Social Media Research: Bands & Branding

     Hello, this blog post will examine the branding methods different bands use to promote their music on social media platforms, namely Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. The bands I will be researching today are: Hong Kong Fuck You, Dead Butterflies, and Away With Words. Although all three of these bands fit into the vast hardcore genre of music, they have their own little niches and details that set each of them apart, reflected in their branding techniques on social media.

    If you take a look at Hong Kong Fuck You's Instagram, their branding becomes very clear. They know who they want in their target audience, and how to attract them.

A first look at Hong Kong Fuck You's
Instagram page.

    After taking one look at HKFY's Instagram page, one can discern their brand image as being one with an unapologetic and vulgar attitude, fitting for the punk ideologies the band spreads with their music. As much as I'd like to fangirl over their music, this post is about branding, and so, branding I will talk about. Looking at HKFY's branding, it's incredibly consistent, not only with stylistic choices such as the font, color scheme, and references to East Asian pop culture, but also with their captions and catchphrases. Every time they announce a show or tour, they start it off by saying "[LOCATION] IS FUCKED!" or something along the lines of "fucking" a location, feeding further into the previously aforementioned vulgar and punk attitude of their brand. Despite their raunchy image, all of these techniques make their brand memorable, and I suppose that is the end goal of all this, right?

 

Examples of HKFY's branding, showcasing what
I was talking about in the previous paragraph.

    All fucking aside, while looking through HKFY's posts, I asked myself: how can I take inspiration from this for my project? The whole purpose of this blog is to document my thoughts and progress with my project, so I might as well dedicate a paragraph to it. I enjoy the stylistic aspects of their posts, especially the consistent font and color scheme, so I may utilize that when I make my social media posts for Soshe. Since Soshe's logo follows a pink color scheme, I may use a big, bold font, like HKFY's, and just make it pink, since Soshe is still a generally hardcore band.

Soshe's current logo

A logo I designed for Soshe, adopting the
stylistic elements of HKFY's font choice

    Now, moving onto 7-piece Ft. Worth band Dead Butterflies, Dead Butterflies also does a lot of things to keep their brand consistent, but they do it very differently compared to Hong Kong Fuck You.

A first look at the DB Instagram Page 

    As you can see, Dead Butterflies goes for a more raw approach when it comes to promoting their brand – they promote their image more with videos from live performances and rather than making their own flyers for shows like HKFY, they just let different artists make their flyers each time, making their page not look as consistent as HKFY's page.