IDHAS Social Media Promotion

 

I'm currently updating the I Don't Hear A Single server, so in the downtime I thought I'd answer a question that I've been asked a few times recently. Some had noticed that I promote reviews far less on Social Media, particularly Facebook and asked why.

It is correct and I made a conscious decision in 2021 to promote on Social Media much less. There were a number of reasons, the primary one being that algorithm changes on Facebook had made getting the review to new people was made harder and harder. 

Secondly, I personally got irritated by seeing the same post in 20 different groups and constant posting about the same thing. Finally, Blogger is great for people seeing the 7 reviews on the front page and the most popular 10 in the last 30 days. It isn't as great with reviews beyond those seven after a month has ended. 

IDHAS is always about the new and unappreciated artists and getting their albums heard and hopefully bought. I wanted a way for more people to see current reviews and also see the older ones from across the year and the five years plus of the place.

So last year, I learned Google Analytics. I don't endorse it, it isn't an exhilarating learn, quite the opposite. It takes a fair bit of trial and error getting it to the job you want it to and this is painstaking. But once it is set up to your needs, it really works. I Don't Hear A Single has grown and grown since inception, but never as fast as this year.

I was concerned that a lack of Social Media presence would affect new reviews. So for new reviews, I posted a link on my own Facebook Page, the IDHAS Facebook Group page and the general IDHAS page, all at the same time. Most times, I posted on two of the groups that I am a member of, but rotated the choices, so as not to flood or spam people.

I also posted on Twitter once and did an end of the month round up on Instagram tagging all artists that had been reviewed that month. That was my only social media promotion. If artists, labels or fans want to promote it on social media in any way, they can until their heart is content. Indeed it is possibly more effective that way as a different audience is reached.

Google Analytics actually achieved the first aim to get older reviews read, but it also grew the views of the new reviews far more than I expected. It appears that as people discover the old review, they look at the new ones too. So now the artist and album gets seen by far more people and with Google Analytics now set up, I have far less of the boring promotion work to do as GA takes care of that with minimum input from me. 

So I hope I haven't bored you with this explanation. It wasn't the only question asked, but was the main one. After a quiet start to the month, IDHAS Reviews return on Tuesday. These will continue through the month as the Best Of Year 100 is never started to be compiled until the month has ended. 

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