When you are running a PR campaign in support of your latest release, either through us or through another reputable music PR firm, it is important to make sure that you are doing all you can to maximise your PR campaigns to their full potential.
This means working together in the most effective way. However, we have noticed common mistakes that bands and musicians frequently make that contribute towards a lacklustre campaign.
1. Not Using Social Media Correctly
Naturally, everyone would like coverage in the larger music blogs and publications such as NME and Rolling Stone etc. As part of any campaign we run, we take a look at your social media profiles, and all too often we find a Twitter profile with around 100 followers and tweets posted with little-to-no regularity. Social media isn’t the only factor that counts towards getting coverage, but they do play a part. Some of the larger publications consider this, because they want to see that you have an engaged fanbase that will read what they write about you.
As your PR campaigns start, you should be ready to regularly post on all of your social media networks. This doesn’t mean repeatedly posting your tour dates and music release date, or tweeting people to check out your band. Nor does it mean that you have to post something every hour. It does mean you should be tweeting around 5 times a day and retweeting, liking, and replying to your followers. There are plenty of scheduling tools that you can use to spread out your posts more effectively but retweets, likes, and replies all need to happen in real-time.
2. Saying No to Coverage
This isn’t limited to saying no to a piece of press. It can also happen when you don’t complete an interview request or by showing up late (or not at all). You may think that certain music blogs and publications are too small and therefore are not worthy of your time. But when you are an emerging artist without a sizeable following, no opportunity is too small and should be seen as a chance to introduce yourself to a new group of potential fans. It is through building momentum with smaller publications that the larger ones will start to notice you.
3. Feeling Disappointed
The worst thing you can do for your campaign is to give up or lose interest if you start to feel like you haven’t got the results you were after. This will only make things worse and could harm any potential further coverage. PR works much better if you focus on your positive responses in order to increase the chance of more coverage. If you do start to feel discouraged, talk to whoever is promoting your music first of all. See if you can collaborate better and come up with new ideas to move your campaign forward together.
Avoid Mistakes During PR Campaigns
The main message in all of this is to remain engaged, reliable, open and focused so that you can give your music the freedom and recognition it deserves.
