Folk musicians in Scotland are being offered specialist support to improve their presence on social media platforms thanks to a new initiative from some of Scotland’s leading music organisations.
SocialFolk, funded by Creative Scotland, offers musicians the chance to sign up to free one-to-one social media training with social media experts. Gill Maxwell, CEO of the Scottish Music Centre, one of the SocialFolk partners, said, ‘The covid-19 pandemic has brought about many challenges for the music industry, not least the need for artists to possess a broad range of skills and knowledge across social media platforms. The loss of live work and need to adapt to new and unfamiliar ways of working in the past eighteen months has brought this sharply into focus.’
The SocialFolk website (https://www.socialfolk.scot), which launches on Monday October 25, is according to Lisa Whytock of Showcase Scotland Expo, ‘a one-stop shop Scotland-based traditional, folk, acoustic and roots musicians to hone their digital marketing skills.’
It contains free social media and digital marketing advice videos delivered by top folk musicians including Daniel Gillespie of Skerryvore and former BBC Young Trad Musician of the Year, Kristan Harvey. Harvey who plays with the bands, Blazin Fiddles and Fara said, ‘Getting to grips with social media has been a huge learning curve for me. I’ve invested a lot of time figuring out our audience and where our market is, using the demographic material that the platforms make available.’
David Francis, Director of the Traditional Music Forum, commented, ‘We had discovered anecdotally that many artists are not confident about their social media skills: they are unsure about what content to post, how often and where. Those anecdotal impressions were underscored by the formal survey we undertook in last year in which artists were asked about their understanding of social media, their awareness of various channels and how they can benefit artistic careers in an increasingly digital world.’
The organisers plan to make up to 60 one to one sessions available. Applications will be offered through a form on the website.