Assessment of the Role of Social Media in Personal Branding in Ghana’s Music Industry.

Abstract

This study is an assessment of the role of social media in the personal brands of the artistes in Ghana’s entertainment industry. The objectives that underscored the objectives of the study were exploring the various meanings that stakeholders in the music industry ascribe to personal branding, how social media is used in the promotion of personal brands in the music industry and the importance of social media in the development and building of personal brands. The study employed a qualitative approach where semi-structured interviews were conducted on six stakeholders that were conveniently sampled. The stakeholders constituted of two artistes, three artiste management and one entertainment analyst, pundit and journalist. The findings of the study showed that, there was an appreciation of the concept of personal branding and musicians were seen as individuals who need to manage their brands well. Social media was seen as a critical tool in that regard, and could prove to be either advantageous or negative depending on how it is used. Social media was observed to be used to facilitate engagement with the fans of musicians, promote their projects as well as compliment other communication efforts. The effective use of social media positively impacts on the brand. The use of social media is fraught with some challenges which can be minimized through the constitution of a team have the mandate and responsibility to manage their social media pages and interactions.