Bobbyisms: Kickstarting your digital marketing plan
I write about random things a lot.
I write a lot about random things.
Now that the semester is drawing to
a close, you may find yourself looking
forward to getting out, and
whether it be holiday parties, live
concerts or the simple sweet freedom
of going out to dance without
worrying about homework, it's likely
that music will be a part of your
holiday.
If you're in a band or are a solo performing artist, there's a great chance the coming break will hold lots to do with music. Whether you've given a lot of consideration to it or not, digital marketing — from having your own website to creating Facebook event pages for your upcoming gigs — is built in to a lot of the everyday things you do to promote your music.
You no longer have to be just beginning a new band or looking for a wider audience to be thinking about digital marketing for your music. As you look ahead to the coming month and year of performing, think about how well you're broadcasting your message.
EMarketer, Inc. in New York published A Snapshot of 2013 this month, forecasting U.S. digital media usage next year based on usage and growth trends today. Despite continued growth in social network usage — they posit Facebook will grow four per cent to 147 million users, Twitter 14 per cent to 36 million — the report indicates that new registrations in these services are plateauing; since much of the world's online population is already connected to these networks, the most growth will continue to be in smartphone and tablet usage as the wired population becomes more and more wireless.
Let's presume you've already set up profiles on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for your music. You're already able to target over a billion combined users, but how well are they connected to one another? Larger sharing-based social platforms like these are very easily networked together, offering countless ways of amplifying your message by broadcasting it simultaneously.
Even more importantly, they all offer visible links to profiles on other networks. YouTube is the first and most frequent place that people visit to discover new music, and is the perfect place for links to your website, social profiles and platforms to hear your music. Once someone has found you on YouTube, make it as easy as possible for them to find everything they need about you before you make them enter your name into a search engine.
Those basic identities form the foundation of your digital marketing plan; simply having those networks as assets isn't enough anymore, and if your goal is to broadcast your music as wide as possible, researching other digital services and their benefits is as important as creating the content you wish to share, your music included.
With that in mind, consider including these three tools in your digital belt — each offer solutions to completely different needs, but can prove themselves to be invaluable for artists looking to secure their place online.
ArtistData: Created to facilitate sharing tour date listings, ArtistData is a widely connected database that can store, publish and share tour dates across major social networks quickly and easily. What's more, you can export that same information into RSS or iCalendar feeds or even create HTML widgets for your website, all that update instantly from one source.
NoiseTrade: A website devoted to sharing new music on a nameyour- price model, you need little more than an email address to set up an account on NoiseTrade.com. You get great exposure as they blast their subscribers and networks on your behalf, and your fans get to download your music in exchange for their email address.
Google Verification: If you manage your own website, verifying it with Google can open a few doors to you in terms of Analytics and grant you some flexibility in how you would like your site to be indexed. Cleaning up your digital fingerprint can not only add some credibility to your online profile, but through consistency can also lend visibility and search authenticity to your various sites and profiles.
There is no more important or more simple an investment in your digital marketing plan than time. Whether it happens swiftly or not, more and more people will find your music as time goes on, so building a strong, well-connected network will not only strengthen the image you project, it will serve as a powerful foundation on which to build more advanced digital marketing initiatives, like crowdfunding campaigns or digitally servicing your album to retailers.
For more of the latest in music news, views and sometimes even marketing, consider following this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms. Only a few weeks to go! I'm out of words.
If you're in a band or are a solo performing artist, there's a great chance the coming break will hold lots to do with music. Whether you've given a lot of consideration to it or not, digital marketing — from having your own website to creating Facebook event pages for your upcoming gigs — is built in to a lot of the everyday things you do to promote your music.
You no longer have to be just beginning a new band or looking for a wider audience to be thinking about digital marketing for your music. As you look ahead to the coming month and year of performing, think about how well you're broadcasting your message.
EMarketer, Inc. in New York published A Snapshot of 2013 this month, forecasting U.S. digital media usage next year based on usage and growth trends today. Despite continued growth in social network usage — they posit Facebook will grow four per cent to 147 million users, Twitter 14 per cent to 36 million — the report indicates that new registrations in these services are plateauing; since much of the world's online population is already connected to these networks, the most growth will continue to be in smartphone and tablet usage as the wired population becomes more and more wireless.
Let's presume you've already set up profiles on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for your music. You're already able to target over a billion combined users, but how well are they connected to one another? Larger sharing-based social platforms like these are very easily networked together, offering countless ways of amplifying your message by broadcasting it simultaneously.
Even more importantly, they all offer visible links to profiles on other networks. YouTube is the first and most frequent place that people visit to discover new music, and is the perfect place for links to your website, social profiles and platforms to hear your music. Once someone has found you on YouTube, make it as easy as possible for them to find everything they need about you before you make them enter your name into a search engine.
Those basic identities form the foundation of your digital marketing plan; simply having those networks as assets isn't enough anymore, and if your goal is to broadcast your music as wide as possible, researching other digital services and their benefits is as important as creating the content you wish to share, your music included.
With that in mind, consider including these three tools in your digital belt — each offer solutions to completely different needs, but can prove themselves to be invaluable for artists looking to secure their place online.
ArtistData: Created to facilitate sharing tour date listings, ArtistData is a widely connected database that can store, publish and share tour dates across major social networks quickly and easily. What's more, you can export that same information into RSS or iCalendar feeds or even create HTML widgets for your website, all that update instantly from one source.
NoiseTrade: A website devoted to sharing new music on a nameyour- price model, you need little more than an email address to set up an account on NoiseTrade.com. You get great exposure as they blast their subscribers and networks on your behalf, and your fans get to download your music in exchange for their email address.
Google Verification: If you manage your own website, verifying it with Google can open a few doors to you in terms of Analytics and grant you some flexibility in how you would like your site to be indexed. Cleaning up your digital fingerprint can not only add some credibility to your online profile, but through consistency can also lend visibility and search authenticity to your various sites and profiles.
There is no more important or more simple an investment in your digital marketing plan than time. Whether it happens swiftly or not, more and more people will find your music as time goes on, so building a strong, well-connected network will not only strengthen the image you project, it will serve as a powerful foundation on which to build more advanced digital marketing initiatives, like crowdfunding campaigns or digitally servicing your album to retailers.
For more of the latest in music news, views and sometimes even marketing, consider following this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms. Only a few weeks to go! I'm out of words.
