3 Types of Small Business Content to Share on Social Media

3 Types of Small Business Content to Share on Social Media

Tiffany Winbush Jun 17, 2014



Having a solid social media strategy for your small business is important. But even if you’ve spent countless of hours perfecting your strategy, none of that matters if you don’t share the right content with your followers. Content that’s going to grab their attention, encourage them to come back for more of it and share it religiously with their network.

When you’re creating content for your social media profiles, think in terms of shared, owned and fun content. Using a combination of these three will make sure your profiles are interesting. You’ve heard of the 80/20 rule, right? Well, let’s take a look at the 75%, 20% and 5% rule.

Seventy-five percent of the information you share on social media should be from external sources. Remember that social media isn’t just about broadcasting how awesome your company is. Instead, it’s about providing valuable information to your audience. Sharing content from other sources, proves to your followers that you’re committed to providing them with that valuable information, even if you’re not the source.

The next 20% of your content sharing, can be information about your company or original content that you’ve created. You own this content. For instance, if you’re a public relations consultant and you publish a company blog with tips on gaining media coverage, these are helpful tips that can help your followers. Out of courtesy, give a heads up that you’re the source of the information being sharing.

And because we should never be too serious, the last 5% of the content you share should be fun! Think of cat memes or anything else light hearted. Things that are going to give people a laugh will help make sure your social media feed doesn’t get stale. But make sure it’s not offensive to anyone, that’s not going to help you grow your presence.

Now that you know how much you should produce, it’s time to catch the attention of your social media followers with these three types of content:



Images

Most of the social media sites encourage photo sharing because research has proven that visuals increase social media engagement. You don’t have to be proficient in Photoshop in order to create great visuals. Downloading apps such as PS Express or Pic Collage, can take a simple image from your smartphone and add filters to it or allow you to create a collage of multiple photos.

Videos

The most popular tools to create videos are vine and Instagram video. Each are simple enough to use. The differences between Vine and Instagram video are relatively small, but you’ll need to decide what works best for you. For example, an Instagram video is 15 seconds while vine videos are only six seconds. A major factor in deciding which to use is how much time you’ll need to get your message across.

Quotes

You’ve probably noticed tons of quotes being shared in your social media feed. People love quotes because of the inspiration they provide. Sure you can easily share a text quote, but consider going one step farther and turning your quotes into images. The InstaQuote app lets you create text pictures that can be shared on any social media network. If you’re unsure of what to share, repurpose your favorite quote. You can also take original quotes from yourself or staff and turn it into an image.

Are you ready to get started with sharing content that will grab your followers attention? Start with one of the suggestions above to see engagement with your social media followers increase.

Tagged as: Content, Small Business, Social Media


About the Author


Tiffany Winbush is the Social Media Manager for Hiscox USA Insurance, responsible for driving social media engagement and publishing the Hiscox Small Business blog. Tiffany lives in NYC with her tech entrepreneur husband and one year-old daughter. She is passionate about empowering women and girls and volunteers regularly with the over 100 year-old public service organization Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Tweet Tiffany at @TiffanyPR or connect with Tiffany on her blog, Women Making Moves.
Related Posts

Mapping Out Your Daily Social Media To-Do List
3 Types of Small Business Content to Share on Social Media
Social Selling: Key To Improving Your Sales
Five points to review before publishing your next blog post
Stand Out from the Infographic Crowd With These 5 Tips
{ 0 comments… add one now }
Leave a Comment
Name *

E-mail *

Website




PREVIOUS POST: Join the Bad Rhino Social Media Blogging Team!
NEXT POST: Twitter Now Supports GIFs

Location:Sycamore Dr,Lancaster,United States

How to Create a Convincing Crowdfunding Campaign Five Crowdfunding Tips for Every Campaign

A successful crowdfunding campaign is multi-faceted: there are many delicate components that must be carefully tended in order for them to all work together. In the past, we’ve discussed these components, but now it’s time to look into the ways in which a business can improve their crowdfunding cash flow after they’ve launched a campaign. Before continuing, please review the following archived articles — in case you missed them the first time!

Use Social Media Crowdfunding to Revitalize Your Campaign
The Crowdfunding Checklist
How to Create a Convincing Crowdfunding Campaign
Five Crowdfunding Tips for Every Campaign
#1) Establish Different Levels for Contribution

Leveling your campaign’s incentives is a great way to attract donations. By giving away large perks to the most munificent supporters, you may encourage others to follow-suit without stopping the smaller contributors from pitching-in. Consider a ladder: those who wish to climb to the top have put in the most effort and will receive accordingly; those who wish to only stand a few feet taller can still do so, but will less commendation. With various incentives available, there is going to be an option for everybody.



#2) Incorporate Unique Perks

In conjunction with tip #1, you should chose original perks as a way to boost your crowdfunding cash flow. With unique perks specific to your proposal, donors will see more reason to contribute. Although the smallest perk may not be as valuable as the “top-prize”, it should still be enticing enough to make small funders feel it is worth it to contribute. By giving away all of the best perks only to the large donors, you will in-turn reject those giving anything less, which is one of the worst worst things you can do. So, think about this carefully and do the research. Determine what will get people involved at all rungs of the ladder.



#3) Film a Video

When you first launched your campaign, you developed a story (a background) to gain supporters. Take this one step further and film a video. Since a video combines both audio and visual components, it is that much more powerful. A video is an excellent way to engage with an audience, using images, music, commentary, and much more. In addition, videos are pervasive and can go viral over night. Put the effort into filming a professional video and you will notice a huge difference in your crowdfunding cash flow.

Location:Sycamore Dr,Lancaster,United States

5 Tips For Getting Featured On Beatport

5 Tips For Getting Featured On Beatport
A Guest Post by Symphonic Distribution

So you have a new release and want it to be featured on Beatport. Get ready! There is a lot of competition, but the good news is that it can all happen with some consistency and good music. Here are some simple yet effective ways to increase your chances of being featured on the coveted site.

1. Plan ahead.

Planning ahead is vital in order to be considered for a feature. All banners that you see on the site are actually planned weeks ahead. So remember to deliver your music 2-3 weeks prior to your release date and to communicate in the featured release form the entire promotion efforts you will be doing for the release.

2. Get a high quality release cover

Make sure it’s as sharp and high-quality as you can. Use smart design principles. Get help from a professional graphic designer if need be, we can also help you design your release. We cannot stress this enough: This is your music’s first impression, so spend some quality time on this. Everyone sees the cover art before they hear the music. Not only will Beatport judge it – all the blogs will. It should draw full attention. This will not only help you get more fans, but Beatport will see you have taken the time to get some cool art work and have a strong branding effort. If you’d like more details on what younger music fans are looking for get the scoop here.

3. Remember to spell check!

Editors will notice any misspelling and will not take these types of releases in consideration. Remember to have a solid release bio as well that describes the release itself and not the bio of the artist. Keep it short and to the point, but as descriptive as possible with key words.

4. Sharing and Social Presence.

Your social networks, websites, and photos should all be cohesive. Beatport and other retailers do their research and there is a chance that they will support someone that has a solid social presence – AND a well-branded social presence. You must have a logo or professional press photo as well as a well-designed Facebook cover picture. Make it look great – it’s not that costly anymore to get top quality design.

Also, one of Beatport’s best indicators that your release will sell well is the traction and plays your release has. Work on getting as many REAL plays as possible. Join Soundcloud groups to help get more traction as well. Get the scoop on Soundcloud groups here.

5. Get prepared to answer some questions.

Stores like Beatport want to know that you are doing to promote your music. To increase these chances you should supply: Amount of Fans Artist has, amount of fans label has, DJ Support, marketing efforts done & expected sales. Make sure that any coverage you do get while you’ve been promoting, you actually communicate it to marketing@symphonicdistribution.com at least a week in advance, so we are able to communicate to the specific genre managers.

Beatport does not send us notifications about the releases they select for features, so we suggest you review the various pages of Beatport on release week to see if your release was selected. Best of luck!

Ready to submit for a feature? Just fill out the form in the content portal and we’ll communicate your interest! Not selling on Beatport yet? Check out our distribution options and we make it happen!

Amplify the positives

What are the positive attributes of your situation? Try amplifying those to see how it affects the negative ones (like feeling stuck or not having enough motivation).

Well with the internet being the way that it is, this idea isn't that hard to do. It's just staying positive with yourself, and your fans is more of the problem with this. With Facebook, Google +, and other social media outlets keeping your friends, family,  or even fans is easier. The main thing is not to have all these people and not keeping everyone up to date with whats going on. The easiest way is to posts all the time, also there are tons of apps available now that makes all this possible.

Plus you can do a lot of this on your cell phone, or smart phones now. Apps like Foursquare, Get Glue, Instagram, and Pinterest to name a few.

Related articles

• The Changing Times of Social Media (tweetsandmascara.com)
• Three Islands .. Four Resorts .. Sandals Resorts AMAZES (justpackyourbag.wordpress.com)
• Official #hashtag (churchcoop.wordpress.com)
• 6 Ways Brands Can Amplify their Marketing with Flipboard Magazines (business2community.com)
• How to promote your brand WITHOUT Facebook (veronikakartovenko.wordpress.com)
• 3 Awesome Ways To Use Hashtags to Market Your Business (tmbwebdesigns.com)
• Hello visitor, I m not active on this blog in now days (myselfumesh.wordpress.com)

Overly ideas

Quickly consider several potential ideas. Take existing ideas from the real world and overlay them onto yours. What elements stand out when combined? Which elements disappear?

I do this most of the time with my blog posts. For me what I do is I have specific articles, or subjects that I wanted to know more about so what I did was signed up for a bunch of news articles, or blogs and started getting into my email. And then I would randomly pick out stories and used them for my blog posts. And it started from there. Sometimes it may be overwhelming but it works itself out eventually. I like doing this with my musical ideas as well.

Related articles

• Stephen Mack: My favorite movie is George Romero's 1978 "Dawn of the Dead." #saturdayFF I will never forget when I first saw it, at a friend's house on videotape, when I was in high school. While zombies seem overly familiar now, at the time, the idea tha (friendfeed.com)
• 'Overly simplistic' biodiversity offsetting will harm ecosystems, MPs warn (blueandgreentomorrow.com)
• Blogging as Art (scotzig.wordpress.com)
• The Worst List of Blog Tips You Will Ever Read (business2community.com)
• How to get followers on Tumblr (digitaltrends.com)
• Lab ideas (huskeypm.wordpress.com)

YouTube For Musicians: Single Frame Music Videos, Free Analytics, Creator Updates

YouTube For Musicians: Single Frame Music Videos, Free Analytics, Creator Updates

YouTube continues to be a primary tool for many musicians and fans and third parties are here to help out. To create a quick single frame music video, see TunesToTube. Want to track your YouTube action across the web? Try Strike Social. Just need more insights into using YouTube? The Creator Playbook has been updated.

TunesToTube Creates Single Frame Music Videos

YouTube is not only a great way to market your music but, for many musicians, it's becoming a great way to monetize as well. And since making a full music video for every track you with to add to YouTube is probably out of the question, some musicians are creating videos with one image that then serves primarily as an audio player.

TunesToTube (via Musformation) offers a free service to combine an MP3 and an image into a music video that's then posted to your YouTube account.

For those who donate to the site, an upload to SoundCloud option is also available.

Strike Social Offers Free YouTube Analytics

Strike Social is a new YouTube analytics service whose current features are free and should remain that way. According to CEO Patrick McKenna, long-term plans include additional premium features for monetization.

Special features include:

"Strike Score" - One overall score based on "more than 100 data sets across YouTube, Facebook & Twitter."

Engage - Discover and engage with viewers across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Promote - Video advertising to increase viewership.

So the Strike Score gives you a quick overall take while you're also able to get more detailed, for example:

"Publishers can also look at what people are saying about the video, sort those comments based on the size of each commenter’s social media following, and respond to specific remarks from within Strike Social — in particular, McKenna says that the tools are 'more actionable on the Facebook side' than the competition."

YouTube's Creator Hub & Creator Playbook Updated

YouTube recently announced the update of their resources for videomakers, Creator Hub and Creator Playbook.

Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch/@crowdfundingm) also blogs at Flux Research and Crowdfunding For Musicians. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

Related articles

• YouTube For Musicians: Single Frame Music Videos, Free Analytics, Creator Updates (hypebot.com)
• How to Test New YouTube Features Before They Come Out! (rpmcommunity.com)
• Getting It Done: The Week In D.I.Y. & Indie Music (hypebot.com)
• Monetizing Music Videos: Vimeo, VideofyMe, YouTube (hypebot.com)
• 15 Great Song Covers Found on YouTube (complex.com)
• YouTube Billionaires: All Hail Captain Sparklez (tubefilter.com)

How To Make A Music Website Like Ed Sheeran, Case Study Part 1

How To Make A Music Website Like Ed Sheeran, Case Study Part 1

BY: SHAUN LETANG 

Hey guys, today I’m going to show you how to make a top music website which will allow you to better turn visitors into fans, capture their details for future contact, and effectively make more money from your music career. I’ve already show you how to set your site up from scratch, so I won’t be talking about that again (use that guide if you haven’t already got a music website). What I didn’t cover in that guide however, is how to structure your site to make the most of your visitors.Having your own website as a musician is vitally important, as it provides a piece to thesales funnel you simply can’t get with social sites like Facebook and Twitter. Add a mailing list to your site, and you’ll be able to find your most interactive and valuable fans much more easily.That said, you need to structure your site correctly for it to have these benefits. All too often a good looking design is put up, and the site stays looking the same for the rest of it’s life. Just because it looks good though, it doesn’t mean it’s laid out properly for maximum fan conversions and retention. A bad layout and site structure can mean you’re not retaining anywhere near as many fans as you could have other wise, and your site may even be turning would be fans away. Both of these things lead to less buzz and income for you.So how should you be laying out your website? Well, to help you better get a idea of what a good site structure looks like, I’ve picked a site I think does quite well in terms of getting fans interactive and keeping in contact with them.The site in question is the Ed Sheeran website. If you’re not sure who that is, have a look at his website for the lowdown.

Here’s a look at Ed’s website’s home page as it is at the time of this case study. Click the image to see a larger one pop up in a new window:

As well as looking at what this site does well, I’m also going to look at what I would do differently and why.

The aim of this guide is to show you what goes into making a top website for your music career, mainly in terms of layout. If you’ve already got your own .com website (or .co.uk / .ca etc) then you can use this guide to help you better structure your existing site. If you haven’t already got a site (I’m not talking a Facebook page here), you really need one. I’ve already put out a guide on how to set up your own professional site quickly and easily, so if you haven’t got one yet, first get one sorted in the next 20 or so minutes using that guide. Then come back here for an idea of the structure you should implement.

So now you know what we’ll be doing, let’s have a look at what goes where on Ed Sheeran’s website and why.

The Video On The Front Page

The first things I want to mention about Ed Sheeran’s website, is the video he displays near the top middle of his home page. This is what most people will instantly notice when they visit for the first time. Not only is it in a prominent position, but it’s also eye catching.

In this space, Ed puts his video playlist. The reason for this is simple: video is one of the best ways to get people interested in what you’re offering!

Think about it, how many times does it take you hearing a song before it sticks in your head? While it’ll only take one listen for some songs, in general it usually takes two, three or more. On the other hand, usually if you see a good video, you remember it instantly. It’s also a lot easier for most people to get hooked watching a video, over hearing a song for the very first time.

Of course this is generalizing as everyone takes in music differently. But as a general rule, video and music grabs people’s attention a lot quicker than plain audio does.

My bet is that this area is one of the most popular on the website’s home page.

One more thing to note about this area is that the embedded video also contains a playlist. So if you’ve seen the first video he displays, you’ve the option of looking through his other material either for something you haven’t seen before, or for your favorite song of his.

Social Boxes In The Right Sidebar

The next thing I want to look at are the social boxes in the right hand sidebar of his website. He displays a Facebook ‘like’ box showing how many Facebook fans he has, as well as a Twitter follow button above it at the top of the sidebar.

There are two main reasons for this:

1. Social Proof.
   People like reassurance that what they’re doing and what they’re into is socially acceptable. Social proof is a way of convincing people this is the case, and is a good way to get people to become a fan of your music much quicker. If you see that your friends has already liked Ed Sheeran’s facebook page for example, you’re more likely to click and like it yourself. And if you see that almost 3 and a half million people already do like him, most people would take that as a sign that he’s talented and worth looking into some more. Even if you haven’t heard his music before but then hear he’s got 3,404,045 Facebook fans (which he has at the time of writing this), chances are you’ll be that much more likely to think there’s something too him, and want to hear for yourself.
2. He’s Working On Building Up His Social Following.
   When you’re building up your audience, it’s very important to retain the people that arrive on your website. If they come but you don’t get them either on your mailing list or social sites, the chances that you’ll get them on your site again will drop greatly. If you did get their contact details in some form however, you can contact them when something new and exciting is happening, and send a wave of your fans where you want them relatively easily.

While Ed has both the option to sign up to his mailing list and social sites on his website, he’s chosen to focus more on building up his social presence than collecting email addresses. This is shown by where he places both his social profiles and mailing list opt in box. His social profiles are near the top of the page in one of the first places people usually look (the top right hand side of the sidebar), while you have to scroll down the page to see his newsletter opt in box (also known as ‘below the fold’). On top of that, the mailing list sign up box is on the thinner left hand side sidebar.

I personally feel it’s better for musicians to focus evenly on both their mailing list and increasing their social presence, but you can do one or the other if you like. That said, I feel it’s possible for Ed to increase the amount of email addresses he collects without it affecting the growth of his social presence too much. I’ll explain how a little bit later.

The Top Nav Bar

When internet surfers visit a website, they often expect to see the website’s navigation bar in one of two places:

1. At the top under the header, or
2. At the top of the left hand sidebar.

As a lesser rule, nav bars on the top right hand side of the sidebar are also becoming increasingly popular. If you don’t have your nav bar in one of these place, you’ll often confuse your website’s visitors more than you need to. And when your website confuses people, people leave.

In the space where the top navigation bar usually goes, Ed (or his website creator) has chosen to put two things:

1. His music player.
2. A link to all his social profiles.

Again, this shows that he’s actively building up his social presence. It’s not common for websites to have these kind of links directly under the header, so it shows he wants to get people to join his social sites wherever possible.

The music player provides visitors another way for people to listen to his music. Even though people have the option to view his videos when they first come on, not everyone has fast internet, and may not be able to play these videos for this or another reason. The music player helps with this; songs don’t take as much internet usage to play as videos do, so more people will be able to hear his material over if he was to display video alone.

What I’d Do Differently 1

As I’ll look into more later, his mailing list opt in box is a lot lower down the page in the left hand sidebar. The sidebar navigation is directly above that. I would personally take the social icons out of the top nav bar, and place the sidebar nav links in the area for the top nav. I’d then move the mailing list opt in form to the top of the left hand sidebar, and put the links to the social profiles below the mailing list opt in form in the left sidebar.

I’d do these things because, even though he’s mainly focusing on getting social followers, building up your mailing list is still very important. I’ve already looked at why this is andhow to build your list here, so I won’t go into that again.

Ed already has his main social profiles prominently displayed on other parts of his website (Facebook, Twitter and Youtube), so having these links here seems to be a bit of a waste of space. By moving these links, he’ll still get his social sign ups from other parts of the website, but he’ll also most likely increase his list subscriber numbers as it’ll be in a much better position.

On top of this, by using the structure I mentioned, it’ll also mean he has links to his social profiles both above and below the fold. While it can’t be confirmed either way until tested, this may actually increase the amount of people he gets clicking over and signing up to his social sites.

The Side Navigation

The next part of this music website we’ll look at is the left hand side navigation. I want to point out the order in which the links to each page are in. They go as follows:

1. Home.
2. News.
3. Live Dates.
4. Photos.
5. Videos.
6. Lyrics.
7. Contact & Links.
8. Store.

While a lot of things can be drawn from this ordering of pages, there’s one key things I want to point out: His store page is listed last!

Now while some may assume this is a bad move and that he should be trying to sell people things asap to make money from them, I disagree. I actually thing this layout is pretty smart.

All the links above the store page are there to get people to find out as much as they can about Ed Sheeran, and really buy into what he’s doing. They can hear his music, see his videos, see what the latest news with him is, see where they can see him live and the like. Then after they’ve taken all that in and are now a real fan of his (if they’ve got that far and are still browsing they can be classed as a fan), they’re directed to the shop page where they can buy some of his songs and merchandise. Of course, here he offers them some cool goodies they can’t get without coughing up the money.

If he was to send people straight from the home page to the store page, chance are a lot more of his visitors would ‘bounce’ off that page and leave without buying anything. By giving them knowledge and the chance to really buy into his movement however, he increases the chance that they’ll want to at one point get involved with him on a financial level.

By displaying your store page last, you won’t generally lose out on sales. If someone really wants to find your store before they’ve gone through every link, they will. So don’t be in a rush to sell straight away. That said, always give them the option to buy and make it easy for those who are ready to invest in your music. If you haven’t yet got something to buy on your website, you’re missing out on a big opportunity.

Side note: By Ed showing his live gig dates quite high up in the nav bar, not only is he encouraging people to come out and see him live, but that’s also another way he’s monetizing his music career. When you go onto his Live Dates page, you see both details of his live shows, as well as have the option to buy tickets to these shows in question. It’s not done in a forceful way, but the option is there for those who are ready to take that step.

How To Make A Music Website Like Ed Sheeran End Of Part 1

Even though we’re only half way, above you’ll find plenty of handy tips you can use and apply to your own music website. If you haven’t got a site yet, I suggest you make one right now using my guide on how to create a music website using Wordpress. In it I walk you through the steps which will get you a professional looking website up within 20 or so minutes. It’s the same process I used to make my own sites, so give it a go.

Next week I’ll post part two of the guide, and look at the remaining features of Ed Sheeran’s website. What it does well, and the areas I feel it can improve on. If you want to be informed of when that’s out, be sure to sign up to my newsletter here. You’ll also get a free ebook on music marketing for doing so. :)

Shaun Letang,
Music Industry How To.

Related articles

• How To Make A Music Website Like Ed Sheeran, Case Study Part 1 (hypebot.com)
• Ed Sheeran and Ellie Goulding Hold Hands, Deny Romance (thehollywoodgossip.com)
• Ed Sheeran Explains Taylor Swifts MTV VMAs F-Bomb (hollywoodlife.com)
• Adam Lambert & Ed Sheeran: Night Out at Hooray Henry's! (justjared.com)
• Taylor Swift Said What? See Her Kanye West VMA Joke To Ed Sheeran Here! (okmagazine.com)

The Tools of Music Fan Engagement [Part 4]: Twitter Basics

The Tools of Music Fan Engagement [Part 4]: Twitter Basics
So far Bandzoogle's “The Tools of Music Fan Engagement” series has covered blogging, email newsletters, and Facebook. The next tool we’re going to cover is Twitter. Twitter is a social media platform that can no longer be ignored by emerging artists. Twitter’s active user base has grown 714 percent from July 2009 to January 2013, and now has over 500 million members. So chances are, your fans and potential fans are using Twitter, and it’s a great platform to engage with them for several reasons.
Why Twitter is Great for Fan Engagement
The common misconception about Twitter from non-users is that all people do is post about what they’re eating. Yes, there is some of that, but Twitter is an incredible tool to connect with your fans when used properly.
At 140 characters per tweet, Twitter is the king of short form communication, so you can quickly interact with your fans. Short updates, quick thank yous, a retweet, or even favoriting a tweet can make a fan’s day. And like Facebook, it’s a great way to show that you’re active and retain fan attention, which is essential for musicians today.
Setting Up Your Twitter Profile: 5 Essential Steps
1. Select a Consistent Username
Your Twitter username should be consistent with your other online profiles like your Facebook page, YouTube channel, etc. If your Facebook page is Facebook.com/Bandname, then your Twitter handle should be @bandname. Individual band members can also have personal Twitter profiles, but there should be a dedicated Twitter account for your band/project. For solo artists, one account is really all you need.
2. Upload a Profile Image (No eggs!)
The default profile image when you create a Twitter account is the infamous egg. People generally don’t follow accounts with the egg as the profile image. You likely won’t be taken seriously, or people will think your account is spam. So upload your own profile image immediately before starting to use Twitter.
You can also upload a header image and background image to your profile. Here’s a great cheat sheet with all the info you need about image sizes: Twitter Cheat Sheet
3. Add Your Bio
Twitter gives you 160 characters for your profile’s “bio”. It might not seem like a lot of space, but you can make someone curious about your music and give them a real sense of your personality within those 160 characters. Take advantage of it, because leaving it blank could cause someone to simply move on to another profile.
4. Include Link to Your Website
Twitter allows you to enter a website that will appear under your bio. Many artists link to other social profiles like their Facebook page. There is only one link you should have, which is a link to your own website. Send people to your website where you can entice them into signing-up to your mailing list, where they can read your blog, watch your videos, and shop at your online store. Give yourself the traffic and potential upside, not another social media site.
5. Include Location
Twitter gives you a field to include your location. Use it. Fans often want to know where a band is from. Not only that, if another band/artist stumbles on your profile, it’s a great way to network with artists in your area.
Basics of Using Twitter
Twitter and Facebook are very different tools, and therefore, you should not connect your Facebook and Twitter profiles. Twitter allows up to 140 characters per tweet, which includes @usernames, so it should be used for shorter, more frequent updates. If you flood your Facebook page with your Twitter updates, you risk alienating your fans on Facebook.
How often should you tweet? Whereas on Facebook you can get away with 1 update per day or every couple of days, tweeting several times per day is not only ok, it’s almost expected. Some artists tweet 6-10 times throughout the day, others only once or twice. Just be sure to spread your tweets out and mix it up between personal and promotional tweets.
The Language of Twitter
Twitter also has its own language and etiquette. Here are some actions you’ll be taking on Twitter that are important to understand:
Reply: If you hit “Reply”, you’ll be responding directly to someone on Twitter. The tweet will start with their Twitter username, and only people who follow both you and that other person will be able to see that tweet in their stream. Use this to answer fan questions, say thanks, or respond to people you follow to start a conversation.
Mention: If you want to mention another Twitter user and have everyone who follows you see it, you just have to make sure that your tweet doesn’t start with their Twitter handle. So you could simply add a “.” before their handle, or add their handle somewhere later in the tweet. You can use this to promote your show at a certain venue, publicly thank someone, or give someone credit.
Retweet (RT): To “Retweet” someone is similar to forwarding an email, you’re sharing their tweet with your followers. You can simply hit Retweet so that the person’s tweet appears exactly as it was to your followers. On the mobile Twitter app, they give you the option to “Quote Tweet”, which puts the original tweet in quotations and you can add your own comment after. On other Twitter applications like Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and Echofon, you can Retweet (RT) and add your own comment before the original tweet.
Simple Retweet:
Retweet (RT) with Comment:
You can use retweets to share compliments about your music, retweet info about upcoming gigs, or just to share content you find interesting.
#Hashtags: A hashtag is the pound # sign followed by a word or group of words. The hashtag is automatically hyperlinked and creates a new stream if you click on it, which will include all tweets that have used that same hashtag. It’s a great way to be found on Twitter, start conversations, and join in other conversations with users who you don’t follow or don’t follow you.
Hashtags are commonly used by music conferences and festivals, where they create an “official” hashtag so that people tweeting about the event can see a stream of everyone’s tweets. So if you’re performing at a festival or conference, you can promote your show using the official hashtag and everyone following that stream will see the tweet and potentially retweet it, helping to spread the word.
Artists can also use hashtags to create a grouped conversation of their own, run contests, create surveys, and even use it during live shows to take requests or answer questions from the audience. Another use for hashtags would be to tweet info about an upcoming show and create a hashtag for your genre of music and the city name you’ll be playing in.
Favorite: You can click to “Favorite” a tweet, which in some applications is done by clicking a star. This has become similar to the “Like” button on Facebook. This can be a great way to quickly acknowledge a fan who compliments you on Twitter, or to end an interaction. It shows the person you’ve read their tweet and are appreciative of their comments.
Search: Using the search function in Twitter can be a powerful tool for musicians to help find new fans and promote shows. For example, if you’re going to be touring in a new city, you can search Twitter for your genre of music and the city name, and you’ll see users who tweet about your style of music. You can also search for bands that sound similar to yours, find fans in a certain city that are tweeting about those bands, and then strike up a conversation with them.
But when doing this, tread carefully, as it can be very easy to come across as spammy. Take the time necessary to develop a relationship with people on Twitter. If you think a user is in your target market for your music, follow that person, respond to their tweets, talk about music in general, and then mention your show at some point further down the road.
Use Twitter to Drive Fans to Your Website
As was the case with Facebook, Twitter is a very powerful tool that can be used to drive traffic back to your website. That way you can find out more about your fans through detailed analytics, get them signed up to your mailing list, and hopefully shopping in your online store.
Here are just some of the ways to drive people to your website from Twitter:
Website link in bio: As mentioned earlier in this post, make sure to include a link to your website in the Bio section of your Twitter profile.
Blog posts: When you have a new blog post, post a direct link and invite your followers to read the post.
Music: When you have a new song, upload it to your website and then post a link to your music page and invite fans to check it out.
Video: When you have a new video, instead of simply posting the link from Youtube, embed the video on your Videos page and tweet a link to the page.
Photos: If you have some great photos from your last show, upload them to your website and provide a link to the gallery for your Twitter followers.
Merch: If you have some new merchandise, talk about it in a tweet and post a link to your online store.
Twitter (like Facebook) is a Conversation Tool
The most important thing to remember when using Twitter is that it’s a tool for conversation. If you only promote yourself, don’t respond to questions and comments, or rarely tweet, chances are, you won’t gain a following of engaged fans.
In keeping with the 3 Pillars of Fan Engagement, Tweets should be in your own voice as much as possible (authentic), you should tweet on a consistent basis, and to really see results, you’ll have to sustain it over the long term.

Related articles

• The Tools of Music Fan Engagement [Part 4]: Twitter Basics (hypebot.com)
• Cadbury Bournville Creates Not So Sweet Videos Out Of Fans' Tweets Through Tape A Tweet (business2community.com)
• Earn More Retweets With RetweetLab (business2community.com)
• 7 Social Media Mistakes Musicians Should Avoid (shakethatsocial.wordpress.com)
• How to lose millions of clicks (itrendcorporation.com)

Your Fans Won’t Come to Your Shows

Your Fans Won't Come to Your Shows...
BY: JEREMY GOCKE
That’s right, on average, 75% or more of your fan base won’t make it out to a show on your next tour. Proximity. Sold out. Cost. All factors which can keep your most loyal fans from attending your next killer show. I guess they’re SOL, right? Wrong.

With the proliferation of social media sharing, we’re seeing bits and pieces of the live show experience being shared by fans, in real time, straight from the pit. There is a huge opportunity to engage the non-attending fan with this content. Have someone on your team monitor social media services and curate the best fan photos, video clips, etc. from your shows and highlight them on your web site, Facebook fan page, etc. This is a guaranteed way to engage your non-attending fans by giving them a sample of your shows through the eyes of the fans on the ground.

Don’t have anyone to do that for you? Use an aggregator service like Fliptu (free while in beta; specializes in music, entertainment & lifestyle; disclaimer: I’m a co-founder), Rebel Mouse (free/premium upgrades), or Postano (not free) to do the work for you. Have fans Tweet or Instagram their pics with your tour or band hashtag, then use a tool like Fliptu to aggregate all those #SuperRadTour pics in one spot. Embed a copy on your web site. Boom — you now have a fully interactive concert social hub for non-attending fans to vicariously experience your shows. Pretty much the next best thing to being there. 100% of your fan base now engaged and happy.

Other ideas to engage your non-attending fans:

1) Live stream your show (Stageit, EVNTLive, uStream, iRocke)

2) Live song requests from non-attending fans (Use Twitter to solicit requests - let them choose the next song you play!)

3) Social media take-over - Select a fan before each show to co-run your Twitter, Instagram, etc. account. (Try services like HootSuite to manage your social media efforts more efficiently. Or, see BandSosh if you actually need someone to help run your accounts full or part time.)

4) “Fansource” an extra show - Inspire/encourage fans to bring one of your shows to their city by contributing to a crowdfunding campaign. The city that dontates the most $ gets the show (Make sure you set a “minimum” that covers your costs for the extra show!). Try a crowdfunding site like Pledge Music or Indiegogo.

5) Limitied edition merch bundle just for non-attending fans (Set up as a pre-order; no out-of-pocket cost. If you need help with fast, low volume merch, check out Zazzle (DIY), FlashMerch (Custom), CafePress (DIY))

Related articles

• New Strawburry17 Merch on the Way? (youtubernews1.wordpress.com)
• Do musicians need to interact with their fans? (djduece.wordpress.com)
• 'Teen Mom' Star Jenelle Evans's Boyfriend Uses Her uStream Without Permission? (celebs.gather.com)
• Fans and Followers: Boost Your Business with Social Media (staples.com)

Blogging Sucks

Blogging Sucks
BY: COREY DENIS

Some artists are just good at Social Media, and some artists even love interacting with other people. In my lectures & panels around the world I have always told musicians Twitter is a medium which works best for an artist who enjoys going to the merch table at the end of a show, shaking hands (a bottle of anti-bac in pocket) and signing vinyl, possibly even breasts. But for creative introverts, Social Media is a dish best served cold.

For those who don’t reside in the digital media bubble, blogging is still an abstract verb looming over the undercurrent of social media nuisances interrupting the daily routine of an otherwise productive artist.

At least that’s what she said.

She also says adding a blog to your website is more than just a great way to get attention for yourself, it’s a useful method of increasing the discovery of your music by way of search engine optimization.

She’s right, but there’s an even better reason for a musician to blog:

Art.

Your music is art, and so is your blog. Blogging only sucks if you want to limit your art to one medium. But for musicians who want to add depth to their output, creating and maintaining a blog is more than just a tool for discovery, it’s the opportunity to create layers. The default benefit is Search Optimization, which makes it easier for others to discover your music. Search Engine Optimization is the result of frequent blog posts which receive attention and generally utilize 5 basic fundamental concepts:

1. Strategy

Create a 3 month blogging strategy in advance and treat it like an art installation in the museum of You. You are more than welcome to blog at spur of the moment times, but your blog is also a form of media, your creative space open for curation. A blog is your multimedia opportunity to connect various forms of art in one spot. One single blog post can have one or more of these components: Music, Photos, Video, Written Text, News and Hyperlinks. Plan on posting at least one blog post per week. Decide which form of media will be part of your post. Will there be video? A photo? What other forms of media are you posting to social networks such as instagram, Twitter, flickr and YouTube? How are your videos or photos tied in with the music you are creating, or your album release date? You can embed a YouTube video, a Tweet or even a live update of tweets with one particular hashtag. Blogging isn’t just for text, it’s the best syndicated medium for expanding your art and creating a digital experience, none of which is possible without strategy. Like the music you write, your blog is a place where you can express yourself with layers of sound, visuals and words. Make a plan based on all of these possibilities.

2. Syndication & Search Optimization

In the same way the Associated Press wire is syndicated to news outlets around the world, your blog is syndicated to outlets across the internet built to absorb and share media. The blog you create must reside on your website and utilize RSS (Really Simple Syndication). To optimize attention for your blog you can do something old timers sometimes call Link Baiting. If you are writing about another person, place or thing in your blog, create a hyperlink for at least one of those items. Most companies are regularly searching for blogs who are linking to their own product. For example, I am “baiting” Battlestar Galactica in the next sentence. By doing this, I am loosely connecting my blog to Battlestar Galactica and possibly getting their attention at the same time. Search engines (such as Google, Bing) create proprietary algorithms which take advantage of connections between websites & blogs to optimize search and discovery. Take advantage of new technology by linking to at least one other site or form of media (music, video, photo) in every blog post - but don’t overdo it. Not every allusion requires a hyperlink. Pick and choose the hyperlinks you want to use, and insert them. I usually tell clients to include at least one per post, no more than five. If your blogging platform allows for tags, use them. Only add appropriate tags to your posts. Lastly, the “slug” on your blog is the url created when you publish your blog post. Title your blog posts appropriately so that the slug includes a few words relevant to the topic of your post.

3. Easter Eggs

When deciding on your strategy, think about ways to hide information in your blog which can only be found in your blog. Your fans are interested in your art. Easter Eggs have nothing to do with Jesus. Online, Easter Eggs are equivalent to “hidden tracks” on CDs, a nugget of awesome that a fan can only find through word of mouth.Learn more about Easter Eggs, and incorporate them into your blog strategy. When you use Easter Eggs, you are adding layers to your art.

4. Don’t Stop Believing

…or blogging! If one person reads your blog on a regular basis, that one person is a valuable fan. If you are a better creator when you don’t think about who is reading or partaking in your art, apply that same mindset to your blog. Blogging at least once a week can create some of the same feelings that writing a song a week will produce, but as with all forms of art, this will becme easier with practice. Once a week. do it. Plan it in advance if you have a strategy, and do not stop! If current events inspire you to post unplanned posts, do it! Every time you post a new blog post, your discoverability in search engines (Google, Bing) increases. The longer your blog remains dormant, the lower your search ranking. The bigger picture for an artist is different than a journalist. A journalist uses a blog to publish and syndicate articles, opinions and news. A musician can use a blog to post creative media that ties in with their music or album. Keep posting, and the ideas will flow. Apply the same principles to your blog that you apply to all other creative output.

5. Art and Authenticity

Take each blog post seriously. Check for spelling errors. Make sure the links work. Only tell your own stories, don’t steal, post what you believe and find ways to utilize your amazing talent for writing music and song so that your art transcends the digital media space. By doing this, you will propel your music and expand your canvas into the digital space, the same space where music sales are no longer limited to barely-existent physical shelves in record stores that closed 3 years ago. Digital mediums work together, turning your website into a museum rather than a space in permanent stasis between albums.

——

Corey Denis has been working in digital music marketing for 15 years, building campaigns for MNDR, Michael Tilson Thomas, Ani DiFranco, Melissa Ferrick, Cat Power, Kate Bush, Frank Black & The Catholics, Stephen Lynch, Halou, Maceo Parker, Figurine, The Black Angels, The Samples, LLoyd Cole, Luce and many others. In addition to co-founding the SF Podcast Meetup back in 2005, she is the founder of San Francisco’s first Musician & Promoter’s workshop. Corey has spoken on social media panels & done numerous presentations designed for musicians & promoters at Stanford University, SxSW, CMJ, SF Music Tech, Canadian Music Week, Fringe Australia, Grammy Music Business Night School, New Music Seminar and a whole lot more. She has also consulted SoundExchange, Ning, Rdio, Cyber PR, OneRiot, was one of the first ten people at digital distribution pioneering company IODA, is the owner of Not Shocking, recently created the Ticket Stub Project, and hates talking about herself in the third person. I’ve got one patent, two cats and ten iPods. Thanks for reading.

Related articles

• HigherVisibility.com Named Top 5 SEO Provider in US in TopSEOs's "Top... (prweb.com)
• A website without SEO and Social Media is like a car without gas. (viviosites.wordpress.com)
• A Few General Thoughts on Blogging (sarahsassandsurcees.wordpress.com)
• The Kiss and Slap of Blog Syndication (business2community.com)

Do musicians need to interact with their fans?

Now, musicians are busy people. Often they play in several projects, or have day jobs, families, or all of the above. So whenever there is talk about social media, newsletters, and marketing in general, it’s understandable that it can seem a little overwhelming. It takes a lot of work just for the artistic side of things, between writing music, rehearsing, playing shows, and all of the logistics that go into those creative endeavors.

But the days of the reclusive rock star hiding backstage, letting record companies and managers do all the promotion and communicating with their fans, is long gone. It’s not enough to write, rehearse, and perform music to develop a sustainable career. Fan interaction has now become part of the job description for today’s musicians.
How We Got Here: Technology
So how did we get here? We’ve seen recording technology reach the point where you can record professionally from the comfort of your own home. You can now take music you recorded at home and easily distribute it to online stores like iTunes and Amazon for a small fee. And the internet, with tools like websites, email, and social media, gives you access to a potential global audience of fans.

The result of these technological advances? A level playing field for all musicians where you can record for cheap, distribute your music for cheap, and reach a potential global audience of fans for practically free. Hooray! Everyone gets a career in music!

Unfortunately, it’s not that straightforward. The flipside of all of this has been that music fans also now have an unlimited choice of music. They can listen to whatever music they want, whenever they want to. Musicians are now competing for the attention of music fans, who are distracted more than ever by the thousands upon thousands of options available to them at any given moment.
3 Reasons to Interact with Your Fans
So do musicians need to interact with their fans? In a word, yes. But here are 3 reasons why it’s important that you do:

1. Keeps fans aware of you

The biggest reason to interact with your fans is to simply keep them aware of you and your music. As previously mentioned, fans have unlimited choices when it comes to music, so it’s extremely important to keep them aware of your music on a regular basis.

2. Solidifies relationships with fans

More and more, fans want to feel a direct connection to the artists themselves. So interacting with your fans not only keeps them aware of your music, but gives you the opportunity to solidify your relationship with them. Every time a fan makes a comment or asks a question on your blog or through social media, you have the chance to respond and make them feel like they’re an active part of your career. But if you don’t respond, they just might pay more attention to an artist that will.

3. Creates "super fans"

As you solidify your relationship with fans and they start to feel like they’re going on this musical journey with you, some of them will become “super fans”. These are the fans that will buy almost everything you put out; from buttons to t-shirts, to limited edition items. They will also come to all your shows, and probably bring their friends. But most importantly, these are the fans that are going to talk about you and promote you through social media & blogs.

Whereas marketing used to focus on finding ways to communicate the value of your music to potential fans, now the key is getting fans themselves to communicate the value of your music to other people. Here’s why that’s so important:

Nielsen recently conducted a study that found that 54% of people are more likely to make a purchase based off a positive recommendation from a friend.

People are tuning out ads and giving more weight to the recommendations of their friends for what movies to watch, which books to read, and what music to listen to. So if you can get to the point where your fans are actively promoting you to their friends, chances are, your fan base will grow, and with it, the attendance at your live shows as well as your music sales.

And one of the best ways to create this kind of word-of-mouth marketing? Developing a relationship with your fans by interacting with them on a regular basis.

Hypebot contributing writer Dave Cool is the Director of Artist Relations for musician website and marketing platform Bandzoogle. Twitter: @Bandzoogle | @dave_cool

Related articles

• Do Musicians Need To Interact With Their Fans? (hypebot.com)
• Do Musicians Need To Interact With Their Fans? (hypebot.com)
• Bandzoogle Acquires Onesheet To Expand Its Artist Website Platform (musicdish.typepad.com)
• The 3 Pillars Of Music Fan Engagement (hypebot.com)
• 6 Income Stream To Become A Full-Time Musician (djduece.wordpress.com)
• Can PledgeMusic's direct-to-fan approach unlock untapped revenue? (guardian.co.uk)
• Good Ideas for Music PR Moves (music.answers.com)