it easier to actually see how big one’s fan base is. Likes, retweets and followers can help show how big and how much an artiste is worth.
If truth be told there is no cheaper and more effective way of growing one’s fan/audience base than through social media. Social Media (here we are talking about Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube and others) is now one of the easiest ways to learn about one’s audiences and fan base. It presents an opportunity for one to understand audience needs, habits and desires so as to dovetail one’s products to these needs, habits and desires. Many businesspeople, including artistes, are now using social media to advertise their products and grow their brand.
Here are a few reasons why it is important for artistes to use social media:
1Artistes can connect and interact with their fans/audiences and build more reliable and personalised relationships.
2 Artistes can use social media to grow new markets. Their fan base can grow from fans recommending them to their friends and families or when people access more information about them and their products.
3 Social media allows immediate feedback from fans/audiences. This allows important dialogue to take place between the artiste and his/her fans/audiences.
4 Artistes can share content, news of current and coming projects, photos, and videos with their fans/audiences.
5 Artistes can use social media to promote their brand.
6 Artistes can use social media for market intelligence, particularly in getting to know what the market wants and also what their competition is doing.
7 More importantly social media is very cheap and effective.
It is also important to know that traditional media, caught unaware by this phenomenon, has now taken to social media for stories. Journalists are now using social media posts as Press statements. I know there are artistes who have complained about this trend – where journalists just go to their Facebook pages or twitter handlers and pick quotes. Well, this is a trend that is here to stay. Artistes just need to understand social media more and think long and deep before posting anything on twitter, Facebook or WhatsApp. However, all artistes should see social media as a serious platform to market themselves and their brands.
While this article is meant to encourage artistes to take full advantage of this new phenomenon, we must not forget that social media is a double-edged sword – it must be handled with extra care. Artistes must use it wisely – use it to enhance one’s professional and social life. But at all times they must never forget how dangerous social media can be to one’s life and career.
