 But one question that I get a lot and like if this isn't the number one question is definitely top three. But one question that I get a lot from music artists is what social media platform should I be working? Should I be on Pinterest? Should I be on Snapchat? Should I be on Instagram? Tiktok? Right? Like there are a lot of social media platforms that you could be hosting your content on and there are a lot of different spaces where you could potentially be finding fans and I get it, right? Like you probably don't have the bandwidth to be on every single social media platform that's out there. And ultimately I don't believe that there's necessarily one singular platform that works for every single music artist. Like some are better at one platform than they are at another platform, right? Like I know artists that are way better at Instagram than they are at Twitter or Snapchat or some of the other stuff. So I think there's a couple of things that you can look at to determine what platform you should be on but like long, long story short that there isn't any like right platform. But what I want to do in this video is give you some things to think about, right? Some questions to ask yourself, some things to ponder that will help you decide what social media platform should you decide to spend your time and energy on. Let's get into it. It's the mat work. What's going on? My name is Kory, music, marketing, co-founder, country brand agency and today what I want to get into is how to decide what social media platforms are right for you, right? Like there are a lot of platforms out there, there are a lot of different spaces you could be hosting your content and placing your energy and it gets overwhelming trying to be on everything. Just me as a content creator myself, I get it. But it is something you have to do. You do have to be on at least a social media platform, right? Because if you're not, are you really leveraging the internet in the way that it should be getting leveraged in 2021 and moving forward? No, of course you're not. If you're not on social media, you're like, you're doing the game wrong. But once again, I get it. Everything is in for everyone. But how do you decide what is best for you, right? Like what are some things that you can look at to determine, hey, I need to be over there. Before we get into all that, come and follow me on Instagram and TikTok. Links will be in the description below. Come talk to me. Come engage me. Come give me some video ideas. All that good stuff. Now that being said, let's go ahead and get into it. So one of the first things that I have artists look at when trying to decide what social platform it should be on is what platform are you using regularly as a consumer, right? Like what social media platform right now takes up majority of your social time just as an everyday, regular as human being. And the reason that I have people start there is because whether you know it or not. If you're using something every day, then you probably have at least some type of baseline understanding of the platform. So if you're using Instagram every single day, then you already know how Instagram works. You know about the stories. You know about reels and IGTV and hashtags and all these little minute details of the platform that if you were never using it, you would have to go research and find out and dive into all that cool stuff. But because you're on Instagram six hours out the day, you already know how that stuff works. So start with the platform that you already use because you already understand the platform. And once you get into using it from an artist standpoint, now all you have to do is research how to use that platform from the perspective of an artist. You can look on that platform and start to see how other artists are using it to grow themselves out and start to mimic some of the things that they do. And you can also reverse engineer it in a way that makes sense for you. So for example, when I first got started out as a marketer, I did majority of my marketing on Instagram and Spotify. And the reason that I did most of my marketing there was not because I was some super magic guru on these platforms. No, it's because I was on Instagram like eight hours a day and I was on Spotify all the time listening to music. So I already understood it like, Hey, people on Instagram are finding music through memes, people on Instagram are finding music by influencers posting this content and all this stuff. So I could look at the top of the platform, see how things were moving and then reverse engineer it down to a way that makes sense for me. So now I'm thinking like, okay, if I want to get people to hear music from people that I'm working, what do I need to do? I need to get my music in memes. So I need to get the music in memes. I need to get the music in the hands of influencers. I need to learn how to run ads, like all that stuff. And it's a similar process for you, right? If you're on Instagram all day and you're looking at like, okay, cool. How do these big artists and influencers that I follow, how do they use Instagram, right? Oh, he's posting this many stars a day. Oh, I see that she does this with reels. And that's pretty cool. Like, oh, they're doing this really dope thing with IGTV. It makes it a lot easier for you to figure it out because you're on the platform anyway. So that's the first thing that I tell people to start with the platforms that you use every single day as a consumer because you already know how it works. You're already comfortable with the platform. And now all you need to do is reverse engineer it and figure out how it can work for you as a music artist rather than you as a regular person. The second thing that I like to have artists consider is what are your strengths? Like, what do you like to do and what do you not like to do? So I'm going to bring it back to me, right? Just use myself as an example. I suck at Twitter. And the reason that I personally think I suck at Twitter is because I just I just don't feel like I'm like witty enough to come up with quips on the spot or like these really cool, you know, short tweets that go viral and make everybody go, like, I don't think I'm good at that, you know, what I personally think I'm good at is I'm great at talking to the camera, you know, I'm good at making a piece of video content and being comfortable in front of the camera, you know, and all that cool stuff. So I prefer to work platforms that are pretty video heavy. I know artists who love to talk, right? Like they love to use their voice. They don't like to be on camera. So they do more audio based content. Maybe they're on clubhouse a lot more. Maybe they're working certain discord groups. Maybe they have a podcast, right? I know artists who are great at Twitter. They're great at coming up with witty one liners and interesting thoughts and things like that. And they kill it on Twitter. So I implore you to start there. What are you good at? What do you like to do and what social media platform compliments that thing that you're good at? So if you know that you're funny and you're great at doing skits, then you need to be on something like a TikTok, you need to be on something like a YouTube. If you don't like being on video, but you still want to interact with people, you need to work something like a clubhouse or work something like a Twitter or work something that doesn't involve you being on camera, right? Whatever platform that is for you. That's the platform that you need to start at because the way that I see it is you need to find a social media platform that compliments your strengths because that will motivate you to keep using the platform, which will motivate you to keep learning about the platform, which will help you grow. And that's basically what it all comes down to. But platform, are you using and how are you growing on that platform? That's what's going to determine ultimately which one you decide to keep running with. And like I said, I just believe that if you're good at a certain platform or if you're good at something in that platform compliments it, then you're more likely to stay and do all the stuff that you know that you need to do to really get moving on that platform. So start there. What are your strengths? Write it down. List it out. I like being on video. I think I come up with really cool one line. I think that I have a voice to die for. I do think I have a voice to die for. But I think that I have a voice to die for. Right. What are your strengths? What social media platforms do you see have features that compliments those strengths? And then which ones interest you enough to hop on and start learning? And the last thing that I like to have ours consider is what is your setup? Right. Like what equipment are you working with? What do you have? What can you use? What is it your arsenal? Right now, as you're looking at me shoot this video, I'm looking right now. I have two lights. I have my laptop. I have this microphone, my camera. I have my mixer behind me. Um, this is all the equipment that like I, I feel like I need to make YouTube videos. Now there's probably a content creator out there who would laugh at me and go, ha, my channel is bigger than yours. And I shoot my phone on, I phone 5 s or something, you know, and that's cool. That's great for them. They decided that they had the equipment necessary to make things at the quality that they would like to make it on the platform that decided to make it on. So I would suggest you do the same thing right like do an equipment audit. Like what do you have to work with? Right. Like if you don't have a lot of video equipment, then maybe you don't feel like that you can produce a quality high enough to where you can work YouTube consistently. Maybe that's how you feel. It's not the case, but maybe that's how you feel. Right. Maybe you don't have any video content. And because of that, you need to work platforms that are more, you know, maybe text oriented, like a Twitter or maybe audio oriented, like a clubhouse or something like that. Right. Or maybe you're very visual, having you have cameras and you know how to take really cool pictures and, you know, so you feel like you would work best on something like a Pinterest, you know, or or OG Instagram, you know, but start there. What do you have the capacity to maintain and, you know, what do you have the equipment to make sure you have a competing chance at making content on their platform? Now, I do feel like I'm contradicting myself a little bit because I feel like majority of you probably have a phone, you know what I'm saying? Those phones probably have a camera on it. So like really, as I say this out loud, there's not really any social media platform. You can't work if you at least have a phone, you know, but I do understand that as artists, y'all are super wrapped up in quality. And, you know, does it look right? Does it fit this certain platform? So that's how you think. And that's the way you are that you need to very quickly try to realize like, Hey, what do I have the capacity to do at a high quality level and how can I get started doing that thing at my level so I can build up that super high quality level? Right? All right. That's the point right there. So like, for example, for the longest, like I was afraid to get super deep into the YouTube stuff because I was like, yo, my camera's ass. Like people are laughing at me on the internet about my audio quality. Like my audio is a little crispy, you know what I'm saying? Not crispy in a good way, but like, you know, like terrible. So that stopped me from working YouTube for a long time. It made me focus on places where I realized that people didn't care as much about quality like Instagram, right? Like people on Instagram, like, it's nice if your audio is super high quality and super clear, but they don't really care versus YouTube road to have one dirty audio clip and the comments are on your ass, right? So take that into consideration when trying to determine what platforms make the most sense for you. What do you have the equipment to maintain at a high level? You know what I'm saying? Like, what do you have the equipment to maintain at any sort of level enough to where you can actually do the job? And then once you do the job, then you can just focus on getting better at the job, right? That's really all there is to it. But it all starts with what you have the ability to create. And that starts with what do you have that gives you the ability to create? So there it is. Those are my tips that I would give to any artist trying to decide what social media platforms they should be working, right? I will ask them, Hey, what are your strengths? What are you good at? What do you feel like you're not good at? What equipment do you have, right? Like, what do you have that gives you the ability to create and where would that best suit you? Like what social media platform will be okay with whatever level of content that you're producing at whatever quality that you have to produce it at? And lastly, what platform are you using on a regular basis, right? Like you're smarter than you think you are. And if you're using Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit, 24 seven, then you understand it more than you may think you understand it. Like you just got to get out your head and get into it from an artist perspective. That's all there is to it. I promise you. Now, if you feel like you're learning anything today, please like I said, this video, hit those post notifications as well as I wouldn't want you guys to miss anything. Once again, my name is Calvary and I'll see y'all next time.