Like on every other network, it’s challenging to get heard as markets become saturated with music. However, there are ways to push through and be heard, and paid followers for SoundCloud are here to help you. 

Quality & consistency trumps everything

Your product (productions, vocals, and overall sound) must have a high quality. We are not saying that you need to be at the same level as XXXTentacion or Avicii (both started through SoundCloud). Still, if you can meet a certain threshold in which your music is just as good, you have high chances of gaining followers. Even if you try to meet, as an example, a 70% goal of your music is as good as the professionals, you will have audience retention. It would help if you had “that” factor that stands you out from the thousands of other artists on the platform. 

Now, consistency is also an essential factor. This is a constant talking point in the quality versus quantity debate. If you can consistently release an overall good song every three to four weeks, you are golden. With this formula, you will continuously be on people’s radars. Take into mind this scenario: you release a good song, and people start following you on SoundCloud because of it. If you continually release high-quality music, you’ll become a favorite to those followers. In turn, they will spread the word about you. 

Your goal is to find a balance of quality and consistency, and even though it may take some time to see it, it’ll pay off. 

The good old technique: download gates

One of the first techniques you should be doing as an artist, label, or network is to start using download gates. Through download gates, you exchange a download for social currency. In this instance, it would be either a SoundCloud comment, follow, repost, or all three. If you combine this method with the previously mentioned quality + consistency balance, you will quickly rack up followers. 

Even though not many people download .mp3’s nowadays, there is still a niche circle. DJs and people who like old-school and don’t care for monthly payments to streaming platforms such as Spotify or Apple Music are the prime examples of those who you want to target.

Repost circles and trades 

One of the best things that SoundCloud has to offer is the repost feature. You can trade with other artists reposts of each other’s music for more exposure to people through this. This will vary depending on the number of followers you have. Nevertheless, this is a significant opportunity to have your music heard by a broader audience. 

There are groups on Facebook and on the internet where people exchange these repost trades. You can even start a little circle with other artists on SoundCloud and build up each other’s followers – it is a network.  

Use your other social media accounts to boost your SoundCloud

There is no rule against sharing your SoundCloud based music on other social media accounts such as Facebook. Use your real-life friends to start spreading the word. If you have the right circle of supportive friends, you can get the word spread about your music through their Instagram stories or retweets pretty quickly. If you have a download gate, through this method, you will gain followers too. Do not be afraid to use your community as a tool that leads to your music. 

Submit your music to YouTube music networks

One of the best ways to get your music heard and get followers on SoundCloud is to submit your music to YouTube channels. You can find e-mails or forms in the about sections in which you can submit your song for consideration. There are hundreds of channels that do this for every genre. If you can get, conservatively, 5,000 views on a video, and 100 of them want the song, they will use your download gate, and you will gain 100 followers off that. 

Most YouTube music channels can average between 5,000 to 100,000 views. If you have quality music, you most likely will get a couple of videos up from varying channels. Quality music + download gates + YouTube videos will get hundreds of followers even if you are starting with SoundCloud. 

Join the SoundCloud community

As stated before, SoundCloud is a social network. Reach out to other artists in your tier and give them real constructive criticism. Do not reach out and say, “Hi, I like your song! Follow me!” instead, say, “Hey, I found your music, and it is similar to mine. I like the bassline you used; how did you do it?” This will get the other artist to check out your music naturally, and it isn’t forced down their throats. 

By doing this, you are networking, and they may help you in some way or another. Moreover, through this, you can build a repost circle. Build genuine connections, and it will pay off. 

The post How to Get Heard on SoundCloud: Working Music Marketing Strategies appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Create relevant and useful content 

Content should form a crucial element of your digital marketing strategy. Posting high-quality content will help you build meaningful connections with your intended audience, grow your online presence, and establish credibility within your industry. Creating a positive brand image and reputation is especially important for consumer lending businesses. You should make sure that your content is relevant and tailored to your audience. Provide useful financial information that will benefit your customers. 

For instance, write blog posts on how to improve your credit score, how to create a monthly budget, and strategies to pay off debt faster. Make your content interesting by including visual media such as infographics, images, and videos. According to a recent survey by MDG; “70% of consumers want to learn about products through content instead of traditional advertising methods.” With that in mind, creating engaging visual content should be a key focus of your marketing strategy. 

Post customer testimonials 

As mentioned, consumer lending businesses need to focus on building trust with their customers and creating a positive brand image. Posting customer testimonials is one of the most effective ways to establish authority within your industry. Consumers place a high value on the experiences and feedback of others. Posting positive customer feedback on your website or social media accounts will demonstrate your level of service and help you establish trust with potential customers. 

Requesting and analyzing customer feedback will also help you identify any areas for improvement. Use negative feedback and complaints as an opportunity to improve your services and enhance the customer experience. You can gain customer feedback by sending follow-up emails, reviewing live chat transcripts, and monitoring activity on your social media accounts. 

Utilize social media channels 

Social media is a powerful marketing tool that brands can use to promote their products and build their brand. On top of this, social media allows companies to build genuine and meaningful relationships with their customers and provide helpful information to their followers. Building a large following on social media platforms can help consumer lending businesses build a positive reputation and gain trust and loyalty with their target audience. You can also invest in paid social media ads to expand your market reach and build visibility online. According to research by Cash Lady, the most popular YouTube channels have over 30 million views per video. Having your company advertised on established YouTube channels can therefore be an excellent way to promote your lending business and win over new customers. 

The post How to Ethically Market Consumer Lending Businesses appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

At the same time, platforms like Twitter empower users to connect and commiserate over similar negative and positive experiences, thanks to functionality on the platform like replies and “retweets”. The result is a digital ecosystem that can play a major role in your business’ public identity.

Here are a few things to keep in mind about how customers are using Twitter, from the good to the bad and even the ugly.

Twitter users speak their truth

It’s common to see Twitter users interacting with brands online to voice their opinions. While this could range from engagement (like a retweet) to mentions or replies, the fact remains that there is some real power in what your audience tweets.

This is even more true of users aged 18-29, who comprise almost 39 percent of all Twitter users, and are likely to also seek opinions from their peers on the platform. The result is a public platform that is as powerful as it is brutally honest. 

Need an example of how this power can get ugly fast? Take, for example, the fact that companies like Comcast have had to institute a new position, “social care specialist”, in order to field the massive number of complaints about their brand on platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

In fact, a 2015 study found that Comcast had the worst overall customer sentiment across all Twitter mentions, resulting in Mashable proclaiming Comcast to be the “most miserable brand on Twitter”. When popular trending hashtags about the brand range from “#comcastoutage” to “#comcastsucks,” it’s easy to see where that title came from, and just how negative customers can be online.

What you can do about it

So what should you do if you don’t want your company to be the next Comcast? One thing you can do is learn from their mistakes. Taking a look at some of the most egregious tweets, one pattern begins to emerge really affects the likelihood that a customer will complain online: customer service.

You’ve probably already read studies about how businesses lose $75 billion dollars because of bad customer service, and Twitter can play a major role in magnifying and exacerbating customer fallout. For example, viral videos of negative support agent interactions are some of the most damaging forms of content that get shared on social media sites like Twitter, and often necessitate public apologies from company figureheads.

One way to avoid these issues in the first place is to use call center software that allows you to monitor and track employee performance. Even better, by integrating your Microsoft call center with your business’ CRM platform, you can keep tabs on repeat callers, prioritizing them so that they receive specialized support from some of your best agents. This can go a long way in mitigating any risk of negative interactions between your employees and your customers, ultimately protecting your brand.

You’ve probably heard that the best defense is a good offense, and that sentiment couldn’t be more true in the world of customer support. If you perform a quick search of your brand’s mentions online and are upset by what you discover on platforms like Twitter, make sure to take the results seriously and perform an internal audit of your customer support strategy.

By being proactive and taking advantage of top-flight call center software solutions, you can begin to address the problem and ultimately build your reputation back up.

The post Want to Know How Your Customers Really Feel? Check Twitter appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

If you want to punch through the noise, you need to leverage every advantage you have. Below, I’ll outline some of the content marketing strategies I’ve used to grab attention and score conversions.

1. Why am I reading this content?

As your target audience scrolls through their social media feed, they are inundated with demands for their attention. You need to immediately communicate why the content is relevant to them.

This starts with the title and meta description for your content. Here’s a really strong example of how to communicate value instantly. Within seconds the reader knows what they’ll gain from the content, and the formatting of the content is designed to allow skeptical readers to skim and gain value.

2. Take me to where I expect to go.

If I click on your content in my social media feed, I want to go where I’m expecting. And I’m expecting to land on a page that provides answers to the questions – or the itch – that caused me to click in the first place.

If your promoted social media post states: “These 8 simple steps can help you regrow your hair in 60 days!”, then I expect to see an outline of the 8 simple steps. You should not take me to a page that offers to sell me a magical elixir.

A great salesman knows when to close. The first click is not when you close. The first click is for convincing me that you are a genuine authority – building trust for when you do push the close.

3. Prove it with a case study or two.

Your content needs to be backed up with research. You should have at least one authority link to a case study or interview that proves your point. In the age of wikipedia, customers will not just take your word for it.

Curious about how a case study fits into your overall social media and content marketing plan?

I like to look at content marketing as a pyramid. First, there’s the surface level social media post with an attention-grabbing teaser. Then you take me to an asset that communicates the unique value propositions of your product or service. There should be multiple landing pages and in-depth pages of content that allow me to sink my teeth into the things that make your product / service the best. And finally, I should have a persistent call to convert from casual browser to customer.

This type of setup allows me to go on a self-guided journey through your content. The more I click and explore, the more I feel you are a genuine authority, and the more likely I am to fork over my hard-earned money.

4. Get visual with your social media posts.

Did you know that if you comment or like an Instagram post made by a targeted customer, they will follow your Instagram profile back 34% of the time? Visual marketing, whether it’s Instagram syphoning or tutorial distribution, is a powerful strategy for engaging your target market.

Text is boring. You need to capture their attention within milliseconds of your post entering their feed. Visuals are much more effective at capturing the attention of the human eye. Don’t believe me?

Think about how you process information. A picture really is worth 1,000 words. There’s no way I could describe an artistic masterpiece in less time than it takes for your eyes to zero in on it.

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, there are an endless number of strategies you can deploy to build up your company’s digital presence. Social media is a hugely powerful tool for connecting in a more intimate way with your target customer. The content marketing strategies I’ve outlined above are meant to help you zero in on the systems I use to maximize the ROI on my time and marketing dollars.

The post 4 Secrets to Compelling Content Marketing that Punches Through the Noise appeared first on Social Media Explorer.