SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

FOR MUSICIANS

from Charles McEnerneyPrincipal, Layers Marketinghttp://layersmarketing.com

charlie@layersmarketing.com @wellroundedradi

Presented to Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston for Musician’s Professional Toolbox

April 9, 2013

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Charles McEnerney

My background includes 25 years in marketing positions at: ArtsBostonFast Company magazineHBOMovieMaker magazineSeattle International Film FestivalWGBHin TV, film, and audio production

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Current + recent clients at Layers Marketing include

AppsemblerThe Arts FuseBoston University’s College of Fine ArtsThe Eliot School of Fine & Applied ArtsFuture of Music CoalitionThe Haven restaurantJamaica Plain Music FestivalOurstage.comOver My Shoulder FoundationSong Sparrow ResearchYoko Miwa TrioZebigo.com

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Well-Rounded Radio

Since 2002, I have hosted and produced Well-Rounded Radio, an online music interview podcast series that features in-depth interviews with musicians from every genre and music industry thought leaders.

Have conducted more than 70 interviews to date.

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Emerson College

Teach marketing courses at Emerson College including, “Marketing and The Internet,” “Building The Publicity Buzz,” and “Mobile Marketing” (summer 2013).

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How much do you already use social media?

Do you read blogs?

Do you watch videos on YouTube?

Have you shared a photo taken on your mobile phone?

Do you tweet?

Do you use Pinterest?

Have you ever made an edit on Wikipedia?

Do you have a page for your personal brand?

Have you answered questions on LinkedIn Answers or Quora?

Have you contributed to a Kickstarter campaign?

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What is the Long Tail?

The concept (attributed to Wired magazine’s editor and the book’s author, Chris Anderson) that there is a larger audience in all the niche interests in the world vs. the subjects and content that have a mainstream appeal.

The concept truly comes to life with Web 2.0 or social media, where there is an audience for every interest, no matter how big or small.

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Web 1.0

While the consumer-friendly Internet of 1994 to 2003 was about companies and organizations using the platform to publish information about themselves, social media has put true social interactivity into the equation.

Since 2003, the way companies are using the Web to market products and services has changed dramatically...and it’s likely to continue.

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Web 2.0 orSocial Media

Social media is about active and dynamic conversations between companies and customers, between groups, and between individuals.

It’s also about using the tools and technologies that arrived with high-speed broadband access.

Now the Web is delivering audio, video, multi-media, and realtime communications and the proverbial playing field has been flattened for companies and citizens.

It may cost less cash, but it does require human capital.

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Using online tools, what do your customers want to get out of interacting with you?

information

education

to provide feedback

to be a part of the conversation

to be a part of your community

to be a part of the creative process

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The lines between editorial, marketing, and engagement have blurred

we are using the internet to find out information

we are using the internet to educate ourselves before making purchases

we are using the internet to feel more connected

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Social media works best when used to...

educate consumers

listen and converse

provide a sampling opportunity

give the audience a chance to contribute

offer exclusive or advance access or deals

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Social media enables you to...

humanize your brand

“tell your story” directly to consumers, without relying on traditional media outlets

find your specific audience for programming, products, or services vs. using broad channels like print, television, and radio

use each activity to promote the other

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Social media enables you to...

let your customers help you do your marketing (e.g., TripAdvisor’s Cities I’ve Visited)

build community

be more transparent and open

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Social media enables you to...

Listen!

Never in our history has there been such an easy way to listen in to what citizens are talking about, asking for, complaining about, or looking for.

Social media allows us to listen to existing and prospective customers and jump in to help them solve their problems and answer their questions.

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Editorial content as marketing

Social media can also help to intersect with people who are searching for related content and questions, by using search functions from within social media itself, letting your brand reach out and follow, friend, or engage with social media users.

While social media marketing can be time consuming, search technology helps businesses to more easily find and engage with people who are talking about issues that relate to them.

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Tracking mentions on the web

Google Alerts provides a free service to monitor the Internet and send you an email update whenever that word or phrase appears.

While helpful, Google Alerts tend to miss a significant number of mentions and should be used as a secondary tool for monitoring all web mentions. Services like Radian6 or Collective Intellect do a far better job.

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How do you track success? Site analytics from entry to conversion (purchasing, viewing, commenting, sharing, etc.)

Promotional codes

Using bit.ly to track clicks

Growth of the number of your fans, friends, or followers (and your reach influence)

Frequency/volume of people “talking” about your organization

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It may cost less cash, but it does require human capital

There are dozens of options of ways to use the Web to promote your organization, but social media can be time consuming.

Be strategic: think about what your goals are first and then prioritize which of these activities will be the best use of your time to achieve them.

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What are your strategic goals?Increased viewershipCustomer acquisition and retentionDeeper engagement between customers and organizationWeb site trafficIncreased posts in the blogosphereCollect email addresses/RSS subscriptionsGet people talking/buzzing about your organizationIncreased content contributions from customers Create new ways to touch customers

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What are the current “hottest” social media channels?

Twitter

Facebook

YouTube

Pinterest

Mobile

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Social media now has a lot of channels you can use

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A Few Geek Definitions

Metadata are terms or words assigned and embedded by content creators to help content be found or crawled by search engines and rank higher.

Tags are words assigned by Web visitors to pages and media that are they tracked by disparate Web applications to help others discover it.

Feeds are URLs that you can subscribe to and receive data or media and receive updates in text, video, or audio.

Flash is an animation application (now owned by Adobe) that has become the leading standard for encoding video.

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Really Simple Syndication (RSS)

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) or XML (Extensible Markup Language) feeds give people a way to subscribe to content (text, audio, or video) without having to give away their email address.

RSS/XML feeds help users subscribe to blogs and podcasts. The technology is increasingly being integrated into email applications, is a part of such applications as iTunes, or can be used with desktop and web-based RSS aggregators such as Sage for Firefox or Google Reader.

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Blogging

Text-based entries much like a diary documenting your personal or professional life and passions. Subscribed to through RSS (Real Simple Syndication) or XML (Extensible Markup Language) feeds.

Main blogging software services for citizen bloggers include Blogger (Google), Tumblr, Typepad, and WordPress. Blogs from companies often live on their own sites. Sites that track subjects and content on blogs include Technorati and Bloglines.

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Microblogging

Short text messages (140 characters or less) that go out to those subscribed to your microblog so they can see what you’re doing, what you’re thinking, or links to text, video, or audio.

All the competitors have fallen away; microblogging now means Twitter.

Twitter makes the most sense when accessed via desktop apps like Twitter, Tweetdeck, Nambu, Seesmic, Hootsuite, etc.

To see what people are “tweeting” about around the world, visit Twittervision.

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TagsTags are metadata or words that citizens assign to web pages, text, images, audio, or video on the web so that others can find things that are relevant and useful to them. The better they get tagged, the higher they return in searches. As these accumulate, you have a tag cloud.

With Twitter, citizens can assign a hashtag to their tweet, so people watching TV could use the hashtag of #survivor or #treme so that others can follow that thread and interact with each other, even if they are not connected with each other on any other social networking platform.

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An example of a tag cloud

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Location-based tools

Building upon the Twitter ecosystem, location-based tools like foursquare, scvngr, and Facebook let users check-in when they are out at events, restaurants, stores, parks, etc. and serve as discovery services.

The idea is for friends to let each other know what they are doing, where they are, but brands are also using it as a way to connect users and fans or incorporate into their web site or broadcast programming, such as Bravo or Zagat to “unlock” unique experiences.

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Media ConsumptionA variety of sites also allow you to “check in” when you’re watching television or a film, letting others know about your taste. Sites will also award you a badge that is related to the show/film you’re watching and, as many people log-in using Facebook account, it’s all shared onto Facebook.

These sites ultimately analyze what you’re watching and then make recommendations about other programs or films you might like.

Sites include Get Glue, Miso, and Clicker.

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Podcasting

Downloadable (and often streamable) audio and video files that users can subscribe to an RSS/XML feed and update automatically in your podcast player.

Files can be played on a computer or transferred to an mp3 player (such as an iPod) for playback.

The main place for subscribing to podcasts is iTunes. There is also Podcast Alley and open source options like Miro or Juice.

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Social NetworkingSocial networking sites enable individuals or companies to create profiles, make friends or contacts, and share their passions, likes, dislikes, career history, etc.

Sites with most members or traffic include Facebook, Google+, Linkedin, Myspace, Orkut, Gather, Plaxo, 43 Things, and Eons.

Services where you can create your own social networks (either open or closed) include Ning, Kit Digital, Your Membership, and OneSite. Brands are also creating their own online networks, such as No Depression magazine.

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Social NetworkingIn addition to individuals belonging to social networking sites, organizations can create Pages on Facebook where users can become a “fan.”

Organizations or brands can also have Groups, though these are being phased out by Facebook to some degree.

Given that more than 900 million people are now on Facebook, it is hard to ignore it as a marketing vehicle, but you can test how much of your audience is already using it and how much you can convert them into more regular customers using Pages, Events, or Groups.

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Contests and SweepstakesIt used to be to get people to enter a contest, they would have to mail a postcard, call a number, or fill out a paper form.

Now, entering a contest or sweepstakes is as easy as filling out and submitting a web form. Social networks turn it into viral marketing, allowing you to post that you entered it on Twitter, Facebook, et al.

Services like Wildfire are inexpensive to use and easy to implement, helping increase your “likes” or followers while giving people a chance to win something.

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Crowdfunding

While sites like Wikipedia have long relied on crowdsourcing for contributing and editing content, a more recent form of crowdsourcing is crowdfunding, where businesses or individuals ask for friends, family, and strangers to donate toward a project to help fund and complete it.

The best known sites for crowdfunding include Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, Sellaband, Fundraise and others.

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Knowledge ExchangesSeveral sites have made it easy for web users to ask questions and get answers from friends, acquaintances, or complete strangers.

People who answer questions can increase their value in the knowledge marketplace and many use for client acquisition, to show others how much they know about specific topics.

With some variations among them, these include Quora, LinkedIn Answers, Mahalo, Askville (owned by Amazon.com), and Curiosity (owned by Discovery Communications), and Formspring.

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InfographicsInfographics are visual representations of information, using graphics, illustrations, and/or photographs to help tell the story in a more dynamic or fun way than plain text could.

Any company, organization or individual can create and distribute an infographic. In addition to posting on your own site and promoting, they can sometimes be picked up by news sites, furthering its reach.

Some good examples at Good, Visual.ly, and Coolinfographics, but there are many others.

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Personal Branding

As the number of platforms where each of us can have a presence have grown at an exponential rate, the need to have one page where someone can find out about you has increased, so several platforms have launched where you can host a free site that lets you explain yourself briefly and link off to other online platforms.

These include about.me (AOL) and flavors.me.

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Group Buying

Group buying sites allow retailers to discount or make special offers if a large enough group purchases their goods or services, usually within a short time frame.

The biggest of these are Groupon and Living Social, but there are hundreds of these services available around the US, sometimes run by local newspapers or community sites or specializing in specific retailers.

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Social BookmarkingWeb sites/services where users can publicly bookmark their favorite sites and add tags (or keywords) to the sites so that others can discover new Web sites that might be of interest to them.

Dozens of sites exist in this space, but the main players are Del.icio.us, Digg, Furl, Google, Newsvine, Reddit, Stumbleupon, Technorati, and Yahoo. Some of these sites also perform hybrid services, such as Technorati and Stumbleupon.

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Social News

Web sites/services where users can vote or “digg” a story to show their interest in a story as well as comment on the link to the piece, which usually resides on a third-party site, often a news site. The rank of stories will rise and fall throughout the day.

Top sites include Digg, Fark, Reddit, Stumbleupon, and Slashdot.

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User/Consumer/Citizen Generated Content

Content created by citizens and posted on the web, ranging from text reviews to audio, video, and multi-media. These include blogs, podcasts, digital arts, writing (news, gossip, political analysis, diaries, fiction) etc. Most sites do not approve this content, though this is or can be an added function.

Examples of sites that rely on citizen generated content for their success include Flickr, Wikipedia, Tripadvisor, Epinions, ebay, YouTube, DailyMotion, Lulu, eHow, etc.

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Photosharing

Photosharing sites allow users to create accounts, post photos, tag them (and allow others to tag them), and organize and create albums to share with anyone or just a select list of users.

Leadings sites include Flickr, Fotolog, Photobucket, Picasa, Slide, Fotki, Snapfish, etc.

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Organizational Tools

Given the volume of information on the web, there are now a number of new ways for people to attempt to organize all this information. Some are public and shareable (and build upon social networking), while others are private.

Public organizational platforms include Pinterest, Springpad, Gentlemint, Juxtapost, Wookmark, Clipix, and Fancy.

Private organizational platforms include Evernote, Simplenote, and Catch.

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Video SharingWeb sites where commercial + non-commercial broadcasters along with citizens post short video (usually in a Flash-encoded format) that can be shared with friends, commented on, tagged, and searched for based on specific topics of interest.

Top sites include YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo! Video, Myspace, Howcast, Vimeo, Viddler, Bing Video, Veoh, Our Media, Miro, Crackle, Metacafe, Daily Motion, and One World.

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Video Search Engines

Given the growing volume of video on the net, the need for search engines that can specifically search and categorize the metadata associated with these files has evolved to help users find more relevant content. Video posted on the net must be properly tagged in order to be crawled by these search engines.

Top and developing sites include: AOL Video, Google, Blinkx, Yahoo!, Truveo, Digitalsmiths, and Clipblast.

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Keeping on top of it

There are a handful of sites that can help you stay on top of news and developments in the social media world, including Mashable, Allfacebook, HubSpot, and Social Media Jungle.

For the arts, there are several well-followed people worth following, including Beth Kanter and John Haydon (for the non-profit world) and Katie Paine (for return on investment from public relations and social media).

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Not quite social media, but...

Consumer e-mail, which can be sent out daily, weekly, or monthly to keep your customers informed (MailChimp, Constant Contact, Blue Sky Factory, Convio, Vertical Response, etc.)

Online consumer surveys so you can find out more about your customers, ask them about what they seek from you, engage them more deeply. (SurveyGizmo, Constant Contact, Survey Monkey, Vertical Response, etc.)

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Mobile/Handheld

With the rise of cell and smart phones, citizens can also interact with each other via text messages and mobile apps.

Apps allow users to interface with a brand’s web site and a subset of its content to access via an iPhone, Android, Windows, or other smart phones.

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SMS Text Messages

SMS (Short Message Service) or “text” messages are a protocol to send and deliver messages to mobile phones and devices. Consumers can also subscribe to such delivery systems, asking for updates, educational snippets, or reminders.

Services for acquiring and delivering SMS messages include g8wave, Mobilestorm, Clickatell, Message Media, EZ Texting, etc.

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QR Codes

QR Codes are small, square pieces of art (generated for your site alone) that, when scanned with QR Code software on a smartphone, will take the user to a web site where they can learn more, enter a contest or sweepstakes.

It looks like...

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A QR code in action

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Some sites that are not yet mobile ready

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Some mobile ready sites

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Tips on how to make your site mobile ready

have a fast-loading site; use images sparingly

create clickable icons

don’t use Flash

have an easy to navigate site; use bullet points

avoid horizontal scrolling

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Mobile Photography

With the rise of smart phones, apps have been developed that let you take photos with your phones and add a variety of effects to the image, so you can make it look vintage, with special effects, etc.

Top mobile photo apps include Instagram (bought by Facebook ) and Toy Camera.

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Analytics

Analytics programs help tell you where your Web site traffic is coming from, how much time they are spending on your site, what pages or links they are traveling to, and if they are converting to paid customers.

Google’s Analytics is free to implement and use; other paid services with more in-depth features exist with WebTrends, Omniture, NetIQ, HubSpot, and Compete.

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization relies on assigning that the correct keywords are found by search engines that crawl the site and help your site’s ranking by search engines (Google or Bing (who also manages Yahoo! search) via their organic or natural search results.

These results help consumers find the information they are seeking, resulting in qualified in-bound traffic and sales, which is becoming a cornerstone of success.

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Pay Per Click (PPC)

Pay Per Click is for advertisers who purchase keywords through Google Adwords or Bing for paid search results or sponsored results.

These can range from pennies for words that are not popular to many dollars for those words that are popular. These clicks from consumers are then trackable and help tell you which PPC campaigns are most successful.

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Facebook Advertising

Facebook and other sites offer low-cost advertising that can be targeted to users by city, state, gender, education level, age, marital status, and interest areas.

Facebook’s ads start at a minimum of $5/day, but you don’t have to commit to a long-run of ads.

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Display Advertising

Online advertising has come into its own in the last five years as analytics have enabled advertisers to know where, who, and when consumers are clicking through on their ads, greatly increasing their value in the paid media world.

Hundreds of agencies now exist to help advertisers place ads on sites, including Boston companies such as Burst or MRW and national companies Google, DoubleClick, and Clickable.

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Some results from social mediaGreater Web site trafficIncreased customer acquisition and retentionDeeper brand engagement Increased sales/revenueIncreased posts in the blogosphereCollect email addresses/RSS subscriptionsGet people talking/buzzing about your product or serviceIncreased content contributions from citizensCreate new ways to touch customers

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Thank you!

You can also find me at:

linkedin.com/in/charlesmcenerney

facebook.com/charlesmcenerney

twitter.com/wellroundedradi

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