If you have social media, there is no doubt that you probably follow your favorite artist’s account or page. Some artists will post often, while others will post once in a blue moon. And we have all seen it, the artist's social media meltdown. Social media is a great outlet to reach a lot of people quickly, such as for an artist to connect with fans. To maintain a good social media presence, it is important for an artist to post quality content regularly. When an artist posts, however, every word and photo that goes out is crucial to their image and reputation.
How Can a Public Relations Professional Handle an Artist's Social Media?:
Although it has become so integrated in people’s daily lives, social media and how it works is still new to many people. Even those that know when to post to help increase user engagement, may not know what specifically to post, especially when it comes to a music artist and their image. The role of a public relations professional is knowing what content should be posted to best help the artist’s reputation. They also should be able to handle any crisis or situation that may occur and need attention on social media.
Here is a few steps on how to best handle a musician’s social media:
Planning:
The most important thing that a PR professional can do for their artist client is planning. Utilizing planning tools like Hootsuite or SocialBee can be really helpful to pre-plan and schedule upcoming posts to a social media account. It is also important to have some images and posts saved in your drafts, that way if there is a lull in events or something that needs to be addressed quickly, it can be sent out to the public in just a few taps.
By having posts planned out ahead of time, there is less room for error in a post. This also can benefit engagement, since a program can post for you regularly, instead of you or your client having to login and do it at the exact time needed. Of course, users can always go in and add posts outside of the schedule, but this will help keep things organized and pumped out at a good pace.
Media Training and Response Preparation:
Similar to planning posts, being prepared for responses to any type of situation or crisis is very important for a PR professional. Many unpredictable things can happen, especially in the entertainment industry, so sitting down with your client and talking about when and how to make a post or response to something is essential.
As has been seen in the past, such as the case with artist Kanye West, celebrities will often take to social media to express their thoughts and annoyances without thinking over what they are saying and without PR approval (Forbes). As the PR person for an artist, you should discuss the steps of T.H.I.N.K. before you post: Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind? (Edvolve Learning).
With that, an important thing to have a client prepared for is social media comments and how to respond to them. Having posts will inevitably bring commenters, and along with that, internet trolls. It is a good idea for a PR professional to go over some types of comments that an artist may get and what they should or should not respond to. This can be through seeing cases of other artists’ comment sections and examples of times when responses were done well or done poorly.
When it comes to a crisis response, such as a situation where an artist is caught in a scandal, it is best for a professional to take over and stop an artist from possibly acting on impulse. You should absolutely have your artist involved in the response and expressing what they want to say, but at the same time, you want to make sure that what is written is done professionally and is best for the artist’s reputation.
What Should an Artist Post?
An artist’s profile should reflect their personality, image and music. Their social media should have some personal posts, some promotional posts for their group and posts about events relating to their group. Of course it does not need to stay to just these three, but these three types of posts allow for a good mixture of what fans and critics may want to see. If an artist is passionate about a cause, they should often post about the cause and what they plan to do or are doing to help as well.
With these points in mind, as a PR professional, the best thing you can do for an artist is keep on top of their social media. Even if you have done the media training and planned everything out, it is important to keep up with the communities surrounding them and see what others are saying. Social media is ever changing and it is critical that you keep up with the latest trends and topics.
By doing these things and more, you will always get great results for your clients.
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