Social Media Is Crucial To Your Success As An Artist - Here's Why
Whether you love it or hate it, for any artist, social media is an essential aspect of building your brand. Nowadays, your whole image is who you present yourself to be on social media, and if you do that well, half of the journey is completed.
Two artists who are making waves on Instagram but vastly different in their approaches and stages in their careers would be Princess Nokia, and Anderson .Paak.
Princess Nokia’s page is filled with different hair styles, dynamic and provocative fashion, and peeks into all aspects of her life. Pat of the reason her fan base is so large and loyal is that they relate to her - she’s just an everyday girl from NYC with a dream and a knack for the hustle.
He brand is authentic but filter-heavy and a focus on her style, which is the ultimate conversation starter in the comments. Nokia herself looks quite similar to Aaliyah, and while it may seem like a coincidence that along of her social media images have a ‘90s vibe, it’s a conscious commitment to an aesthetic.
But while her posts are cohesive, they’re still diverse. No hairstyle or outfit is the same, and she's constantly collaborating with cool indie companies that give her a new platform to rep her style, along with editorial looking photoshoots that spark even more engagement.
Princess Nokia has no shame in who she is - whether that’s celebrating her nerdiness, her baby hairs, or her beautiful curves. in that way, is a role model for others in the world of social media who search for a sense of kinship, but her brazen confidence and authenticity also has a great deal to do with it.
Anderson .Paak on the other hand, focuses on a meticulously curated IG that’s more artwork than a diary entry on his life. If you’re not down to keep your private life private (which we think is still possible with cautious usage of social), this approach might feel more within you comfort zone.
The focus here is the artwork and trippy aesthetic, with an emphasis on collage and color. His posts are grand representations of creativity in a totally different way than Princess Nokia, but he still offers a unique and fascinating perspective that will catch any social user’s eye.
All the captions are the same for quadrants belonging to the same image, and they’re mostly regarding promotion of his shows or new releases, yet it doesn’t come off as stale due to the originality and appeal of his Instagram’s artwork.
And amid all this, he still makes sure to maintain a strong voice - the images are quirky or “cheeky”, per his IG moniker, inserting the musician in differently textured collage-illustrated backdrops that are as playful as they are awe-inspiring. Anderson himself isn’t a visionary collage artist, but he strategically hired one that spoke to his brand.
This dedication to voice is where the true commonality behind him, Nokia, and all successful ground-breaking artists lie, proving that knowing yourself and your brand inside and out is necessary to skyrocket an artists’s success. While you can’t get anywhere without talent, fans are the key to your prosperity, and social media is an untapped market is waiting to be utilized.