Oct 31
RyanTouring centre st-ambroise, dave cool, facebook, myspace
There has been a lot of talk lately about the death of MySpace (sorry, my______), albeit a familiar rumour from the past couple of years. With Facebook and other social media darlings swallowing a large percentage of the time people spend online, lots of folks have been wandering whether or not the once powerful platform can even claw back a portion of the net it once owned.
Most things on the Internet move faster than a hipster’s love for a hot new band, but the slow decline of My______ seems to be fighting that trend. Even with the declaration of Quit Myspace Day being made recently, the platform still has a large presence in terms of music online. A friend of mine, Dave Cool, who books a fabulous venue in Montreal called Centre St-Ambroise brought forward a few great points on why musicians would be smart to keep their page alive and active for the foreseeable future.
Myspace: You can hate it, but don’t leave it
Given that My_____ still costs nothing to maintain, and a large percentage of people still use it to first find information and music about a band, it seems destructive to delete your account. The popularity of your my_____ when people search for you through Google and other sites alone should give you reason enough to keep the dates and info updated. A dormant my_____ account suggests a dead/lazy band to possible fans and promoters.
So, until the funeral is held, and Facebook finally learns how to present music within its content, keep on checking your account. You don’t have to still be friends with Tom, and you probably don’t need to add that twenty-something aspiring Tila Tequila wannabe to your friends list, but would it hurt you to add something more than that basement demo from 2003?
Sep 16
RyanTouring facebook
Subscriber, Fan or Follower: Who is Most Likely to Buy? – MarketingVOX.
Some interesting findings from this report. Once you think about it a little it should make sense, but it is still good stuff to read as a reminder.
So, keep that clipboard out at shows, and make your mailing list sign-up obvious on your website. Getting direct to a person’s inbox still seems to be one of the best ways to get their attention.
Mar 12
RyanCommunity, Touring facebook, mailing lists
After another cafe chat with a good friend, I found a new topic to rant about.
Spamming, and the many forms it has today.
With the popularity of Facebook these days, you’re bound to have people join your fan page or your group or whatever they’re even calling it at this exact moment who may have stumbled upon you for many reasons. Maybe you toured and they happened to be at the bar, maybe a friend of a friend of a cousin joined and they noticed, or maybe they heard you on a mixed tape (does anyone even make those anymore?), or your song was played on the radio. Either way, if you have more than 30 people on your page, chances are they are not all from the same city. So, this is where my gripe about spamming comes in.
I’m not talking about the usual “cheap cialis” or “my great African uncle seems to think you deserve millions of dollars” sort of stuff that one has to deal with when you keep your Hotmail account. I’m talking more about the constant events or updates that a Facebook user can get from the pages they are signed-up to. Somewhere in amongst all of these updates is where you come in.
The fact of the matter is that you need to realize that your message is just one in a pile, and whatever you can do to make sure those kind folks who signed-up to receive your words continue to read them is very important. That being said, sending them constant updates about your upcoming shows far away from where they are, or live broadcasts or contests that they can not enter because they live somewhere out of the appropriate region is not a step in the right direction.
Luckily, the days of meticulously choosing all these people from a pile of beer soaked loose leaf and then typing them all into your email account, addresses included, are over. Through the beauty of Facebook and other fine services, you can send out your messages to the people who will be happy to hear about your intimate, free record store performance in two hours just down the street from them instead of those who are still waiting for you to come back to their city after your festival date four years ago.
So, with a little more time you can be sure to keep from having your fans ignore your messages or leave your group because nothing is ever of interest to them. Plus, by inviting only those who can come to your shows, you can avoid a long wall of people apologizing because they live on the other side of the country, and the count under “who’s not attending” will not seem so large.
In summary, take the time before you hit send or invite to see if there is an option in amongst those buttons to “customize” or “select network” and everyone will end up a little happier.
It’s a win-win, right?
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