Archive for the ‘Technology and Music’ Category
Engaging Fans on Twitter
I’ve had a few artists ask me about Twitter and why it’s so important and how to effectively use it to promote their music, so I thought I would take some time to make a short list of what I feel is how Twitter can be successfully used.
Twitter is about communication. It’s a tool that allows you to communicate directly with your fans in 140 characters or less. That may not seem like much, but because of it’s very nature, you can get your message across quickly and effectively. But in order to communicate, you must understand that the best communication is two-way. So if you’re just using Twitter for making announcements or posting random facts, then it is my personal opinion that you’re missing the point.
You don’t have to reply to all of your fans, but pick a few questions a day and respond to them. Not only are you bringing fans INTO your conversation, but in doing so, you make them feel more like a friend than a fan. This sort of relationship is not only necessary in today’s music industry, but crucial.
Also, you don’t have to give up personal details of your life to engage fans on Twitter. But giving them glimpses into your creative processes, how a song is written, how a song is recorded, how a live show is produced – this is what they’re interested in. Make them a part of your process and not just something you throw announcements to.
I see too many artists that wonder why they have very little fans, but usually this is because they haven’t yet learned how to engage fans on Twitter yet. Or they don’t know how. Or they’re too afraid to.
You don’t have to tweet a lot, but make your tweets important to those who are following you. And make others want to follow you as well. It just takes a little acknowledgement of people who are responding to what you have to say.
Really, it’s this easy:
1. Acknowledge that your fans are actually there and reading your tweets.
2. Read some of their tweets and respond.
U2 Live on YouTube
If you’re a fan of U2, you probably already know this, but if not, here’s the latest:
U2 is going to be streaming a concert live via YouTube. Fans will be able to watch the band’s live performance at the Rose Bowl on U2′s YouTube Channel.
The event takes place on Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 8 p.m. PT. The show will also be re-broadcast the following day. This will be viewable in the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, U.K. and U.S.
Get your music on Rock Band
Soon, you will be able to use tools provided by video game Rock Band to upload your music to the game’s community to be played by anyone. Approved tracks will go into the Rock Band store and on XBox’s Live Marketplace. For every purchase and download, you can receive a cut.
This is revolutionary! I’d like to see if any of you actually try it out.
More information is available on Rock Band’s website here.
Second thoughts on Twitter
I finally think I “get it” when it comes to Twitter. I think my initial problem was that I was taking it far too seriously. And I was only following people who were using it for announcements and posting links. That gets old really fast. But once I started adding actual friends and people that I found interesting, the conversation opened up.
I think that’s what makes Twitter useful – the interactivity that it brings. It’s a way to have short conversations with not only your friends, but also celebrities, people you admire, bloggers you read, etc.
So I would like to remind you artists out there using Twitter: FOLLOW PEOPLE. I think this is probably the most important thing you can do. Also use the @reply feature. You don’t have to reply to everyone who addresses you, especially if you have a lot of followers yourself, but you do need to engage your fans in conversation. Bringing your fans into the conversation allows them to feel they are connected to you, and in the music industry of 2009, that is a MUST.
So that is my Twitter tip of the day.
Tags: twitter
The Twitter Debate
I’ve been using Twitter off and on since it came out. Mostly because I keep reading all these blogs about how important it is in social marketing and how EVERYONE should be tweeting, NO MATTER what.
Is it just me or is there just really no true usefulness for Twitter, though? Because I see some people who twitter every minute of every day. At this point, the only question I have: Where do you find time to do this? I, personally, never have that kind of time. Owning one’s own business doesn’t leave you much time to chat about whatever it is you happen to doing at any given moment. But there are people out there doing just that and I find that many of those tweets just seem pointless.
I’ve read a ton of blogs, also, about how useful Twitter can be when communicating with not just friends, but peers. But even though I follow some of the top social marketing experts, and people whose blogs I read regularly, I’m seeing a lot of small little links and posts that I feel would be better served with a blog post, where more information can be imparted about such things.
In fact, I think the problem posted at The Viral Garden here is also at play here. How can you have a conversation about anything when you can’t type but a certain number of characters? How can any sort of understanding come from such short conversations?
So what gives? Is this really useful? Am I missing something huge here?
And that is still my take on Twitter. Is it fun? Sure it is… some of the tweets are downright hilarious. Some have good links of things to check out. Unfortunately, I feel obligated to tweet myself and none of my tweets are funny or useful or interesting. So I don’t tweet so much. And then I read a tweet about how one should tweet all through the day. Why? Is quantity really more important than quality?
Comments are more than welcome…