Why Engaging Fans Via Facebook Messenger Now Is Like Being The First Musician On YouTube

While social media has become a crowded space where getting fan attention can be difficult, messaging apps remain an excellent tool through which artists can reach their fans directly, and are a form of communication which is continuing to gain popularity.

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Guest post from FanHubSocial Media is overcrowded .No one downloads apps.How can you break through the noise to engage with your fans?According to the newspapers it has never been easier for an unknown musician to break into the spotlight – simply build a large following on social media and your fans will buy anything you try to sell them.But are those days over? Now even once you’ve signed a deal you need to spend a fortune on Facebook and Twitter ads just to let fans know when you release a new track or tour date.As musicians struggle with engaging and monetising fans through traditional social channels, a shift is happening in how people communicate.In the last year, messaging apps have surpassed social networks in monthly active user numbers and Business Insider revealed “Chat apps also have higher retention and usage rates than most mobile apps”. The majority of these users are young, and spend hours every day on these apps. Of all the messaging apps, Facebook Messenger has the largest user base at over 1 billion monthly active users, with over 30% using it daily for an average period of 10-11 minutes.

Aside from its popularity, messaging is special for two key reasons: the convenience and the intimacy.App downloads have dropped off a cliff in the last couple of years. The stats are astounding: nearly half of smartphone users download 0 apps per month, and when they do download, close to 90% will not come back after a week.It’s crucial to engage fans on the apps they already use every day.If users log into their messaging apps several times a day, you can reach them with zero barriers and repeatedly, over the long term.

Another bonus of messaging apps is the ‘push notification’. While on Facebook or Twitter you need to pay for ads to get your message seen, within Facebook Messenger users get notified about every message they receive and read 99% of the messages they get sent.Imagine being able to notify your fans directly when you release new material or a tour date in their town. What would that do for conversion rates?Funny or Die can tell you – VP of Marketing and Distribution, Patrick Starzan, said it took 3 months to get 1.5m chatters on Kik compared to 2-3 years to get the same number of people on social networks.“When we send out broadcast messages – usually with links to new videos – we see conversion rates as high as 10%. That’s pretty substantial since we only send out the broadcast messages once a week, whereas we’ll send posts to social networks like Facebook and Twitter five or six times a day and see lower conversion rates.”Messaging also offers a uniquely intimate way of engaging fans. Facebook Messenger is safe and familiar, so with proper forethought and consideration an artist can cultivate the kind of lasting relationships and loyalty you simply cannot achieve on social networks.Why is this important right now? Because engaging with fans on messaging apps today is like engaging with fans on Facebook 10 years ago or Youtube 8 years ago. No one is doing it yet so it offers a huge opportunity.So how exactly do you connect with fans on social media?At FanHub we can create a personality in Facebook Messenger for your Facebook page using Facebook’s new bot platform.Fans click to message your Facebook page and get routed to a Facebook Messenger conversation. We work directly with the artists and their management to ensure this personality is consistent with their brand and the image they want to convey.Within the conversation, users will be able to click buttons to discover the artist’s latest tracks, videos, tour dates and merchandise.Providing one central hub for fans to find all the information on their favourite artists is invaluable. No need to visit Spotify, Soundcloud, Songkick, Resident Advisor and Beatport just to keep up with what’s going on – all the information will be one click away within Facebook Messenger.When something new comes out, just send out a message to all fans. They’ll get a push notification and read the message immediately. Fans can even send in their location and get notified when you announce a tour date in their city.Knocking down all the barriers to discovering information will lead to huge increases in exposure, engagement and revenue for artists.You also have the opportunity to build personal connections and loyalty by involving fans in the development of your albums or gigs. FanHub can enable artists to ask fans to vote on anything – which album cover they should choose, or which song to play first at their next gig….the opportunities are limitless.Fans can send in their photos, videos and audio clips, which artists can then display or share. The more involved a fan feels, the more they will care about the artist and want to support them by buying music, gig tickets or merchandise. A great example of this is Katy Perry’s KatyCat’s, who regularly spend an average of £1,627 a year on her music!FanHub’s analytics can help you understand which messages are resonating the most with fans to help refine your message and maximise sharing and clicks.Engagement. Loyalty. Conversion.There’s a window of opportunity here to connect with millions of fans without competition for attention. Use it.Visit our website to see FanHub in action www.fanhub.xyz