Since web 2.0 was created social media and social networking sites have taken off and are now a major part of any companies or musicians marketing efforts, the reason for this is the outreach these social networking sites can have, the Internet has always been a brilliant way to share music. Now I'm a bit of a social media geek, so i thought i'd share with you a few tips!
Myspace started off the movement for bands to create their own online presence, and since then there has been many more sites offering the same kind of thing.
Twitter has become a part of the mainstream culture, it can be a powerful asset in music promotion that not only helps spread the word about new music, but is great for making real-world connections with people on an individual basis. Twitter allows the artists and fans to share links to radio interviews, YouTube clips of live performances or SoundCloud links to an artist’s latest tracks. Users can also upload images of behind the scenes photos or flyers for upcoming gigs directly to the Twitter stream with services like TwitPic. Artists can get insight into what the community thinks of their latest track, suggestions for where their fans would like them to play a gig or to give their followers the oppourtunity to help pick artwork design for an upcoming album release. Twitter is a direct line of communication between fans and artist’s.
Soundcloud is a platform for sharing music, and is a great way to discover new music. It has had a significant effect on the way music is consumed. Soundcloud works brillantly with other social media websites, as every song that is shared has a unique URL, so a new song can be linked directly. The soundcloud player is embeddable, where the Myspace player is not, and it allows the artist to decide whether they want to make the track downloadable to fans. Overall Soundcloud is a brillant social media website that allows interaction with other websites, making sharing much easier for artists and fans.
Facebook is a great platform for artists and fans to share and discover music. Applications can be added to an artists Facebook page, such as BandPage (RootMusic) which can be made the default landing page, and offers a clearly laid out page with a music player, which can be linked to Soundcloud, and can be updated with new gig announcements and links to iTunes to purchase music, as well as a Twitter stream. The ‘Like’ feature for artists pages is another element that can spread the word about a particular artist, when a fan presses ‘Like’ on the artists page, it automatically updates in the Facebook feed, so all of that fans friends can see that they have ‘Liked’ that artists. Facebooks other facets include the ability to upload photos into different albums and the ability to create events and invite all fans to RSVP.
YouTube is not only a great way to showcase what you’re up to, your music videos, and live performances but it is also a great discovery engine. Many people will click on your video if they find it in the related videos section of a band they already like. I always urge any artist to set up a YouTube channel, start off with something simple, like recording yourself covering a song that's popular at that moment in time, it's a guaranteed way to at least get a couple of hits on your video, and you never know, whoever is watching your video might even click through to some of your other vids. YouTube is becoming more of a search engine these days, if someone wants to learn how to play 'Stairway to Heaven' they don't google the tabs, they search for it in YouTube.
When used together Social media is a powerful tool, artists can make music discovery easier by spreading themselves on every possible networking site, and with the ease of these websites being able to interact with each other so effortlessly, it makes social media awesome.
if you need any help with setting up social media sites for your band or organisation, we can help and have some very cost effective pricing offers alongside our general press, publicity and promotion support packages.
if you need any help with setting up social media sites for your band or organisation, we can help and have some very cost effective pricing offers alongside our general press, publicity and promotion support packages.
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