Promoting Your Gigs on Social Media

Your friends and family are always your core fanbase when you are starting out. But getting people you don’t know to come out to your gigs is a never-ending challenge. This article will provide tips on getting people interested in attending your gigs.

Know the Venue

Some venues are “online”, and others are not. Some venues are very active on social media to promote their locations, special events, etc. Others take a more analog approach with physical advertising on paper. It is important to know if the venue has any online presence such as a website, yelp listing, social media account, etc. You will need this information to successfully promote your gig.

Event Creation and Invites

In the past, bands would create paper flyers to post and pass out. It worked to a degree, but it was also limited to how many people you could physically connect with. Social media online has a far superior reach, but you are competing with a vast amount of other promotions and events. So here is a guideline to hit the masses from every angle.

Create an account for your band/group/duo etc.  on as many platforms as possible. Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), TikTok, YouTube… Use your personal accounts to invite people to follow your band account. Don’t worry if people don’t join right away. You’ll need content to attract people.

Use your smartphone to record video of a rehearsal. If you can edit video yourself create a “reel” that has very short samples of 4-5 songs. Place your band logo on the video. Get a friend to help if you are not familiar with editing. Post band photos: group photos, individual photos, and candid shots in rehearsal. Give people something to see.

To promote your gig, get the best band photo you have with the band logo. Get a friend to help if you are unable to design a digital flyer yourself. Make sure the digital flyer contains the following: venue name (venue logo if available), date/time, venue address, your band URL/social accounts, and the venue URL and social accounts. Try to visually convey your music genre or style. If it is not visually obvious, then use a tagline to describe the music you’ll be playing.  Keep it direct and to the point. For example, “90s alternative rock covers” or “Acoustic/electric original songs”. Save this digital flyer as a JPG file for distribution and always keep the original file so you have the ability to edit it. Size it to be compatible with various media. For instance, you may want to size the flyer to be ideal for sending in a text message. For Instagram you’ll want a square image. Take the time to search for the ideal image size for posting on the various social media platforms. They are all a bit different and they do change from time to time. You may end up with an original file for each social media platform with the JPG version for posting.

When posting to X, Instagram, and Facebook, be sure to hashtag your band and the venue.

For Facebook specifically, you should take advantage of their Event Calendar. Don’t rely on the venue to promote their calendar. Many just don’t have the time and they expect the bands to do all the work to get a crowd. You’ll have to create a custom wide image for use on the Facebook Event page. Create your event and if the venue has a Facebook account, be sure to add them to the event. You can invite your bandmates to be “co-hosts” of the event. This gives each band member the ability to digitally invite their friends to the event. Facebook has an RSVP system, so you’ll know who plans on attending. This event listing can be shared so you can push this in front of those that follow the band but also those that follow your personal account. Take the time to search Facebook Groups. There are always groups centered around live music in your area. Join those groups so you can share your band gig calendar. The video reel mentioned above can be posted to YouTube as well as on Facebook. So, you can share the video and event listing to help promote your gig. 

At the Gig

If time permits, post short videos and a photo of the band setting up for the gig. Tell people there is still time to come out. Share any drink or food specials the venue may have. If you have a certain song that has proven to be a crowd pleaser, mention you’ll be playing that song. If you have friends that attend and take photos and video, ask them to tag the band, the venue and the individual band members. Many people fail to tag when they post.

Post Gig Promotion

After the gig or even the next day, review your friends’ posts and be sure they have tagged the band and venue. If they didn’t, you can kindly ask them to edit their post to include the tags. Help them as best you can. The venue may not ask for this, but this is a great way to promote the venue and they’ll show appreciation by booking you again. Don’t expect the venue to take photos or video and post them. Some venues will do this but don’t expect it from all venues. The bands that stay on top of self-promotion get the most exposure out of a single gig. You may use the video and photos to promote past and future gigs.

Successful promotion takes planning and follow-through. Use every gig to obtain photos and video so you are getting more mileage out of every gig.

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