Yut Media - Blog

Dos and Don'ts of Twitter

2008-11-20T16:58:00Z

Lots of newly generated talk about twitter in the music side of the industry thanks to a blog post written by Ariel Hyatt (@CyberPR) & Laura Fitton (@Pistachio) called the Musicians Twitter Roadmap.

I’ve written a few post on twitter already on this blog which you can find under twitter in the category section of the sidebar. But one of the blog posts I hadn’t gotten around to writing yet is the Dos and Donts of twittering…so here goes. (Some of it is a refresher from the other posts – hint, hint…that’s because they’re really important.)

Do thoroughly fill out your profile
Do add a picture
Do follow people back
Do learn something about the people following you
Do interact with people
Do @people
Do ask questions and for feedback
Do provide feedback and answer questions
Do be entertaining (but yourself)
Do be informative
Do be engaging
Do tweet on a regular basis (preferably a few times a day when starting out)
Do tweet 12-18 times before following anyone to include @people
Do use DM for one on one interaction when sending out to everyone is inappropriate
Do assist in promoting your followers – they’ll return the favor
Do retweet tweets that are worthwhile
Do promote you’re on twitter on your other social network(s) and blog(s)
Do learn some of the twitter terminology – and IM terms to shorten your words
Do try to maintain a resemblance to using proper English
Do take your extended twitter conversations to IM, email or DM
Do realize things can be taken out of context
Do know you can actually say A LOT in 140 characters
Do look into tweetups in your area to meet people in real life
Do look for twitter applications that will make your life easier
Oh…and do prepare to be frustrated at times. Twitter isn’t perfect

DON’T

Don’t be a self-promoting fool
Don’t DM someone your website after they start following you
Don’t make all of your tweets 5-7 words
Don’t follow 2000 people in one shot
Don’t publicly send personal information over twitter
Don’t publicly put someone on the hook for something
Don’t publicly embarrass, bad mouth, or criticize someone
Don’t go nuts welcoming and thanking all your new followers
Don’t go nuts retweeting tweets that aren’t worthwhile (informative, funny or relevant)

It’s a simple Do and Don’t list that if followed; you’ll find success on twitter.

Is the Movie Industry Better at Social Media?

2008-11-19T16:56:00Z

Someone pointed out to me that the film/movie industry leverages social media better than any other genre, niche, and other industries within the entertainment industry. I tend to disagree with that statement…while at the same time, I’ll give props to the movie industry for doing good marketing. The exception perhaps being…Cloverfield

Of course, you could now bring the argument in that solid marketing on the web is leveraging social media.

Marketing Online = Word of Mouth for the Movie Industry
Okay…so this isn’t necessarily true for independent films. They have a much lower budget and therefore limited abilities to plaster trailers all over the internet so more grassroot work is needed.

However, when it comes to blockbuster releases…the high dollars are invested in online marketing which generates the buzz.

People Love to Talk About Movies
A friend of mine that I talk to every few weeks asks me almost every time we talk “Seen any good movies lately?”

It’s a top rated question – it’s part of the American small talk dialogue. The movie industry just needs to give us something to talk about.

Whether it’s in person, movie review sites, on twitter or other social networks…what movies people have seen, are watching or movies coming out; those are all common and natural topics of conversation.

“Quite the weather we’re having” right into “Hey, have you seen xxxxx?”

We naturally took those conversations online.

Recommendations

People love to make and get movie recommendations. It’s probably the safest unsolicited advice to give “You should go see xxxx”

You might not have opinions about much, but I bet you have an opinion about pretty much all the movies you’ve seen. It’s probably, the few, if only opinions people seek and tolerate listening to.

Already Slated for Markets
Take the genre of a movie and the rating and Bang…you’ve got the majority of your market identified (age, sex and preferences). With a little knowledge of where those people hang out online, you can easily target them.

The span of the various genre of movies pretty much reaches everyone – making for an unlimited market.

Appeals to our Senses
Movie trailers tickle our fancies. The sounds, the pictures, the plot…the actors. We watch movie trailers. We just do. They’re entertaining. They cater to our short attention span, they wet our appetites, they get us thinking about our opinions of the movie’s potential…they hit the mark. They even give us something to look forward to and get excited about.

Interaction
Interactive websites and video games add a layer to the icing on the cake. So does our obsessions with actors and actresses.

Movie fans are drawn together and like we already covered; they engage with each other.

The movie industry has a really good thing going. Will anything change that? The economy – cost of tickets?

To other industries…you don’t quite have it made that way. Even independent films…what can they do to generate more buzz without the budget. What about performing arts, what can they learn from the movie industry?

Bob Schneider Let’s You In And Connects

2008-11-19T00:13:00Z

I had to write this blog post because visiting this artist’s website really “moved me,” as cheesy as that might sound.

I was hanging out on Twitter reading the stream when this came across: DavidEckoff is excited to be seeing one of my favorite musicians tonight, the infamous Bob Schneider from Austin, TX. Listen (link to website)

I clicked and landed on one of the most innovative and “communicative” artist website I’ve found so far.

First off, it’s cool. The CD case layout is pretty neat. Cooler yet, if you click on the moving people inside the CD…talking bubbles pop up with funny stuff.

So after the cool factor comes the, WoW factor. Unlike other musician websites I’ve visited, Bob doesn’t just let his music play. He introduces each of his songs and the story behind the song…then the song plays.

A really simple thing to do to communicate with your audience, an easy addition to be memorable, and an upfront way to engage your listeners.

You get to know Bob listening to him tell the stories behind his music. You discover he’s a funny guy. You connect to him and realize he would be a cool guy to have a beer with. You realized that going to one of his shows is probably a total blast.

Bob brings you into his world…in the process of doing so you realize you want to know more about him. I bet he clocks in an average of 5-7 minutes out of each visit…if not more.

Once you decide you want to know more about him, you go exploring and what you find is more coolness. Click the menu button for more…this is one of my two criticisms of the site. The fact there’s a lot more to find from the menu isn’t necessarily intuitive. Second criticisms is that you have to go offsite to see his tour schedule.

Anyway, the biography area is the best biography section I’ve ever seen. It’s set on a timeline with pictures and it’s narrated by Bob.

I’m not going to go through each parts of his menu but I recommend that you do go and have a look.

I’d love to hear from you. What do you think of the site? How did it make you feel? Did you connect with Bob? Did it leave you thinking…I want to go to one of his shows?

Musicians: Ten Reasons To Join Stereo Fame

2008-11-18T12:52:00Z

I already started to explain Stereo Fame last Friday and I invited a few local DC based bands that I’ve come across on MySpace to join Stereo Fame so I could sign them on to my label. Only one band took me up on the offer so far, 23RAINYDAYS. They now somehow have 3,000 more points than me…the bums!!

So yea, I’ve been spending a good amount of time listening to music on Stereo Fame…much like Brew Dad who said in a blog post “…it has taken the place of the radio when I do my writing.” If I were a musician or in a band, I know I’d be spending time on Stereo Fame…here’s why:

Ten Reasons To Join Stereo Fame
1. It’s New and Easy. Ever dream you could have been on MySpace when it first started out? According to the Stereo Fame homepage…there are only 3,415 artists on the site, to a 5,551 number of labels and listeners. You can become a sought after artist now…and as the site grows; you’ll keep benefiting from it. Getting started is real easy.

2. Feedback on Your Music. After listening to one of your songs (15 seconds of it) listeners can give it the thumbs up or down. Pretty useful information because you can use it to narrow down who is and isn’t into your music.

3. Knowing Who Listened to Your Music. You can find out who listened to your music. The site tracks the music each member is listening to. Guess what that also does? Every time someone listens to one of your songs…it shows on their profile; fabulous visibility.

4. It’s Only for Music. You’re not competing with the attention of any other entertainers, cladly dress women, or whatever else might distract someone on another site.

5. Exposure to All Kinds of Listeners. There are other people, just like Brew Dad who come to the site and just let the music play. Passive listeners who use the site as their new radio station. You also have extreme listeners looking for the latest and best new artists for their label.

6. Downloads. You can make your music available for downloads.

7. Technically Sound. The site is well done. This isn’t a tech blog or startup blog so I won’t get into this…but trust me when I say, this site is well though out, designed and executed. Plus, you have all kinds of widgets and banners to help spread the word.

8. Collecting and Using Data. You can look up in the charts area who the top labels and listeners are and the top played tracks for the last 7, 30 and 90 days. Lots you can do with that information to help yourself.

9. Points and Prizes. Yep, you get points for taking part in the activities on the site too, which means you can win prizes as well. You would do all this work anyways…now, you get rewarded for it.

10. Get Signed On to a Label. So what if it’s a virtual label!?!? It’s a person/fan who enjoys and believes in your music. It’s a fan who is going to help promote your music. What’s better, earning a friend on MySpace or getting signed to someone’s label?

Although I say, and will keep writing that some of your time online is well spent expanding the ways in which you communicate online with your fans…for musicians, the most important thing is and will always be, to have your music listened to. Stereo Fame offers great ways to make that happen. Not only is your music listened to, but it is also promoted – the site is built to do that.

Talk With Your Fans Not To Your Fans (Part II)

2008-11-17T17:24:00Z

I left you with the question “Do you really think you can afford to not communicate with your fans?” in my first write-up on this topic of talking with your fans not to your fans.

If you haven’t answered that question for yourself yet, consider this:

The internet has drastically changed and improved communication and interaction between people.

The internet has made a large world smaller and people in it more accessible.

Word of mouth exchange (recommendations, reviews, opinions) are on steroids within a person’s social network because of the size and accessibility of online social networks.

The internet has increased our requirements for immediate gratification.

The internet has increased our desires to be connected and in the know.

The internet has increased our human need to belong.

The internet has increased our ability to get away and take part of other worlds.

The internet has mostly definitely changed your fans expectations.

We’re having this conversation because of how much the internet has changed things.

Do You Care About Your Fans?
A fan is an ardent devotee; an enthusiast. A fan is someone dedicating their time, interest, passion and love towards YOU and your work/product. Fans have a curiosity and interest in you.

The days of not being able to communicate with someone who is a fan (per the above description) are long gone.

Since communication is so much easier and simpler due to the internet: What signal do you think you send out when you can’t be bothered to communicate and engage with your fans?

Talking With Your Fans
Aren’t you curious about who your fans are? Aren’t you interested in what your fans have to say?

Talking with your fans is creating connections, personal interaction, exchanging information, recommendations and feedback.

Talking with your fans is building rapport and facilitating relationships.

Engaging with your fans is showing you care about them.

Engaging with your fans is adding value to what they care and are passionate about.

“Do you really think you can afford to not communicate with your fans?”

Link Love Looney Monday (wk1)

2008-11-17T14:42:00Z

As you might have noticed, we don’t have a blogroll…actually if you notice there is absolutely no widgets, links or other blog candy in the sidebar. It’s semi intentional and unintentional. Unintentional, in that, we are using Mephisto and it isn’t the easiest blogging platform to work with or add widgets and plug-ins to. Intentional, in that, we want the focus to be on the content and we don’t want you getting distracted and clicking off the site.

None the less, there are obviously great blogs out there for you to read to compliment what I write about so on Mondays, I’ll share the sites I know about and discover during the week.

The following sites/blogs focus on marketing, self-promotion and leveraging the web

New Music Strategies: Andrew Dubber attempts to unpick and explain what’s going on in the online music environment - and from that, develop strategies to help independent musicians and music businesses cope and thrive in a changing media environment

gigDoggy: gigDoggy loves writing songs and networking with bands. He first started asking around for advice on how to book gigs. Amazed by the support he got from other bands, gigDoggy soon realized that he wanted to share this advice, so he began blogging.

The Opening Note: Music, Industry, News, Resources

Bob Baker’s The Buzz Factor: Music Marketing tips and self-promotion ideas for independent songwriters, musicians and bands.

Music Think Tank: Where the Music Industry Thinks Out Loud

ArtistsHouse Music: Helping Musicians and Music Entrepeneurs Create Sustainable Careers

Ariel Publicity - The official CyberPr Blog: This blog is part business ideas, part music industry tips and ideas for promotion and who knows maybe a personal entry or two… read on and do talk back.

C.J. Darlington.com: Thoughts on writing, books & publishing.

I realize the theme seems to be mostly on music…I’ll focus this week to find what’s out there for other entertainers for next Monday.

If I Were Tweeting for the Washington Capitals

2008-11-16T15:22:00Z

Friday night I went to see the Washington Capitals play at the Verizon Center. They played against the New Jersey Devils and won 3-1. I tweeted while at the game…came home and started doing some homework on how well (but found how bad) the Washington Capitals leverage twitter.

Don’t get me wrong, the Washington Capitals have a twitter account; they just aren’t doing anything useful with it.

Twitter is a powerful communication, promotional and grassroot marketing platform for organizations, businesses and corporations…but it’s a KILLER communication, promotional and grassroot marketing platform for a team like the Washington Capitals.

Twitter is most powerful when used to do the three following things:

Delivers interesting and timely information/news
Connect a community of fans, loyal customers or people of similar interest together
Act in support other grassroot efforts – inner and outer connectivity

If I Were Tweeting for the Washington Capitals
The First Basic Steps

Tweet the Games. There is no live tweeting happening from the @washcaps account. I know…I mean come on!?!? That’s a pretty basic way of delivering interesting and timely information/news.
Follow Fans Back. This is seriously basic. Follows your fans back…get into the a conversation with them. How do you suppose to turn your fans into bigger fans and supporters (hence promoters) if you’re not communicating with them.
Here’s how I would do it – let the fans know that during each games (at home or away – watching on tv or at the game) that anyone who tweets @washcaps during at game will be followed back. That way you find your active game twitterer.

The Next Steps

Tweeting in-Between Games: Break the news (at least some) of what’s happening over twitter. Run facts about the players, information about practice and other happenings within the organization.
TwitPic: Send out some twitpics during the games and in-between the games.
Post Fan Blog Posts: Find who is writing up the games, NOT mainstream media wirte-ups…but your loyal fans who blog their heart outs about the Washington Capitals. Send traffic and fans their way.
Engage with Fans: Send out questions, ask for feedback and communicate with the twitter followers.

Going the Distance

Washington Capital Fan Tweetup: Once the Washington Capital Fan start coming together over twitter…arrange a Washington Capital Fan Tweetup – be it before the game or going the real distance and brining them all together in one of the suits at a game.
Show the Live Tweeting on Screen: How cool and encouraging would it be to have some live streaming of people tweeting the game at some point on one of the screens?
Find Who is Tweeting Sponsorship: During the games, prizes are given out that are sponsored by different companies…so run a contest where the answer is delivered over Twitter with a HashTag and make someone a winner that way.

The Benefits of Good Twitter Usage

Do I really need to spell this out? Really!?!?

Awesome crowd engagement
Bringing together of your fans/community
Engaging in communication with your fans/community
Discover your major influencers
Excellent and extremely inexpensive marketing
Bringing the hockey and Washington Capitals experience to a much wider audience which will generate greater ticket sale.

Social Media Interview: Michael Paige

2008-11-15T13:09:00Z

We got all kinds of goodies on this blog! You’ll see these types of interviews, Social Media Interviews, every so often. I’ll pose questions to different types of entertainers to find out how they use social media and what they think of it.

Our first interviewee is international romantic recording artist, Michael Paige. I met Michael at BlogWorldExpo 08. I was very impressed that he was in attendance since you didn’t find that many entertainers there…mostly all social media types, PR folks and bloggers.

At any rate, I really enjoyed getting Michael’s point of view on social media and I had the pleasure of introducing him to Twitter.

Michael can be found on the web on his own website where he runs a video blog and on a few social networks.

Check out his interview and his web presence.

Interview
Q: You’re in the process of establishing a strong web presence…when did you realize this was something important to do?

Michael Paige: Creating a strong presence online has been on my agenda for the last three years. The more time that passes the more I realize how much business is being done on the web.

Q: What do you perceive the value of social media to be to you as an independent artist?

Michael Paige: Social media can do a lot for anyone online. However I think it’s easy to get completely sucked in by wanting to be everywhere. As an independent artist it’s important to be able to know where to spend your time and energy online.

Q: What aspect(s) of building a relationship online with your fans are you enjoying the most?

Michael Paige: People in general are great, and unique. It’s a blast getting to meet, get acquainted and communicate with so many people that enjoy my music.

Q: What’s the most useful/valuable social network/social media platform to you and why?

Michael Paige: All of them are important. I think where you spend your time the most is what’s really important.

Q: How much time a week do you spend on social media (communicating with fans, interacting on social networks) and what does the breakdown of that time look like?

Michael Paige: I don’t spend a specific amount of time on a daily or weekly basis. It depends on my performance and recording schedule.

Q: I see you run a video blog on your blog/website. What made you choose to do a video blog? Which post has been your favorite so far and why?

Michael Paige: I’m not sure which is my favorit e blog post. The reason I decided to start blogging was that people were asking questions about me, my family life etc. So I thought it would be a good idea to let them in on what I spend time doing.

Q: Any words of wisdom or advice to independent artists getting involved in social media?

Michael Paige: Pour your heart and passion in to what you’re doing, and enjoy the journey. Music/entertainment has always been a difficult field to be a part of. The most successful people in this industry have had their ups and downs. So enjoy every moment you can.

Web Presence
Michael On: Blog, Website, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Viddler (he’s got more but those are where he seems to spend most of his time)

What I like
Michael’s web presence leverages the 3/4 out of the 5 ways to communicate and interact with his fans.

He interacts with his fans and the people who interact with him. His profiles are public so he is accessible. He creates quality content for his video blog allowing people to get to know him. He even conducts interviews of people in other communities other than music and recording.

All his profiles that can be branded are professionally branded…the others have the cover of his new album. If he can sell his music on a site…he’s selling his music, but of course offering a listen for free.

Recommendations
My recommendations to Michael to have greater success with social media are 1) To leverage his video content more. 2) Add profile information to his Viddler profile. 3) Be a little more active with the Viddler community. 3) To not be shy or afraid to annouce his new blog videos to Twitter, MySpace and Facebook - must create cross promotion across all the networks. 5) Consider starting a YouTube channel and post there as well. 6) When the time is right (touring) leverage the use of pictures more.

Be sure to listen to Michael's beautiful and romantic music!

Music Fans Create Your Own Label

2008-11-14T15:09:00Z

What better way is there to show your favorite bands and musicians support than by signing them on to your own label?

That’s exactly what Stereo Fame allows you to do. Once you’re a Stereo Fame member, you create your own labels, go around listening to music and select which artist you want to sign-on to your label.

The other aspect of Stereo Fame is that it’s like fantasy football except for music. They call it “ The Social Music Game” because you can earn points and win cool stuff. You can also download music for free!!

According the Stereo Fame site:

“Each Label earns points based on the popularity of each artist they've signed. When an artist or song gets a thumbs up it benefits the label. Also, Labels earn more points for being the first to sign a band, and extra points if an artist gets a lot of attention during a small period of time.

All Stereofame members earn bonus points just for playing the game. Actions like voting for a song, referring a friend, leaving a comment, etc. add more points your score.”

Promoting Your Label and The Artists
How does this help you promote your favorite bans? Once you’ve signed on your favorite bands and/or discovered new bands…you go around promoting your label which brings people around to listening to the artists you’ve signed on.

The more people that listen, the more points you make…and the more exposure you bring to the music you love. (You can redeem your points to win cool stuff)

Great Communication Tool
From what I’ve gathered of Stereo Fame it is rather new….can’t find a definite date it launched but my guess is it was in the last few months. What does that mean??

It means a lot. It means that many bands and musicians don’t know yet about Stereo Fame. It means you can introduce Stereo Fame to your favorite artists and be the first to sign them (hence getting more points).

Here’s what I would do:

Sign up on Stereo Fame
Do a search for my (meaing your) favorite bands/musicians
Find them – Sign them onto your label
Can’t find them…send them a note on MySpace, their website and wherever you know they’ll see your message or use Stereo Fame and invite them to join
Once they’ve joined, signed them unto your label
Work hard and take them to the top – make them the artist of the week

I guarantee you that all the bands and musicians you do this for will love you for it.

Musicians…look for the blog post on Stereo Fame for you next week.

Declaring Fridays – Fan Friday

2008-11-14T13:08:00Z

TGIF!! Happy Friday everyone and welcome to Fan Friday on the Your Path to Stardom Blog.

Six days out of the week this blog is mostly focused on entertainers except for Fridays. On Fridays, this blog is now for the fans.

Fans have a lot of power to make or break an artist…particularly an independent artist. There are many ways you can help promote the entertainers you enjoy the most, but you might not be aware of all the different things you can do. You might also not be aware of how to be heard, listened to and properly interact with the entertainers you idolize.

I would be remiss in my duties to not inform you (the fans) of your powers of influence, abilities to help and duties to keep entertainers honest/straight.

Fridays is also going to be Feature Friday in honor of loyal fans who want to see their favorite entertainer(s) featured here on this blog. Email me to let me know who you want me to get in touch with or leave me a comment.

We’re going to have a lot of fun on Fridays courtesy of FANS!!

Venting Session: Top Three Annoying Things on MySpace

2008-11-13T14:22:00Z

Going to have some fun venting while passing on some pointers. I’m mostly nice, encouraging and supportive but I’m also extremely opinionated and sarcastic so once a week I’m going to vent and unload on what really fires me up on the web.

Feel free to vent back!!

Top Three Annoying Things on MySpace Profiles

Obnoxious Backgrounds

If I can’t read a damn thing on your profile because of your background…you have an obnoxious background.
If your background is a picture of yourself or your band…you have an obnoxious background.

Scrolling Right or Left Profiles
I expect to scroll down to view the information in your profile…not left or right. People want their information within the right and left lateral limits of their screen because it makes it easy to read, view and interact. Having to scroll all over the place sucks and makes it difficult to navigate your profile.

Relocation of Add Friend Request
This isn’t so annoying if the add friend request location is moved and is obvious to find…extremely annoying if it’s difficult to find. If you’re wondering why you don’t get friend request – I recommend looking at how easy it is to add you.

For those Add Friend Request that are in the same location as the original MySpace profile layout but you had a specialized user interfaced implemented to your profile…guess what? Your Add Friend Request might not be properly lined up so when people click on it they end up with IM or Send Message. Which means your new wannabe friend has to waste their time lining up their mouse just right to add you as a friend. You know what happened to me? I left.

Talk With Your Fans Not To Your Fans (Part I)

2008-11-12T17:36:00Z

The premise and success behind properly leveraging social media isn’t in the technology…it’s in the communication and engagement that takes place because of the technology.

Corporations, organizations, small to large businesses, government agencies, and non-profits are embracing social media in order to find out what their customers want, to find ways to better serve their customers and to participate in the conversation that’s taking place about them.

The web has changed things…people don’t want to be spoken to, they want to be engaged in a conversation with.

Is Being Idolized Enough?!?
Interestingly enough, some bigger acts think they can afford to not communicate with their fans and they also think they can afford to blow them off.

Exhibit A Lil Wayne: Lil Wayne not only cancelled a few of his shows (Raleigh, NC and Atlantic City, NJ) but he also simply didn’t show up to two other shows leaving Ludacris and Jay-z hanging in the last few months. The record-selling breaking Rapper didn’t apologize for his disregard to his fans, fellow artists or record label.

Some fans commented that they think Lil Wayne (Weezy) has earned the rights to do behave this way…while others were clearly upset.

Entertainers are idolized in the American culture…they sometimes behave, act and do things that frankly other people (organizations) don’t get away with doing. A business does not survive endless bad customer service.

Are you counting on your fans idolizing you simply based on your talent?

How long do you think that can last?

The Buck Stopped for Them
Big companies used to think they were too big to be impacted by consumer reviews and conversations online…but they quickly came to realize that was a fallacy and false sense of security. They needed to engage online and not just engage, but communicate with their clients and customers.

You fans are your customers. Much like any industry and company…your art/product has competition. Your fans don’t have to spend their hard earn money on you – they can go spend it on someone who engages with them and provides them more of what they’re looking for – a greater sense of connection.

In my opinion, entertainers have been to some extent sheltered from any significant backlash from fans online…I don’t think that will last forever. Probably the most “targeted entertainers” in the industry are athletes…

Not a Big Star Yet
Even if you don’t agree with me and you believe that big rock stars, rappers, movie stars, athletes, and other entertainers making millions will keep being able to get away with what they’ve always done…where does that leave you?

Do you Really Think you Can Afford to not Communicate With Your Fans?

Touring Is Ideal For Social Media

2008-11-10T15:11:00Z

This is coming to you courtesy of Finn Riggins who are now touring – Eric (keys, synths, organ, accordion, sampler, guitar, vocals, misc) for Finn Riggs wrote me on MySpace:

"right on ann, sounds like some great stuff... pretty swamped in the middle of tour right now... but would love to keep up with this stuff..." (by stuff he’s referring to social media)

So turns out that this stuff (social media) is actually best done while on tour (book tour, comedy, music or any type of road show). It’s best while on tour for the very reasons you don’t have time to do it…there’s a lot going on, you’re on the road, you’re meeting your fans and playing back to back shows.

Social media and leveraging the web is about communicating, engaging and connecting with your fans…You tour to communicate, engage and meet your fans. See the connection?

Since Finn Riggs is on tour right now (as many of you might be as well) we’ll do a quick crash course.

Emergency Crash Course: Social Media while Touring
Back to loose-leaf-social media conducted on your landing and extension networks and the five means of online communication.

Communicate and engage with your fans with videos, pictures, and words.

Lets go for the sake of this crash course with your blog or MySpace blog, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube or 12second.tv.

Communicating with Your Fans

Capture your life on tour – write about it, video it and take pictures. POST them online
Let your fans know where you are
Let your fans know what your are doing
Let your fans know where you are going

Engage with Your Fans

Ask your fans to give you the low down on their towns you’re about the visit – repost in a blog post.
Ask your fans to send one picture of their favorite “part of town” post them up
Ask your fans for other input pertaining to life on the road…

Acknowledge Your Fans

Make it a habit to meet some of your fans – write down their names and get one of their online profiles. Write up a post with 20 of the fans you met at each of your shows.
Ask your fans to write up your show and tie back to their write-ups (the good and bad)

The reason you want to establish a strong loose-leaf-social media presence prior to leaving on tour is to make the interaction while on tour more exciting, active and rewarding…but since you are on tour – you already know you have some fans so engage with them; you’ll turn your fans into more dedicated fans and find new ones.

Blog
Blog if not daily – a few times a week. Tell stories about life on tour. Doesn’t have to be pages of it. But write up the memorable things that are happening, funny incidents, a day of your life on tour. Mention your fans (per above recommendations)

Twittter
140 characters or less. You’ve got time for that. Send updates of your travels, show times, report what the other members of the bands are doing, share your feelings, emotions and outlooks of life on the road.

Flickr – Pictures
Pictures are worth a thousand words. Take pictures. Have someone else take pictures. Leverage your fans and have them send you pictures of the shows. You take pictures of life on tour. The unexpected shots are the best!

Video
Record short videos. Interview each other. Talk about your performance, the crowd, the people you meet. The more your mention your fans…the better off you are.

Post Immediately
Everything you do on tour is time sensitive. Post your content and keep real time interaction with your fans. Being on tour is one massive push to expose yourself and maximize impact with your fans. Don’t waste your opportunities to have a more successful tour than ever before. Make the extra effort. Carpe Diem.

Social Media & Biz Dev for Entertainers

2008-11-09T12:34:00Z

The other day I started a meetup group – it’s called: Social Media and Biz Development for Entertainers. The first meetup is this Wednesday, November 12^th, 7pm at Murky’s Coffee in Arlington.

The meetup group to no shocking surprise is for entertainers; artists, musicians, actors, writers, and comedians who want to be more proactive in using and leveraging social media. We’ll discuss in greater details the things I blog about here. Everyone will be an active learner and teacher. I envision a group that learns from each of the members.

I’m not sure if I’m being over ambitious, I’ve scheduled meetings for every Wednesdays in order to make the group and myself easily accessible on a weekly basis for entertainers looking for help, assistance and guidance on how to get involved in social media and business development.

If you’re an entertainer in DC...I would come check this group out. Guarantee you’ll learn something, you’ll be able to help someone else out and it will help you take what you’re doing to a new level.

Bring a laptop…this will be a hands-on group! (If you don't want to signup with Meetup to RSVP - leave me a comment you're coming.)

Outside Promotion but No Community

2008-11-07T16:38:00Z

Do this right now, Google yourself and find out if you’re having one way or two way conversations.

If the first few pages of results are all write-ups about you, your album, cd, book and shows…more than likely you’re engage in one way conversations. Particularly if you click on the links and guess what…you’ve never left a comment on the review, engaged with the people who read the review or listened to your interview. Worst yet, you’ve never linked back to those reviews or interviews…you didn’t even get involved in a communication with the person who promoted you.

On the other hand, if there’s a healthy dose of your own online profiles, your website and blog(s) than you’re also engaging in two way conversations. Your name is linked to comments, your own reviews of others and things other than self-promotion.

As an entertainer you probably get really, really excited when someone agrees to interview you, review your work or take the time to interact with you in some way. You got through the interview and than you sit back and wait for your sales to increase and for new fans to show up at your door steps…you wait, you wait and you wait. Hmmm…but wait – only a few show up, if any at all. So what do you next? Line up more interviews??

STOP. Start interacting and communicating. Start building a community.

Guess what those folks who are interviewing you and reviewing your work are doing? They are building and nurturing their community by featuring you. They are communicating with their community. What are you doing? How are you interacting and engaging your fans?

STOP having one way conversations – Start having two way conversations