Create and Release your EP in 90 Days - Step 8 [Education Phase - Strategy]
In the last lesson, we talked about how the Education Phase works to inspire and intrigue fans to a point where they trust you enough to communicate with you one-on-one (via your email or text channel). Additionally, we noted that this phase will take place largely on social media as well as on your website.
In this lesson, we’ll be seeing where we can observe the Education phase at play, & what sorts of interactions you can expect to see there that indicate good results.
Social Media Profiles/Presence
For many fans, this will be the first education moment they encounter. They’ve seen a post or ad from you, and they click your icon to see more about who you are and what you do. Branding your FB and IG to communicate who you are as an artist does a lot for the fan at a passing glance. Your aesthetic is a chance to empathize with the fan by showcasing your sensibilities.
Setting up your profiles in a basic manner to encourage clicks over to your website or “educational” content is also helpful for naturally allowing fans to start digging into education. This entails putting relevant Pinned Posts, having an intentional IG bio or FB link, or creating Story posts that keep in mind potential bio viewers at any given moment.
Posts/Ads
Much of your Introductory audience has liked or followed your pages, and organic posts can reach these lukewarm followers and get them more invested in your art.
While your organic reach can become an asset as a result of consistent advertising, in general, this is a small and unreliable audience - however, we can use some easy low-level ad spending to get the maximal reach on these posts - this is a strategy we’ll get into in the next video.
Comments Sections
The comments section can be the first time that a fan ever gets to interact with you one-on-one - and it’s a model for future interactions via email. It’s a crucial place where you can be kind and clever and win fans over one at a time.
Conversations here naturally educate fans, and they also give you clear opportunities to offer the next relevant piece of content or experience that can educate them further - like a bonus video, unreleased song, lyrics sheet, or hidden web page.
Make sure you’re always there to reward these comments with a reply!
Messenger
The same concepts for the comments section apply here - but the messenger is an even more intense indicator of warmth. These fans are so interested in your stuff that they want to pick your brain and talk one-on-one.
Being kind and generous in the inbox is a great way to showcase your artistry and get fans invested, just like the comments. Take these messages seriously and be a beacon of gratitude. Your fans will remember it!
Your Website
There will be fans who discover your music and head over to your website to get a sense of who you are. For that reason, you may want to set up some website content such as a bio, lyrics, blog, or backlog page that helps “explain who you are” in a passive manner.
Let’s also not forget the Education phase’s role in our marketing goals - to warm fans up enough to get their subscription, eventually. As much as possible we’ll be wanting to win over Permission from people who land on our website, but many are there simply to check out what you’ve got to offer and learn a little bit about you.
Another benefit of getting some web traffic is that we’re creating a trackable and reachable layer of educated fans every time they hit our website using an installed Facebook Pixel. You don’t have to worry about this too much yet, but basically, it allows us to do even more with ad efforts mentioned a bit earlier.
These are the common venues of the Education phase, and these are the sorts of activities you can anticipate and basic elements you can set up to have a successful, passive education phase!
In the next lesson, we’ll get into some intentional campaigns that actively move fans through this stage and prime them for Permission.