Honest self promotion in the age of algorithms
Currently trying to bridge the gap between the digital and the physical, between the like on social media and making someone feel something.
I am not really a fan of trying to steal peoples attention or attempting (often fruitlessly) to make them obsessed for the sake of making them obsessed. I don’t need all your time, and I don’t need everyone’s attention.
But if there is someone who will likely get something out of what I’ve shared, I hope they find it and explore it for more than a minute or two.
The common practice in the social media rat race is to dominate the algorithm by constantly posting, make so much that it’s hard for people to ignore.
To what end! Is that what you wanted? To be a hamster on a wheel churning out content, trapped to a workload that isn’t fun for you? Is that why you create?
Honestly it feels like everyone is shitting where they eat. We’ve had that on hive too because of monetization and while it may have worked in our favor due to crypto pumping and us being along for the ride, but you need people who have enough time and energy to eat what you are cooking and no one has a chance because everyone is constantly cooking.
I think it’s natural for those of us who just love cooking up creative work, and love what we are doing, but it doesn’t need to become the standard, though competition kind of dictates that it will. Even for those of us who love it and have a lot they want to share, there is an ebb and flow.
I’m not creating just to grab your attention. Everything I do comes out of a genuine desire to do it. I hope to find ways to use what I do to reach you and bring in some income, but what I do isn’t up for debate. How I do is only up for debate within the conditions that it’s fun or helps me grow in the direction I hope to grow.
But when 20 people come to my show and half of them tell me they love it, when my social media goes from 10 likes a post to 20 to 40 to 70 and almost no one has listened on streaming platforms and hardly anyone even knows I have a book, it feels like there’s a disconnect.
To be fair, I haven’t listened to some friends music yet and not out of a lack of interest, we are all just that overwhelmed.
But I’m trying to find ways to make it seamless, where it doesn’t take so much effort for people to come into contact with my work online.
Paid Ads or spamming are the opposite of what I’m going for. I started sharing thoughts or some of my better blog posts on social media and at first people read but it seems to tapper off after a while because people can like it based on just the pictures.
Likes on their own don’t mean people care what you have to say. It may just means they like a world where you are saying it. A “Good luck”.
I do think there are people who are predisposed through their experience and mindset to really enjoy what we create and benefit from it.
It may open their mind to something new.
It may help them process feelings that were hard to even identify.
It may give context or meaning to suffering or pain.
It may help them find their own voice and passion like I have.
If nothing else I hope it helps someone trust in authenticity a little more.
It’s hard to do that with 3 monthly listeners on Spotify unless you are really doing a lot IRL. I have very meaningful events once a month but it’s not practical to make it more than once every 2-3 weeks.
I try to frame in business terms as little as possible but really what I need are some good funnels.
As with everything I’ll only do it if it feels right and in line with what I want to achieve. So I won’t change what I make in order to be liked more and I won’t pay for ads, especially not at this stage. Instead I want to get creative and treat this as an extension of the art. Make the context fit. Make everything energetically consistent. So the question isn’t how to Madeline views or sales, it’s “How do I make funnels that feel good and enhance the work and actually draw people?
The only thing that functions as a funnel right now are live shows. They are the single thing that converts people to buying things I’ve made. Social media gets attention for the shows, but it doesn’t bring people to click on links, and hive isn’t exactly the scene for what I make so I haven’t found much continued support here (my YouTube likes are usually at 2-3).
One idea I had last time was to put QR’s around my shows so people can follow my social media easier or find my music on streaming.
Another thing I’ve thought of is Spotify playlists. I know my music isn’t the kind that people get into right away but I believe it’s the type that becomes more and more attractive after repeated exposure and after seeing our shows and after knowing what we are about, and maybe after being exposed to other similar music.
I’m going to spend a few hours editing curated playlists that showcase some of my favorite musicians from Japan and the world. Putting our songs in isn’t a coercive act, but a way to respect your time. Rather than bonbarding you with my songs that you will need some time to understand, I want to introduce people to the world we create in, what influences us and different flavors of similar vibes.
Here’s a playlist I originally made for the friend mixing my music to show what kind of sound I was going for. It includes some of my biggest indie rock and experimental pop influences. I think it also works as a great introduction to unfamiliar genres to many people
and trying to put together an Asia focused list though I may need some time to organize it in a comfortable listening order.
If anyone else has a good idea for these so-called “funnels” and how to get people to listen more on streaming platforms or check out my novel series, let me know 😝
All I've got is that the more "sponsored" or "promoted" or ads in general that I see the more I actively avoid the thing being advertised or the people "promoting"their posts or products (they can call it whatever they like but it just registers as spamming to me).
The thoughts I had back when I thought I could get anywhere with anything was to pretty much do a similar thing to what you're thinking but I never got that far 😅
I think the best thing I got going for me is being in this weird scene where successful artists don't behave like successful artists and aren't really that hard to work with. The bad news is that fewer and fewer people care about what they are doing and it's not out of a true lack of interest in them as much as a lack of interest in everything haha
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