I love working through Facebook to make an impression and cultivate relationships with customers! The millennial generation is not interested in just hiring any run-of-the-mill vendor; new clients want to know and genuinely like the people with whom they are working.  A free Facebook profile provides a public platform for people to connect directly with you and learn more about who you are.

Before I hired my wedding photographer, the first thing that I did was to comb through her Facebook page. It gave me direct access not only to her work, but I was also able to understand more about her personality and outlook on life. It was important for me to know, and it wasn’t something that I could learn just from visiting her website. I’m still Facebook friends with my wedding photographer, and I might be a bit obsessed with her cat. That’s a wonderful relationship between vendor and client that was cultivated because of Facebook!

Aside from forming closer relationships with my clients, a Facebook profile integrates well with different social media platforms and it is accessible to many different generations. I can link my Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest accounts directly to my Facebook page so that I can have a more interesting profile.

Most people are comfortable, if not familiar, with Facebook which allows you to reach a more diverse audience of potential clients. More and more clients, from brides to booking agents, are relying on the ease and accessibility of Facebook to research and book vendors. As a freelance musician, Facebook is a vital part of my business.

—Diana Dunnavant, from Williamsburg, Va., is Manager of Marketing and Controls for Virginia Harp Center and Atlanta Harp Center.

The best social media strategy I’ve used to get gigs has been to post my upcoming events on Twitter. I tag the performance location and add a promotional jpg with my photo. I also tag the people or company I want to notice me by inviting them to come out to hear me.

I thank anyone who retweets my tweet and re-add my photo and the promo photo to the ‘Thx U’ tweet. Making Twitter friends with online marketers and other musicians of a same or similar music genre is also a big help. In a private message, ask them to tweet your performance date to their followers in exchange for a retweet of their services or upcoming events. This will help expand your audience and build strong alliances on the expanding Twitter platform.

I have my Facebook page integrated with Twitter, so postings from Twitter go directly to Facebook in real time. Keep the text simple and the images vivid. Twitter only allows 140 characters so “Call to Action” ones must be short, sweet, and precise. Hashtags (the # symbol) added to your tweet push your call to action to your audience and boost your tweet to a larger audience. For example, my recent performance was at a high-end Japanese restaurant presenting a jazz festival in September. My call to action was: #SushiSakeJAZZ. This hashtag gets pushed across the Twitter platform for other users to see and draws them in to see the origin of the tweet, expanding potential fans and presenters and creating more work opportunities.

—Destiny Muhammad, from Oakland, Calif., is a composer, recording artist, concert producer, band leader, and harpist.

Hashtags, hashtags, hashtags. There are a few different paths you can go down when deciding on a media strategy: from devising a series of weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly posts, to posting specific pictures from gigs and posting recordings. But one of the easiest ways of broadening your audience is through hashtags. A hashtag is a way of labeling a post, picture, or blog, making it searchable through that tag, and other related tags. In order to create a hashtag the user places the symbol # in front of a word or un-spaced phrase, e.g., #harp.

For instance, if I wish to up my wedding work I will use specific hashtags that will help my posting or picture pop up for anyone whose interests align with my hashtag—#miamiweddings, #weddingmusic, or #weddings. Have a recital coming up? Hashtag it: #miamiconcerts or #recitals! Hashtagging your local area specifically (#miami) is one of the most important marketing tools you have, and is a simple way to let a wide audience of people know who you are and what you are doing. A properly designed hashtag can help you connect with a totally new audience!

I have also found that a well-designed photograph with appropriate hashtags can go a long way! Whether you choose to include yourself in this photo or not, make sure that the photo is well designed. Move your bag and cover out of the way, pick up any trash that might be in the frame, and try a few different angles to get the perfect shot!

—Kristina Finch, from Miami, Fla., is a doctor of harp, gown-addict, lover of bulldogs, and fitness enthusiast.

Coming Up:

I have a student playing in a youth orchestra, and they keep sending her home with a violin part. Short of writing out a part for her, what can I do to get the orchestra to provide a decent part?