When was the last time you took an inventory of your social media properties? Has it been a while? As an independent artist, it’s important that you keep your pages updated to appropriately reflect your work. This will help keep your existing fans interested in you, and help you to continue gaining more fans along the way.

Take some time this month to sift through all of your social media properties, and look at your pages through the eyes of a fan, or a potential fan. What do your pages say? Do they reflect a streamlined image of a professional musician or a mish-mash of information directly from an amateur? If the latter, perhaps you could you be doing better.

Here are 6 tips to help you make the most out of your social media pages:

1. Login Information: First and foremost, do you have all of your login information? If not, track it down. If you can’t remember this information consistently and that’s prohibiting you from becoming more active online, consider creating a secure document with your login information until you can commit it to memory.
2. Update: Has it been months since you’ve updated your social media bio, contact information, photo, or music? Have you released a new album since you’ve last checked your Facebook page? Then it’s time to update! Remember: your fans won’t know what you’ve got going on, unless you tell them! Make it a point to ensure all of your information is up to date and accurate.
3. Streamline: Several social media channels allow you to integrate your other pages. If you want your Facebook status updates to be sent out as Tweets, you can do so, and then some. Consider linking your pages if it suits your style.
4. Messages: If you have a number of unread messages, check them and respond as needed. Don’t neglect potential partnerships or offers of collaboration by not responding in a timely manner. You could be missing out on something big.
5. Engage: Do what you’re there to do: engage in a conversation. Comment on status updates, “like” a new blog post from another artist, or respond to a recent tweet. All of these things will help bring attention to you and drive traffic to your social media pages in return.
6. Create a calendar: If you have a hard time staying on track, consider creating a calendar of topics that you can post about on your social media pages. This will help keep you on track and posting new content on a consistent basis.

Remember, your social media pages convey your public persona. If you don’t keep them up, your fans might think you’ve faded away. Keep them engaged and interested by consistently participating in conversations.

Tell us what you think! When was the last time you updated your social media pages?

Up next: SXSW is right around the corner – are you going?

The SongCast Crew