Having identified the users for my Digital Artefact, young Australians who are also interested in listening to new and local musical talent, and come up with the concept of my blog site as a way for these musical artists, their fans and other young people and to get an insight into what fuels their creativity and inspires them to write and perform their own music, I was ready to prototype and test.
Starter Pack
My initial prototype idea was to create a community of fans around instagram following of young Aussie artists, where a big part of the focus was around live gigs and upcoming music releases. The blog site would host material as a reference but it was mainly about the instagram feed and gigs. I created my blog site on Wix which was pretty quick and easy to do (#fist) and then got to work on the instagram posts, which is how I planned to connect with my users. Because of the extended Covid lockdowns, however, the live gig part of the concept had to be replaced by more focus on the artists' interviews and bios.
User Experience Model
Early on, I tested on users through my personal Instagram account to gauge responses and build followers for the Instagram page. Given the lack of live music, I needed to find more artists for my interviews and bio’s. Connecting with my fellow students via #bcm114 turned out to be a great source, especially for musicians in the Illawarra. I also found that new musicians are really open to making time to provide interviews which was great.
Initial responses to my posts were really positive with plenty of views and likes. However, as the semester continued it became increasingly harder to keep this audience engaged with my content. My frequency of posting needs to increase and to keep me engaged, I think I need to find more variety of content.
Posts and User Feedback
Luckily things are opening up so I’m looking to get some information out about when the musicians I’ve featured are starting to book gigs. I’m also hoping that they’ve all been working on new music that I can listen to and review, for more content. I’ve started to reshape my site with more gig focus.
Importantly, as part of my live music blogs, I want to get back to testing my original concept which was to engage fans in the process of following artists. What I mean is, posting about upcoming gigs, and new music being released and getting feedback on how the fans enjoyed the music themselves. A community of fans type concept. In order to promote this style of following, I need to test out some tools such as polls, question boxes, live streams and highlight reels to increase the engagement of the Instagram page and blogsite. I’m also thinking that if I can generate some more real time conversations once gigs restart, then twitter can play a bigger role in communicating alongside Instagram and the blogsite. This is another way I might remake the concept.
A solution to this would be to upload to my blog in a more consistent and interesting schedule and to promote the blog post more than once.
Another solution would be to write about more topics other than just
The viewers and visitors of my Digital Artefact respond well to using my Instagram page more consistently to promote my content and give shout outs to the local artists that I interview.
Since my engagement has decreased lately. I believe that I could also improve this low engagement through asking for feedback on my page or asking my viewers if they would like to see anything more specifically. Another way that I could improve insights and engagement for my Instagram page and blog site is through writing a different variety of content such as posting more reviews or posting about more local gigs being performed at local venues that have recently opened up because of the lockdown finishing. I could also improve my engagement through posting a more consistent and engaging formula which would mean that my followers on Instagram as well as my peers on Twitter will be viewing my page more regularly and is why I should also use certain tools on Instagram such as polls, question boxes, live streams and highlight reels to increase the engagement of the Instagram page and blogsite.
I really like the concept you have created for your DA. I am also using instagram for my own DA and like you, have experienced bumps in the creative process due to Covid restrictions, so I can personally relate to this. I think you have been really clear about the concepts you have come up with that align with the prototyping stage, and it's great that you have outlined things you intended or intent to do that weren't possible. I found using polls and question boxes super helpful too, to get quick feedback from users. I also like that you adapted your content to suit with what you were and were not able to do, it shows a great effort…
Wow, this is definitely by far my favourite project Ive come across.Your DA is very interesting and its great to see what you have done to an industry that has died in Australia for the last two years, which is live music. Who does not like local talent?? Instagram polls are one of the best ways to engage quick and easy with your followers as it pops up on there screen and cannot avoid it but also it only takes a one line response. One thing I could say that might help, is if you could reach out to maybe a local radio or paper who can project your account to a wider audience. Or maybe try to become friend…
This is a really great read! I found it very interesting to hear the thought process behind your DA and how you have adjusted it to the current circumstances relating to the NSW lockdowns. Connecting with your users through polls and stories is defiantly a great way of boosting your engagement, you may also find if you begin engaging with your users on their posts, they will do the same; Also try reaching out to some local business support pages as a way of networking. Really great work, im so interested to see where you take this DA now that the lockdowns have ended. Great Job! x