Soul Singer Leah Harris Improves Engagement To Stay Connected With Superfans

After four weeks with her Future Proof Transformation Team, Leah Harris is looking at her music business with excitement once again. A soul-singer songwriter originally from Windsor, Ontario, Leah is about as busy as it gets. Working full-time as a Sustainability & Media Coordinator as well as running several side hustles, including her business Leah Harris Music.

She came to Digital Main Street in January with a few key struggles. Though Leah Harris’ Instagram had over 100k followers, engagement was a low 1%. The page was created to showcase her music, but the audience that was engaging seemed to prefer content about her lifestyle or fashion. She felt disillusioned by the increasingly inauthentic feel of her Instagram and felt that it was no longer rewarding her efforts in the way that it used to.

Meanwhile, Leah was also promoting her business across a myriad of platforms, and became exhausted from dealing with comments, messages, posting videos, and running multiple social media accounts. All of this resulted in a diminishing amount of time she had free to actually make music.

Overall, she was overwhelmed by how much she had to do, and why the work she was putting in wasn’t resulting in more tangible results.

Following a consultation with Digital Main Street, a Transformation Team identified several key areas that they could help with. Over four weeks, they helped to strengthen her Instagram account by teaching her more about the ever-changing Instagram algorithm and making recommendations for content. Digital marketing and media specialists in the team were able to identify that Leah actually had two distinct audience segments: one that was there for the music, and one that was interested in the lifestyle content. By making the distinction between these audiences, Leah realized she could create content tailored for each audience, rather than the one-size fits-all method. With the team’s assistance, she began utilizing Instagram in new ways, including reels, to reach her fans.

Additionally, her team helped set her up on a new platform, Twitch. Though Twitch has primarily been used by gamers, it’s now seeing a growing demographic of musicians join the platform. She’ll soon begin live streams there, allowing her to get back to the music in a space that’s comfortable, supportive, and fun. The platform will also allow her to continue to build relationships with her music fans, from interactive chats during live streams to a Discord server.

Most importantly, the goal was always to help Leah manage her time by streamlining her efforts into the platforms that would give her back the most tangible results, and to let go of the things that weren’t working. By focusing on what worked, it also enabled Leah to reach her goal of spending more rewarding time with the music.

“I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed working with Future Proof,” Leah says. “This team did an incredible job of identifying the biggest areas for improvement and creating a plan for action that is (miraculously) manageable with my crazy schedule. They are such an impressive group, and I'm really grateful to have had the opportunity to apply their talents to my business. I believe that I will see a BIG difference after implementing the team's plans. I look forward to sharing their links too, as I believe this program is something that many other Canadian creatives would benefit from.”

Every step of the way, Leah was responsive, educated, and ready to engage with any new ideas the team threw her way. At the end of the program, she is far better organized and enthusiastic for her business’s future. She leaves Future Proof with greater skills and the knowledge to not just subsist, but to thrive in our increasingly digital world.

Our Digital Main Street innovation partner in the Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent region is WEtech Alliance. See how they can help.

Written by Caelan Beard