A Fan Found You on Facebook…What’s Next?

By Patrick Faucher, Founder and CTO, Nimbit, Inc.

There’s been a lot of news that’s come out about Facebook Music, but I’ve noticed that a real important point has been missed in most of the coverage, particularly for independent musicians.   Everything that was announced had to do with music discovery (Spotify, Rdio, etc.) and you just have to look at the new Ticker to see that more people will be sharing and discovering more music than ever before.  THAT’S GREAT, but then what’s an independent artist to do once a fan discovers them on facebook? Streaming revenues alone are no way to make a living with your music, here are a few tips…

Be Open for Business

It’s now more important than ever, that when a fan finds an you on Facebook, that you have a means to capture the fan’s information, reward them, and be able to sell music, merch, and tickets.

There are now probably a zillion options for setting up an e-commerce store on Facebook, but I’d suggest that you choose one that is specifically designed for music.  Not only will you get the exact features you need, but most companies offering Facebook stores for musicians also offer other complementary features to help your career.

I may be biased (because I started the company), but I’m partial to Nimbit’s MyStore for Facebook. But to be fair you should also take a look at the offerings from Topspin and CD-Baby, all three look great, are full featured, and backed by established companies.

Offer Something for Everyone

Having a store these days isn’t enough.  One thing we’ve learned is that there is a range of ways that fans will want to support you, and those artists who offer a variety of options tend to do best.

Gateway Druggies

Free tracks aren’t really “free” when you capture the fan’s information, or get a “Like” or “Share” in exchange for the download.  In the first case, once you capture the fan’s info, you can build a relationship with them, and in many cases they’ll later reciprocate with a purchase or by attending a live show.  In a recent Nimbit promotion, Suzanne Vega found that by teasing her fans with a free download first, that 61% of those that got the download, later made a purchase.

And with Likes or Shares, you’re getting promoted to those fans networks. And it doesn’t end with promotion. Earlier this year, Forbes reported that Facebook fans were 51% more likely to purchase after a Like, and that people were 67% more likely to spend more money after online recommendations from friends.

Nimbit’s co-founder Phil Antoniades has been experimenting with this last approach for his own Evan Goodrow Band, and has been rapidly growing his fanbase and sales.    They start by sharing a custom video that asks fans to download a free song with a promo code in the shared message. In the video, he simply asks the fans if they like the song to share the video and promo code with their friends.  This has spread like wild fire.  Phil and I have a lot of the same friends, so it’s been fun to watch the Ticker fill up when they do it.

The “I Don’t Pay for Music” Crowd

It doesn’t have to be unfortunate that more and more consumers these days view music as a free commodity.  Just because they want your music for free, doesn’t mean that they’re not interested in supporting you.

Launch a Fan Funding campaign for an upcoming release, to support your tour, or give you the resources to create a video.  Nimbit artists have reported best results with PledgeMusic, but you should also consider Kickstarter or IndieGoGo. 

Don’t want to launch a campaign? Another option would be to have a song available (or even a whole album) with “Pay What You Want” and ask people to support you when they access the download.  In most cases, they’re still buying the download, but if “feels” different.  Not only that but because the fans are “supporting” you, we’ve seen artists get as much as $40 for a single download.  They wouldn’t have made nearly as much if they had just put the song up for $.99.

The Collectors

There’s a segment of your fans who will want everything you put out, and if you can make it special or unique all the better.   Signed CDs or posters are obvious options of things that you can sell at a premium, but some of our more successful artists take it a bit further.   You could try creating smaller batches of limited edition merchandise like t-shirts or hats.  Scarcity is an important concept here.  If you sell out of the initial run of t-shirts you create, you might be tempted to re-order but don’t.  Some of our more savvy artists, Superdrag or 100 Monkeys come to mind, have created a steady stream of new items every couple months and their fans love them for it.

Please and Thank You

It’s not only polite; it’s the best way to get a relationship with a fan off on the right foot.  We allow you to write a custom message in the receipts your fans receive, so modify it to say thanks, but that’s the bare minimum you should do.

Take it further by writing on a Fan’s Facebook wall.  That can be really exciting, and now with the Timeline it becomes something even more special as it gets saved like scrapbook.

You can also follow up with a personal message after a purchase, even a couple weeks or a month later will work. Say thanks, and give them a free download.  You could also ask them if they liked it, to please share something with their friends.

This might sound crazy, but what would happen to your fanbase if you sent every one of them (or even just your best fans) an MP3 of you singing happy birthday to them, or posted a short personal video to them with a message from you and the band?  As the song goes, you always get what you give.

So In Summary
These days you’re only limited by your creativity.  The nice thing is that on Facebook, the ticker moves by so fast that you can try something quickly and if it doesn’t work out, you can shift to a different tactic in the blink of an eye.  I encourage you to use these ideas as starting points, but to experiment and learn what works with your fans.

As you do it through remember these 3 principles:

• Be ready to sell
• Offer multiple ways for fans to support you
• Always say please and thank you