When it comes to bossing social media in the music industry, there are many artists that have grasped the ever changing trends and carved out their own path to success online.
Why is this important in today’s digital climate?
Diplo is a fantastic example of a well-rounded approach to using Instagram to engage, explore, collaborate and expose much of his life with his fans. By doing this he is opening up multiple channels of not only marketing his music to a global reach, but building an active public persona. These days it’s not just about selling records, it’s about selling yourself too.
Who are YOU?
It is a crucial step to understanding who you are and what you are. By doing so you begin to create a storyboard that people can follow and engage with. From this you’re able to grow and flow in directions that have more of a thought out process rather than just thrashing around in the dark.
Diplo isn’t afraid of sharing many different angles of his life through social media. You wouldn’t look at his page and see a repetitive stream of music-related posts. He posts in a carousel of ‘private life’, music, humour, family, current trends and more.
Diplo the DJ
Diplo the father
Diplo the music producer
Diplo the prankster
Diplo the ‘wannabe’
Just like his music ranging from Country to Nigerian influences, his social presence achieves a similar feat in that he is able to switch it up and keep his followers interested for his next move. Will it be more electronica? More pranks? More collaborations? Who knows!
Engagement & Community
Why is it a good strategy to do something as simple as replying to a follower’s comment? It can have a dramatic effect when it comes to engagement on social media. That one comment can turn into a conversation which will give followers a sense of community and approachability, therefore creating fans that will return and engage with your content again and again.
For example, Diplo got into a conversation with a fan about Peppa Pig and how the bus driver on the show has 7 jobs, and he continues to regularly engage whenever possible.
Engaging content with fans as well as with other high profile accounts is where Diplo sets himself apart from the rest of his competitors when it comes to carving out a space in the top spot of social media. And lets not forget the occasion when Diplo went on a camping trip and challenged his management to look after his Instagram and reply to every single comment. This alone will have given his followers a sense that he is at the forefront of his content, when in reality there’s likely a team of people sculpting his content behind the scenes. But when you’re just starting out, you will be the sole captain of your content!
Collaboration
Diplo is king of the collabs and he uses that to his advantage online and in all other areas of his brand. Being able to collaborate with other artists taps in to their fanbase and will allow you to reach larger, more unknown audiences. Again, Diplo has a very varied approach to this, sharing content from Pride to Nigerian to Country to RnB.
Rather than just post the finished product of his collaboration, Diplo gives his followers access to the whole process of the creative journey. He understands that there is content to be made from every step. Even to the point of him appearing to nag another artist online to do a collaboration, he turns ideas into entertaining content.
Riding Trends
Another important rule of bossing social media is to be aware of the current trends taking place in this big, weird place called: the internet.
Now we would never suggest taking part in any of the more dangerous viral challenges like eating copious amounts of cinnamon powder and recording yourself choking while doing it. But entertaining trends or humorous situations that you can put your own spin on have a higher likelihood of gaining traction because they are super current and favorable. This is an easy route to being noticed, followed and gives you content ideas that a wide net of people find entertaining.
Though Diplo is very much up there with the stars, he likes to play against that trend of being a typically vacuous celebrity and will make fun of himself for being ‘a nobody’. The web is saturated with ‘money, bling and hoes’, so he simply rides against that wave in order to be different from the rest. Because why be like the rest, when you can be the best?
Diplo once more proves that he’s got his finger on the pulse current content and trending challenges.
Storytelling
In a world that is increasingly getting hungrier for content every minute of every day, it can seem a bit daunting at first to be able to feed the content monster! So we need to work smarter to allow for this. But how? Gone are the days of posting a photo with a small description and not much context. Get more for your money by adding a story to the photo. This can work as a tool to then extend the story in future posts. Update it, continue it, refer back to it. It’s easy to forget a picture but a story will get stuck to memory a lot easier.
As Diplo shows us, there is a way to juice every drop of content from just one social media post.
We are not just seeing a solo photo or video here, which speaks volumes on its own, we have a story in the caption supporting the visual. If the story is captivating enough and relatable, go for gold in the text! Create something funny, emotional, memorable and you’ll stand out from the crowd in no time. Within the story there can be tags, collaborations, locations, calls to action, engagement and so much more!
To conclude…
We understand why it’s important to be an active face on the internet and why it’s worth making the effort to really create a content factory churning out ideas across all areas of your life and career. But what are the next steps in making that happen?
Find examples of good practice… We’ve given you a helping hand here and dissected Diplo, but now go out and find some more examples. Who do you resonate with? Or even what parts of somebody’s profiles could you think about using and making your own?
Planning… Find the time to plan and stick to it. There are multiple tools online to help you plan your social media. Something as simple as an excel spreadsheet listing the days you’ll post and what topics those posts will be. Personal? New music? Repurposed content? Throwback? Get it all down in a file and out of the way in one sitting to use your time effectively. Refer back to the examples you like for inspiration.
Get active… You need to be actively creating, producing, and moving along with your plans. It’s no use putting time into one thing and not pushing forward with another. This is a machine with turning parts all moving at the same time! Make to do lists and plan your content from those lists, what content can you make out of a task you need to complete?
Idea storage… Keep a folder on your phone and PC to save any examples or ideas you might stumble across while browsing online. Take a screenshot or save files directly to jog your memory when you sit down to plan out your content.
