Twitter and Bands
“A lot of people fail on Twitter right away because they start out posting links to products and start selling right away.” — or something close to that.
I’m listening to Joel Comm’s presentation on Twitter via MarketingProfs. Anyone who has worked with me knows I love analogies. I liked Joel’s analogy here, I paraphrase– popping out on Twitter and hitting the sell button first is like that anecdotal door to door vacuum cleaner salesman who says as soon as you open the door “Do you want to buy a vacuum?”
Um. SLAM! no thanks. I’ve been saying the same thing in this way – in order to get fans to spend money, they first need to pay attention, then they have to spend time.
But what content creates attention currency? Joel and just about every online seminar on social media hammers home the same point — deliver value to your audience.
For musicians, that means entertainment and information. I’m using social media to stay informed, but I also hope (often in vain) to be entertained. An interesting/funny picture, quip or link to something funny, cool, exciting etc. You’re a band…you make art so put that creativity into Twitter. It may not come easy at first, but stay on it and I think you’ll find your groove.
Here are some other quick tips from Joel’s seminar that can also help you out.
- Use photos vs. brands (um I better change by Twitter icon!)–for bands this begs the question does the “band” tweet.. the “front-person” or every person in the band? Probably depends on the band but if you are a solo musician, or most of your “band” is really hired musicians then go for your front person. If you really are a band, try and get a pic of all of you and if that’s not possible go with the logo.
- Get custom profile image. Yep you skinned your myspace, got a website design, better get that on your twitter.
- Asking questions/provide answers – if Twitter is about relationships and value…why not ask/answer a question.
“How do I –> insert your key words here”
Bands / artists would have to get creative on this one.
Here is a random tweet I found:
shoeguru14 not a happy camper. how do i injure myself in the craziest of ways. . . . stupid foot. 1 minute ago from web
Band could tweet
“we don’t know…but we hope this song makes your foot feel better http://bit.ly/yourlink”
- Dole out compliments
- Link to other people
- Have a contest — www.tweetaways.com will help you randomly select a winner.
- RT (retweet…keep up now!)
- Customer Support — if you have some followers why not ask for feedback. How was the sound at the last show?
Trent Reznor talks often on his blog about having respect for your fans. Giving love to your fans off stage as well as on stage will win you the “internet applause” of follows, friend requests…and hopefully re-tweets of your marketing messages when they do come out, and eventually credit card transactions to buy your art.
- Tweetbeep Sends you an email when keywords you entered are Tweeted. Topspin – this would be a great embedded feature!
- Pics- after a show- post your pic with a # tag any of your fans may then take the cue and do the same. Instant community around the show.
I like to go to shows that I think my friends will go to/will want to go to. So anything you can do to connect your fans or make your fans feel more connected to each other the better IMO.
And now time to tweet about blogging about tweeting. Thanks for reading, commenting and throwing this up on your Twitter.
