17 Bands With Super Awesome Facebook Pages
Facebook is pretty much every band’s ultimate marketing superpower. So...are you actually using your FB band page for good? (And even if you are, is there the tiniest chance you maybe could be doing things even better?)
If you want more fans, more Likes, more people finding you, more people at your shows, more people hearing your music, or more people buying your merch, read on.
And by the way -- the cool stuff these bands are doing on their Facebook pages could apply to just about any business that relies on building an audience. So even if you’re dreaming of being the next rock star of...something that’s not rock at all...read on.
Eight Bands You Might Not Know Have Super Awesome Facebook Pages
1) Garfunkel and Oates
First off, if you don’t know these ladies, please take a minute and watch/listen to everything they’ve done. Unless you hate to laugh. Then you probably want to avoid them altogether. But..with ~170k likes and ~160k people following their page, they might be doing a few things right.
Three awesome things about this page:
A whole bunch of videos, all well-produced
Instagram & Twitter feeds as Page Tabs
Shop Now call-to-action button that brings me to one product: a super-awesome Vimeo page for their last special, Trying to be special
One thing that’s not super awesome...no new posts since January (as I write this, it’s almost June. and no I don’t know how that happened but it’s true). Give us some new stuff!
2) Somerville Symphony Orkestar
Shoutout to a hometown band! Love these guys. (And not just because I’ve known some of them long enough to wonder when we all became grown-ups)
Three awesome things about this page:
Thumbnail + cover image featuring super awesome band photo (live shot) + band name/logo
Videos of the guys playing live + pics of shows
Active feed that includes posts to announce shows, thank fans who came to shows, mentions of local business & music fest pages (which boost reach), and features of media & news like this beauty
3) Euforquestra
By now, you might’ve started to notice a pattern. Page Tabs are the way to make your page work harder for you.
Three awesome things about this page:
Promoting upcoming shows via Cover Image, Profile Photo, and Upcoming Events box at the top of the page
Page Tabs! YouTube Page Tab allows people to subscribe & share inside Facebook [add the YouTube Tab to your band’s Page Tabs]. Plus, these guys also have the Instagram, Twitter, and Soundcloud tabs. And...the Events and Tour Dates tabs make it easy for fans to see where they’ll be next.
CTA button to subscribe to the newsletter.
4) KB Whirly
Another personal friend & hometown music act. If you have little kids, you need some KB Whirly in your life. But also...he’s got a super awesome Facebook presence
In addition to a ReverbNation Band Profile and a great mix of song & live videos on the Videos tab, Mr. Whirly has something I haven’t seen anyone else do yet: Pinterest integration. Check out his “Pin With Us!” Page Tab. This is a super smart move that fits Mr Whirly’s intended audience really well. Want to try it yourself? Learn more about everything Woobox could do for your Facebook presence.
5) The Meters
Three awesome things about this page:
They’re The Meters. Cissy Strut. Done.
The Set Lists tab -- cool for the right audiences.
The Shop tab -- makes it super easy for people to scan band merch without even leaving Facebook, then click right over to the store to buy the thing they absolutely must have right now.
7) Composer Darius Holbert
Facebook isn’t just for gigging bands. Darius, an accomplished composer, fills his feed with an engaging combination of tips for emerging artists who’d like to follow in his footsteps, celebrations of the accolades his work has achieved, updates on upcoming projects, and samples of his work. Check out the views, likes, and comments to see the great engagement & reach his stuff gets. Definitely worth the effort. (Bonus: Check out his other project, DariusTX)
8) The Hoots
I was lucky enough to do some brand strategy work for The Hoots, my own kids love their stuff, and I cannot wait to see how far they go. Their Facebook page is definitely working to help them grow. They've made awesome use of the YouTube Page Tab integration with the Hoot Quarters Channel tab (plus tabs for Tour Dates, Instagram Feed, and more). Steady posting, including invitations to be sure to connect with them on other channels. Check them out!
And...Nine Bands Who Would Obviously Have Awesome Facebook Pages
I focused this post on bands you might not know have super awesome Facebook pages. It might be easy to say, ‘well, obviously those guys have super awesome pages -- they have a marketing team or a record deal or a bajillion fans or whatever.’ But, there’s stuff we can learn from mega bands, too.
I don’t think I really need to explain why each of these pages is super awesome. But here are a few things I noticed the mega bands doing differently from the emerging artists:
Using the Cover Photo to promote the latest album
Using video and/or photo in just about every single post
Album-specific Page Tabs with iTunes integration (powered by smartURL)
Bottom Line: To have your own super awesome Facebook band page, you need these things...
Smart use of Page Tabs to make the page work even harder for you.
There are plenty of tools to choose from. Think about starting with YouTube, Soundcloud, ReverbNation Band Profile, and your Mailing List. And, as mentioned above, tools like Woobox and smartURL can help you do even more with Page Tabs.
Banner & Cover Photo that draw attention & align with the brand.
If you haven't already, invest in some real photography to help promote your band to your people. It's more than worth it. And think about engaging a designer (you can find affordable ones on Upwork or Fiverr) to create cover images that help promote new albums or upcoming shows.
Call-to-action button to make the page work even harder for you
(I really wish Facebook would allow us to customize these buttons to say whatever we want. But still. They’re there so use them. Even if they’re not perfect.)
Active feed filled with posts your people will like to interact with + posts that boost engagement with you in real life (listens, downloads, shows, purchases, etc.)
That About page.
The headline is your chance to tell the people what you’re about, in just a few words. The bio is your chance to tell your people your story - where you came from, what you’re doing, where you are.
And one word of caution:
Bands, watch your Page Tabs. The third-party services that serve up these things are always changing. And when that happens, Page Tabs break. At the moment, the SonicBids Artist Profile and the old BandPage Page Tabs aren’t working. I’ve noticed a few bands with broken Mailing List Page Tabs. Bottom line: Facebook Page Tabs are really useful, but you can’t set ‘em and forget ‘em.