Case Study: RIVES // Content Strategy In 2021
'Narrative is the distance between where you are today, and where you want to be.' Here's my take on how creatives in 2021 can use identity perspective to take ownership of their very own story.
RIVES socials:
TikTok
Instagram
When I see artist social media presences, I see lots of successes - almost exclusively. Documenting successes is a great way to prove validity as an artist, however I feel the modern digital culture places too much priority on influencial voices and reviews to confirm your worth as an artist.
This source of worth is a hard starting point for artists today, where looking a 'way' is almost as important as sounding a 'way', causing artists to treat themselves as a 'brand' rather than an 'artist'. There is a temptation for emerging artists to want to already be successful with successes in numbers, awards, appearances etc with no room or exposure of the 'less-than-perfect' emerging narrative between their starting point and these successes.
Being an emerging artist is a unique and exciting time where you are able to form your identity. This formation is an ongoing process rather than it is a clinical orchestration of colour schemes and doctored personas. When an artist is established or have a clear identity, its because they have made many consistent steps in a direction, rather than just having a list of achievements.
In order to reach an achievement, you have to declare that you are not there already. The distance between these two points is the narrative.
Artist's are not the only one who are subject to this world - it is content creators too. I've seen far too many content creators make a viral piece and they are not initially consistent enough to know how to continue growing and instead become trapped by their one success, trying to replicate it once more. TikTok appears to be the only platform at this point in time that has an algorithm that encourages discovery en masse. However, this is at the sacrifice of fast-culture as TikTok's lifespan of a TikTok is short - making Tik Tok the judge, jury and executioner of your reach and community.
One metaphor for reference, because that's how I imagine frameworks:
- If you suddenly got bought a really nice car, your friends would perhaps be impressed/jealous, but ultimately it would be that car that defines who you are - but if many people have the same car, it becomes a forgettable achievement.
- However, if you told your friends you were determined to get this car, then you worked hard for years, suffered wins and losses, and suddenly turned up with the car, your friends would be over the moon(/jealous). In this case, your journey defines you. The actions you took within your journey is something you had full freedom and control over.
So in come RIVES - a alt-pop duo from Cheltenham. Ever since I first started working with them, they have wanted to sign to a record label and be able to make music together full time, in particular to Dirty Hit records. Their songs have had a great reception from their audience, with regular and positive feedback from their community. Just like any artist, they are trying to build a community and get to the above point.
Here's the plan: Their goal is to get signed by Dirty Hit. They are going to make content about them releasing their tracks in the hope of getting their attention, and they are asking the community for help doing this. They will be documenting most days of the week, logging everything they do, even them just hanging out, every success and failure on the journey. They will be doing what they were doing before but amongst the theme of the journey rather than them as a brand.
The beauty behind this approach comes in many forms:
1. A clear destination. (Focus on direction rather than genre of content/brand)
2. Mystery. (They have not got the achievement yet)
3. Community. (Any new followers are interested in the journey rather than the 'brand' of the artist)
4. Consistency. (Theme is goal orientated)
5. Beyond the goal. (If they achieve it, they take their community with them)
Having a clear and defined end destination is one of the most underrated influences creators can have. This way, creators can decide how they become validated, rather than be defined by someone elses uncontextual external views, who most of which wouldn't know the full story.
So far, RIVES video views have gone from 300 to 5,000 average, and added an additional 500 followers in the first 60 hours. This is a great indication that this content strategy is being received well.
I decided to write this down here today rather than when we find any success, because the story is being told right now.
If you read this when they have signed to Dirty Hit, you're late to the party ;)