If you haven’t already linked your Twitter account to your Facebook account now is the time to do it! Twitter just confirmed that they have updated the Twitter application for Facebook and it is available for EVERYONE.

According to the Twitter spokesman, Robert Weeks, “the updated integration will include a richer media experience related to the first photo, URL, @mention, or #hashtag in the cross-posted tweet.”

What does this mean for you?

It means your tweets can now be published on Facebook properly, so that your images show properly, links appear correctly and you can now even #hashtags and @ mentions will be linked properly.

Now every time that you update your Twitter account, your Facebook status will update automatically (and properly).

Word to the wise: quite a few studies have shown that a Facebook Fan Page is most effective when only posted on once or twice a day. So, while you can now combine your Facebook and Twitter accounts effectively (a HUGE time saver for the busy, independent artist), you want to be careful not to over post to your Facebook fan page from Twitter.

If you already have your Twitter and Facebook accounts linked then you may want to unlink them and re-link them so that you get all the new features

Here are step-by-step instructions on how to install Twitter onto your Fanpage:

1. Go to the top bar across the top of your Twitter homepage and look for the icon of the person (it’s in between the search box and the blue “compose new tweet”). A drop down box is associated with this icon that says “Settings”

2. Scroll down and you should see a box that says Facebook – post tweets to Facebook.

3. If you do not see it – login to Facebook and search for Twitter – click on the first Twitter Icon that pops up – it will promt you to login to Twitter

It looks like this:

4. Click the yellow button and then look at the twitter settings again -The Facebook icon should show up

5. Click it and it should begin to install.

6. In order to see your fanpage show up click the tiny checkbox to the left of the words of my Facebook page and pull the page you want from the drop down box (if you administer more than one fanpage there will be several here)

7. Select the page you want associated with this account

8. Click on Blue “save changes” box!

Voila!  Now you have connected your personal page that admins your fanpage

While social media is a critical component to any musician’s overall marketing strategy, it needs to be done so effectively, or it is likely to become another source of time and frustration, rather than THE source responsible for moving you closer to achieving your goals.

There are quite a few simple pitfalls that musicians often make while using social media that need to be avoided.

By doing so, you will set yourself on a path towards an effective social media presence and a more loyal fan base.

Mistake Number 1: Self-Promotion is the Only Form of Communication (Or, Content is NOT Varied!)

Research and studies say that mixing up the content is KEY! But sadly most artists are too busy SELF PROMOTING and they totally forget this.

Most artists use text but forget the whole wide world of photos, videos and other sites to integrate into their strategy!

A good general rule to use is that only 1 in every 10 posts should be self-promotional, with the rest focusing on mixed media content focused on sharing your interests and passions with your fans and followers.

My social media pyramid will help you stay the course and you will never push out boring content ever again!

Mistake Number 2: Lack of Branding

I see this all of the time, artists do not think about how they look across their most important social channels – your Twitter is red, your website is blue and your Facebook has no elements that tie into your brand.

Matching your branding across platforms is KEY!

Using your logo is a great anchor to set a specific look, feel and color scheme in place.

Here is an example of an artist with strong branding (notice the common look and feel across all pages which help to make her more distinguishable):

Mistake Number 3: No Newsletter!

Every single study you will read still points out one fact.

Your newsletter is where you will make most of your money

I know you either don’t have a newsletter or you have a newsletter which kind of sort of sometimes goes out once in a while because you are:

1. Too scared to over communicate with your fans and you don’t want to overwhelm them, making them want to unsubscribe.

2. You don’t feel you have anything interesting to say, for example you have no shows, no studio time booked and absolutely no “music news”.

3. You feel you have enough to do with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. etc. etc. and so you don’t even bother with the newsletter.

The only thing you are affecting with this attitude is your bottom line.

What in the heck does the newsletter have to do with social media?

Your social media should feed your newsletter in every way possible. You should never give away music without getting an e-mail address in exchange, you should always have a widget for people to sign up to your newsletter across all your platforms (i.e. your website, your blog, your Facebook fan page, etc.).

What other mistakes do you see musicians making while using social media?

Let us know what mistakes you’ve made, or have seen others make often that musicians need to avoid as well in the form of a comment below.

Click image to watch the video!

I am gearing up to post some new episodes of Sound Advice TV in the meantime here is an oldie AND goodie from MIDEM where I talk about Cyber PR® and techniques and strategies that work for emerging musicians

Being on Oprah changed my perception of what I was doing for a living forever and marked the beginning of my long love affair with social media.  The story goes like this…

By 2002 I had run my boutique PR firm for 6 years, helping musicians tell their stories, and I was very satisfied doing that work.  One fateful day my telephone rang. It was a call from a producer at the Oprah Winfrey Show.  She had read an article about my mom in a magazine, where mom had mentioned her entrepreneurial daughter.

Within a week, an Oprah film crew had descended. The show combined live studio and taped interviews with Gloria Steinem, Naomi Wolf, Faye Wattelton, Rebecca Walker (Alice Walker’s daughter) and many other guests. On the air date, Oprah opened the show by promising “A revealing look at what younger women think about older women…”

We were told that the theme of the show would be “generational differences in the workplace,” But what it ended up being was the airing of my painful family struggle in front of 40 million viewers.  It turned out the show was  really about pitting daughters from my generation against their mothers, ambitious women who were at the front lines in the battle for women’s equality. There was tremendous pain for all of the daughters featured. I’m not writing this to air dirty laundry.  I’m writing it to make a point about Traditional media.

In considering whether I wanted to write about this I started researching,  and I discovered that this particular episode has been cited and quoted in many books and papers.  My story has touched a nerve.

Here’s the thing: Women of my mother’s generation (the silent generation) struggled and women still struggle 40 years later as the most popular article that has ever run the Atlantic monthly Why Women Still Can’t Have it All attests.

The lesson I learned from Oprah (and about mass media) is:

In mass media you have NO control.

The day of the Oprah taping, I sat for hours under hot lights with pancake makeup on while the producer manipulated the story she wanted out of me. I tried my hardest to paint a rosier picture but as a non media-trained novice I was no match for the biggest daytime TV rated show in America.

The producer wanted me to reveal my pain. She actually had an exact sentence in mind that she wanted me to say. In other words she had the script before she showed up in my office.

After hours of back and forth I finally asked her please just tell me what it was she wanted me to say.  The producer fed me the EXACT Sentence (not my words) I parroted back, and as soon as I did, the cameras went off and they went away back to Chicago to the editing room.

It took 2 years to repair the damage and the pain that Oprah caused in my relationship with my mother.

Why am I telling you all this?

It’s to explain why I’m so passionate about social media.

Social media comes from you. You get to tell the story that you want to tell. There will never be producers grilling you under hot lights with cell phones ringing in their ears to get a version of a story that they want.

Have you ever heard of someone being interviewed for hours for a newspaper or TV piece and then one teeny snippet (sometimes taken out of context) is what makes it onto the 6 o clock news?

As a publicist working with traditional media I saw it EVERY DAY.

In mass media it is their truth.

In social media you have the right to defend yourself if anyone has objections or paints a picture of you that you don’t recognize as your truth.

And in social media you have the freedom to go deeper to explain if you want, openly in front of anyone who wants to see.

The best part about telling your story is:

You can build your own tribe and they can choose to come with you on your journey

I lost my faith in mass media the day that TV show aired and started my journey towards online PR. This was way before it was called “social media,” it was during the time of list servs and web rings and webzines, and years later, social media has gone mainstream.

Many still believe that with traditional media comes cache.

OK, believe it, maybe sometimes it’s true.

For me, from that day forward, every time I had to pitch a story to a traditional journalist I just felt nauseous.

Thinking that mainstream media will save you, discover you or put you on the map and make your career is a misguided conception.

Just ask 99% of all clients I have spoken to who have ever hired a traditional publicist

Your wonderful tribe of people will come with you after the pancake makeup comes off and the hot lights turn away.

Your fans = your tribe = your conversation and your control.

This is why I believe in social media.

I want to help you tell your story.  I want you to utilize my 20 years of PR, Marketing and Social Media Experience to make a huge difference for you in 2013 – Follow this link to work with me, I’ll change your mind about all of this stuff, I promise.

For those of you who missed it, last night (1/24) I ran an ‘office hours’ style Q&A call as a follow up to the ‘9 Mistakes Musicians Make Using Social Media’ teleseminar that Ariel and I put on the week before.

Both of these calls have been leading up to the big announcement of the brand new Cyber PR® 9-week social media mastery e-course, Social Media House, which launches on Feb 18th (FYI – there are only 9 spots left so join us NOW!).

The purpose of last night’s call was simple – to discuss any burning questions about social media that the ‘9 Mistakes’ teleseminar was bound to stir up. Oh and stir it did. We had over 100 people on the call last night, and spent almost an hour and a half addressing some really fantastic, and important questions.

To give a nice recap to the fantastic call, here are the 5 best burning questions that were asked on last night’s call:

1. Considering all the options for social media promotion, what do you feel is the priority list? i.e.: Facebook, Twitter, etc. Where should i spend the most time / investment?

The priority of where you spend the most of your time should lie in where your fans are. This means that BEFORE you start marketing and engaging with fans through social media, you need to have the following:

1. An understanding of who your ideal fan is so that you can seek them out.
2. An understanding of the community demographics of each unique social media platform so that you can best target where your ideal fan is spending most of his or her time.

Once you have figured this out, you can determine which social media platforms should take priority.

2. What’s a good way to get your Twitter followers talking about/checking out your music without spamming them with links?

The best (and really ONLY) way to get people to check out and eventually talk about your music is to have REAL conversations with them. It is through this two-way conversation that you will build relationships, which are the only way to establish real supporters (fans!) that will listen, share and advocate your music.

This all comes down to understanding that Twitter is a conversation tool and not a broadcast tool, and using it as such on a consistent basis.

3. If I have $50 – $100 a month to use promoting my music, how would that money best be spent?

I love this question and I’m so glad we had a chance to talk about this. Before you establish yourself through social media, you need to establish your hub – the place that you OWN online, that will never go away, no matter what social media platform is popular.

This amount of money is perfect for establishing and maintaining your online hub, which consists of three things:

1. Your own official website (yourband.com)
2. Your blog (this should be built in to your website)
3. Your newsletter

4. How many emails per week would you say is acceptable? I’m currently sending out 2-3 per week and some people are saying it’s too much.

Unlike social media, which for the most part is understood to be a public-facing endeavor, email has been and will always remain a very private and personal platform.

If fans are willing to give you an email address, they are expecting that you will respect and appreciate the fact that you now have access to them directly. Giving an email address, in this respect, is no different than giving a mailing address and a phone number.

In order to remain responsible to your fans and respect their wishes of not feeling taken advantage and overly marketed to, you should keep your newsletter to once a month.

5. What is a realistic time period for developing my 1,000 true fans?

There is no easy way to answer this question, which is exactly why I was so glad it was asked. It MUST be understood that there is no magic bullet for building a fan base.

What works for one person, may never work for another.

And don’t think that this is just the way it goes for musicians. All brands in any industry have a difficult time building a fan base (or customer base). It is the reason why 95% of small businesses fail.

That said, understanding what it takes to establish a fan base is most definitely the first step toward success.

Once you’ve got this under your belt, you’ll be able to work on a strategy that works for you, and for your fan base, so that you have the opportunity to reach the 1,000 true fan mark.

This may take you a year. This may take 10 years.

There is no magic bullet for success in the music industry, so all you can do is create a great product (your music!) and a great strategy that caters to, and nurtures your fans.

And this brings me back to our new course, Social Media House…

This 9-week e-course is designed to help you to understand how social media platforms work and how to use this information to build a strategy that works for you, your team and your fans.

Ariel here…

I got back from Australia last week after an amazing 2 week journey on the 3 Wise Monkeys Tour with Ralph Murphy & Tom Jackson.

Along my journey I re-connected with artist and social media coach Rose Wintergreen, who guest tweeted my entire 6 hour presentation with gusto.

She and I got to chatting after the seminar and she gave me some great insights on her experience as an artist and coaching artists in Australia. So, here is my interview with her. I hope it gives you some insight into the state of marketing on the other side of the world.

In my observation – it’s global and equal no matter where you go. Rose’s most valuable advice?

It’s Psychological and starts small (oh and also many many artists cited Gotye as having an amazing newsletter – just goes to show you, even after global success it still counts deeply to create relevant, relate-able content by speaking directly to your fans).

Enjoy this article and visit Rose online at: www.rosewintergreen.com

Rose, tell us about yourself…

I’m a social media coach to creatives (musicians, writers, artists) and a self-managed singer-songwriter from Melbourne, Australia.

I’m obsessed with coffee and chocolate and the buzz that comes from helping people realise they have the skills and the power to create fantastic opportunities for themselves if they spend some time developing a strong social media presence and good marketing strategy.

What did you think of the 3 wise monkeys?

I really enjoyed it. There was an (unspoken) theme going on that’s really important and absent from a lot of music business events – an acknowledgment that a large part of success in songwriting, performing and self-promotion is psychological.

As important and helpful as they are, artists don’t just need tips and training about how to do things (there’s so much free information available now). They need real life opportunities to talk about and workshop practical ways to work through their fears with other artists.

1. In your opinion what is the thing Aussie artists struggle with most when it comes to general online promotion / & social media

Australia has an incredibly strong anti-bragging culture. It’s not cool to talk about how good you are, how good your work is, be seen to care strongly about anything, or to accept praise.

Many artists create great work but feel they have to be apologetic when they perform or present it. It means most artists are incredibly uncomfortable with promoting their work or talking about it on social media. It’s tricky to do it well and many are worried about coming across as arrogant try-hards.

2. Why have a vast majority of artists in Australia told me that they don’t like twitter? Why is Broni the exception and not the rule?

I think self-promotion of any kind is particularly tricky for Australian artists because of our culture, but Twitter feels scarier than Facebook for several reasons…

• Facebook (even if you’re talking about using a band page rather than a personal profile) feels smaller and friendlier, because we’re used to using it for staying in touch with friends and family.

• Twitter feels more public – like a bigger stage. Yes, there’s more opportunity if you put yourself out there, but it can also be more terrifying for people worrying about making mistakes or looking silly.

• For people who haven’t used Twitter for a while, some of the abbreviations, symbols and conventions can be daunting, whereas Facebook is just normal text, and is pretty intuitive.

3. Name 5 Aussie artists who have their social media strategy in tip top shape

Clare Bowditch, Sam Buckingham, Tom Dickins, Jen Cloher, Courtney Barnett.

4. Name 5 artists who’s newsletters are worth reading and should be modeled

Clare Bowditch, Sam Buckingham, Rosie Catalano, Gotye… to be honest, I’m having trouble coming up with a fifth one. I think Australian artists struggle with newsletters just as much (perhaps more so) than Twitter.
5. Do you think Facebook is an effective marketing platform?

Yes, it can be, but as for any marketing tool, it depends on what your goals are, and how you use it. Facebook isn’t going to help you get more people to your shows or listening to your music if you only post an update once every few months and it’s always about you and your music.

Facebook was designed for people to be able to be social – so be social – don’t talk about yourself all the time. What about other people who are inspiring you? What about asking your fans about themselves?

6. What’s the one Q you get asked the most?

Won’t people think I’m full of myself if I do this (start sending a regular email newsletter, posting daily on my Facebook band page, tweet multiple times a day)? Why would they want to hear from me so much?

Answer – they won’t if you do it sensitively and effectively. They don’t read everything at all times of day, so you need to communicate on multiple channels to make it easy for them. They want to hear from you because they like your music and they want to know more about where it comes from.

7. What’s the best platform to use to market yourself?

It depends on your goals, your interests and where your fans (or potential fans) spend their time.

Effective marketing is never about a single platform – it’s about having clear goals, a strategy, and using multiple marketing platforms (online and offline) together to reach those goals.

Generally, for Australian musicians right now I recommend at a minimum:
• Your own website (owned by you)
• A regular email newsletter
• Facebook band page
• Twitter
• YouTube

8. If an artist wants to export (go international) what are the social media steps to take?

Get your social media and marketing materials as organised and vibrant as artists who are already exporting internationally.

Build relationships with Australian artists who are already exporting internationally, artists from other countries you’d love to play shows with, and the arts funding bodies that could help you get there – like Sounds Australia.

Be helpful to international artists wanting to travel and play Australia!

Have questions? Ask people who have done it before! There’s nothing stopping you from tweeting/Facebook messaging/emailing and/or Skyping other artists to ask about their experiences and tips. It’s how magic happens.

9. What else would you like to say? Final parting words?

If you’re still freaked out about using social media, start small.

Start with one thing, watch what other people are doing – people who seem to be doing it well… Subscribe to other artists’ email newsletters and YouTube channels, follow them on Twitter and like them on Facebook. What do you like about what they’re doing? Try it out for your own social media.

Need help putting together your strategy? I’m available for face to face coaching sessions in Melbourne or Skype sessions if you’re elsewhere, or if you’re really pushed for time, hire Ariel and her team to do some of it for you.

Remember, you’re not alone! Lots of other artists are doing this too. Pursue opportunities where you can meet other artists and talk about this stuff – there are lots of free events run by APRA and the music associations in each state (e.g. Music Victoria, Music NSW etc.). It will be good for your social media, and for your spirit!

Links

Blog: www.rosewintergreen.com/blog
Website: www.rosewintergreen.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rosewintergreen
Twitter: @rosewintergreen
YouTube: www.youtube.com/rosewintergreen
Email newsletter: http://bit.ly/emailloving

Click the image to download

This is an oldie, but a goodie! With social media growing at such a rapid pace, we decided it was a good idea to revisit my social media food pyramid and update it for 2013.

So…

Here’s Your Social Media Food Pyramid

It happens to me all of the time when I teach artists social media.The face goes blank, the frustration begins to settle in and then the artist says it:

“I just don’t have anything interesting to say.”

REALLY?

I’m shocked by this every time.  You are an artist; you do things we mere mortals are totally enamored by: you PLAY MUSIC, you write songs, you perform them in public!

So PUHLEEASE, do not tell me you have nothing interesting to say. I ain’t buying it.

All you are missing is a System for Social Media Success.

Luckily, unlike sheer god-given musical talent, social media is a learnable skill.

The inspiration for this hit me while I was teaching my system to a client in my kitchen…

THE FOOD PYRAMID!

Now, I’ve been told they don’t actually teach this in school anymore… but for those of you old enough to remember, do you remember that chart they brought out when we were in 2nd grade to show us how to eat well-rounded meals? I have re-tooled it for you so you can now participate on Social Media healthily! And you won’t even have to think about it – just follow along…

You wouldn’t eat only bagels all of the time.  They are a treat once in awhile, but they are not healthy to eat every day – and a diet of only bagels would be boring!

Most artists are only serving their audiences bagels all of the time. Plain bagels. Over an over again.

Uninteresting.

We want a burger, or a giant green healthy salad, we want some candy.

We want the protein but you keep serving bagels, bagels, bagels!

These are five things that when used in concert with one another can help you ratchet up your social media effectively and manage it easily.

Use these as a guide to mix and match them to suit your comfort level (just like your diet, eat what feels right for you)

GROUP 1. DIRECT ENGAGEMENT

Like: BREAD, CEREAL, RICE & PASTA
Servings (Recommended Frequency): 3 – 4 out of every 10 posts

Make sure you’re in a two-way conversation with people consistently

Facebook: See something interesting on a fan, friend or band’s Facebook pages? Don’t just “like” it, write a true comment about it and get more involved.

Twitter: Send messages to people or mention you are with them by using the @ sign and their username (For Example: I’m @CyberPR). Retweet (RT) comments you like by others.

Blog Reading: Create a Google Profile and join communities of blog readers. Leave comments on blogs you like. Google Profiles are now attached to your Google+ account so make sure you get set up with a Google+ account as well!

Tumblr: Tumblr is a simple to use blogging platform that will allow you to comment on and re-blog others’ links, quotes, videos and songs with a click of a button.

Youtube: Bonus! Make custom video comments or greetings with a smartphone; post them as comments or contributions. Subscribe to other people’s channels, and comment on their videos. A brand new service called Viddy which allows you to capture quick, 15 second videos that can be posted to Facebook or Twitter. Jason wrote a Musician’s Arsenal Guide to Viddy that will better explain how it works.

Foursquare: Create fun spots that relate to your band/ music and check in, interact with others when you are out and about. Of course, Facebook now has Facebook Places which functions quite similarly, though it doesn’t have nearly as much functionality in terms of making lists and engaging as it’s own stand alone platform.

GROUP 2: SHINE A LIGHT ON OTHERS

Like: FRUITS & VEGETABLES
Servings (Recommended Frequency): 3 out of every 10 posts

All the best social media users know this and use it well. This takes all of the attention off of you and puts it onto others, and people will appreciate your kindness because you are recognizing them in front of new potential fans and followers and therefore helping them get known.

Quote people you like by sharing their profiles and videos on Facebook and re-post on your blog.  Link to articles and interesting things that catch your attention such as videos, photos etc.

#FF (Follow Friday), #MM (Music Monday) and RT’ing on Twitter -
Reprint pieces of things that they’ve written, or link to music players. Review albums – talk about why and how those albums influenced you
by using http://www.bit.ly to track the effectiveness and to shorten your tweets.

GROUP 3. CURATE CONTENT

Like: MEAT, POULTRY, FISH, BEANS, EGGS
Servings (Recommended Frequency): 2 – 3 out of every 10 posts

Content may be king but content curation is queen!

The best part is you can set up an RSS reader to pull interesting content for you so you don’t have to come up with anything brilliant – just select what you like and share it. And if it’s interesting to you it’s probably interesting to your community

Ask yourself: How do I spend time online?  What do I read? Are there sites I visit daily?  Add them to the RSS reader (here is a brilliant Commoncraft video that will teach you how to set one up. Then all you have to do is grab the content you like and share (remember to always give credit where credit is due).

Music: Use Spotify to share songs, albums and playlists on Facebook.

Recipes: Post links to foods you like from Epicurious or TheFoodNetwork

Media: Post book reviews, music reviews or film reviews

Blogs: News, politics, celebrity gossip, parenting, fashion, art, sports – all make good topics for people to connect around

GROUP 4.  A PICTURE SAYS 1,000 WORDS

Like: MILK, CHEESE & YOGURT
Servings (Recommended Frequency): 2 out of every 10 posts

Visuals are extremely effective. And they mix up your strategy nicely.

Take photos using your mobile and post them to Facebook and Twitter. If you have an iPhone, the best way to do this is using the Instagram app.

I love Twitpic & YFrog because they are so easy to use and create instant Twitter integration.

Pinterst in a wonderful way to share photos of anything you are passionate about, and create some boards for your music and your merch too.

Post videos on your custom Youtube channel, embed them on your blog and link them to your Twitter. They don’t even have to be videos that you necessarily make on your own. They can be videos of artists you sound like or play with, videos that make you laugh, or subjects that are thematic to your music and important to you like a charity.

GROUP 5. SHINING A LIGHT ON YOURSELF (AKA SELF PROMOTION)

Like: FATS OILS & SWEETS (Use Sparingly!)
Servings (Recommended Frequency): 1 out of every 10 posts

Of course these are OK to do once in a while, not in an over-hypey, annoying way.  Just like treating yourself to a great pastry or some fries: its OK – but not too often!

It is after all, vital to tell people if you have an album coming out, a new track, a show, or anything that’s newsworthy, noteworthy, and important for your fans and followers to know about.

Don’t forget about your specific calls to actions or these won’t be fruitful.

So – Choose from Groups 1-5 and mix it up and soon you will be fully engaging people easily and naturally, without thinking. Just like eating!

This article was written by Jon Ostrow (@jon_ostrow) and originally appeared on the Disc Makers Echoes blog.

Online music PR takes patience, follow up, and a three-phase plan

For any emerging brand (yes musicians, this means you), a music PR campaign is a great way to spark new conversations, build visibility within key markets, and grow your overall influence over a long-term. The problem is, your budget may be tied up in basic costs such as recording, production, touring, rent, food, etc.

Working with an established, professional publicity or marketing firm might be the ideal, as they will have a proven process and a network of strong media connections, but unless you have a few thousand dollars available in your budget, you may need to design your own publicity campaign.

A self-propelled music PR campaign can absolutely be effective if executed properly, which means you’re effective at managing the three key phases:

1. Pre-PR phase: Planning
2. During-PR phase: Pitching
3. Post-PR phase: The Eagle Has Landed

Unfortunately for those new to digital publicity (and even for those with experience) there are several pitfalls that can derail the success of a campaign.

I’ve outlined several mistakes that must be avoided in each of the three phases so that your time and efforts are maximized.

Music PR Phase 1: Planning

Ineffective (or unrealistic) goal setting

PR is meant to do three things for you:

1. Build conversations with potential fans
2. Increase overall visibility with a target market
3. Establish influence within a market

Will success in these three things lead to sales in some way? Hopefully. Is the purpose of PR to increase your bottom line? No.

Unfortunately there is no guarantee that PR will lead to an increase in sales, as the feature placements (blog features, podcast features, magazine features, etc.) only guarantee that you are being seen by more people who could potentially become your fans. These placements are only the beginning of a much bigger sales funnel.

With that said, setting unrealistic goals will kill ANY PR campaign, as it sets a campaign up for failure from the get-go. Setting effective goals is a critical staple to Pre-PR planning!

Underdeveloped Branding

As a full-time digital publicist, I receive inquires on a daily basis from independent artists who would like us to do their PR. When exploring each artist to decide if we are the right fit for them, we look at the music (obviously), but we also take a look at their overall branding with almost equal weight. This includes the messaging in their bio and the assets that they have available for the promotional work, such as photos, videos, and the look and feel of their website and social networks.

From my experience, the music must be good, but so must the branding. An artist can have great music, but when it comes to a music PR campaign, if the photos don’t pop, the bio doesn’t weave a compelling story, and the videos look under-baked, getting media makers to sign on for a feature becomes incredibly difficult. Each of these components is an extension of your online brand and will do just as much to help (or harm) you as does the quality of your music.

Lack of Targeting

Far too often I see artists compile their target list of media makers to reach out to, and it is just a list of the biggest 1% of blogs in the world (i.e. Pitchfork, Brooklyn Vegan, Gorilla Vs. Bear, NPR), along with blogs in the wrong genre and even worse, blogs that focus on the hyper-local (and they are not in that location).

It is very important to understand that the type of music you play (specifically the music you are promoting NOW), where you are from, how old you are, how big your fan base is and what passions drive the influence of your music dictate which blogs you should, and should NEVER be targeting.

Music PR Phase 2: Pitching

A Bad Elevator Pitch

The purpose of an elevator pitch is to create a quick description in a sentence or two of your sound that not only gives people a frame of reference (who might you may sound like), but also to paint a strong, compelling picture of your sound that is so intriguing they want to go check out your music: “The raw power of Led Zeppelin meets the danceability of Lady Gaga.”

On the other hand, a bad pitch gives no frame of reference and isn’t at all compelling: “Eclectic Pop.”

And a word to the wise, using obscure artists is fine if you are SURE that your intended audience will know who it is. If they have to ask “Who?” once you’ve given your pitch, you’ve already lost them…

CCing (or BCCing) everyone pitched

This is a HUGE no-no if you are trying to get any media maker to work with you. Besides the fact that CCing dozens of people at once shows an utter disregard for respecting privacy, it actually goes against US anti-spam laws. BCCing people, although respecting people’s privacy, is still considered spam.

Another major issue with BCCing people is that it leave no opportunity for you to personally address each media makers, which can play a critical role in establishing new long-term relationships with media makers.

If you are going to pitch media makers you don’t know, it is always best to check their website for a submission guideline, and then email each one directly with a personalized introduction and sign off to the email.

Poor Timing

Timing is everything when it comes to PR, because the hot topic at any given moment within an industry (or around the world) can dictate how relevant your story will be to a media maker’s audience.

SXSW is a great example of how music PR efforts can be affected by timing. For a week or two in mid-March, much of the music blogosphere has its eyes on Austin to see who the best up-and-coming acts are. Unfortunately for those NOT heading down to Austin, it means a lack of interest from many media makers. If you’re not going to play SXSW, don’t schedule your PR efforts during this time.

When you dive into your pitching, make sure that you do some research in the surrounding area, look at industry-news, and check the calendar for any significant holidays or events.

Overly Hyped

I can think of nothing that will damage a PR campaign more than when an artist is overly hyped. Not only do most media makers not care, but most often they won’t even believe you when you say that you sound like “nothing they have ever heard before.” Especially because, if you’re being honest, it probably isn’t true.

With the exception of the biggest blogs in the world (i.e. the Pitchfork’s of the world) most media makers are ONLY doing so because it is their passion. Most don’t make any money at all from it. It is always more effective to approach media makers genuinely with a story that is not only honest and compelling, but speaks to creating value for THEM and THEIR audience.

Not Following Up

PR is a process and the results are in no way immediate. Once an initial pitch is sent out, it may sit for days in the abyss of the recipient’s inbox before it is seen, if it is ever seen at all.

Very often I’ll hear back from media makers that I have pitched three weeks later saying they were so glad I followed up because they had missed my other emails.
And that right there is your problem. By not following up, you are leaving your pitch up to the unknown. People may see it and respond, or they may delete it, or maybe they just missed it entirely. Without following up, how will you ever know?

From my own personal experience, the only way to make an effective pitch is if you follow up on a weekly basis for a few weeks (typically three or four weeks after the pitch is sent).

Music PR Phase 3: The Eagle Has Landed

Not Building Relationships With Your Supporters

Any feature can be a one time thing if you let it be that way. However, if you take the time to build a relationship with the media maker, there is no end to how often and how long they may continue to support you.

If you leverage each feature you get into a relationship, the promotion for each project you release in the future becomes that much easier to execute (not to mention the results of which will be far greater). On the other hand, if you DON’T leverage each feature, you’ll have to start from square one every time you release a new project…

Here are a few great ways to turn a one time feature into a new relationship with a valuable supporter:

1. Follow up with the media maker and thank them for featuring you
2. Share the feature on all of your social networks and tag the media maker whenever possible
3. Include the media maker in a #FF (Follow Friday) tweet
4. Share OTHER features theirs on a regular basis

Not maintaining a presence where you are featured

As mentioned earlier, the purpose of PR is to build new conversations with potential fans. Believe it or not, but the features themselves (i.e. a blogger writing about your music) are often not enough to get a conversation stated.

You need to maintain an active presence on any and every place you are featured so you can directly interact with anyone willing to join the conversation. THIS is how these conversations will eventually be turned into more fans — and down the line, into more sales!

Not monitoring the virality of your features

Quite often, media makers will be involved with a network of other media makers either in a similar niche or similar location and they will support each other. This can lead to posts being mentioned in other places, or even fully re-published on other websites.
By not monitoring the virality of a feature, in other words not monitoring where ELSE people are talking about you because of a single feature, you are once again missing critical opportunities to build your fan base.

A great way to do this is to set up Google Alerts for yourself so that any time your name (or your name + your single, or your name + your music video title) is mentioned online, you will be notified via email.

This article was written by Jon Ostrow (@jon_ostrow) and originally appeared on the Disc Makers Echoes blog.

This guest post was written by Joshua Smotherman (@midtnmusic), co-founder of the Middle Tennessee Music blog.

In an ideal world I would wake up in the morning to a fresh cup of hot coffee. I would enjoy it as I check my e-mail and skim social networks to check up on friends and my favorite bands.

I would immerse myself in an online community of music lovers, songwriters, and musicians sharing, caring, and building with each other… NOT blasting commands to “check out my new hottest thing”.

I see enough billboards on the interstate.

In this world:

• Bands would stop acting like rock stars and start acting like leaders
• They would build self-sustaining tribes
• They would listen to their fans
• They would understand that growing organically will always win over view counts

As a music blogger, my inbox would NOT be full of one-liners and YouTube links I only see as distractions. Whatever happened to “connecting” with someone?

Unfortunately, this world does not exist. From where I’m sitting, the average indie band sucks at using social media and its ruining it for everyone else. Most importantly, your potential fans.

What are we doing wrong, you say?

Oh boy…where do I begin?

Me, Me, Me Marketing

You might have been raised in a world of billboards and commercials, but using social media as a one way street is killing your promo game.

It seems too many people are missing the social half of the phrase, social media.

You need to engage with fans and listeners instead of blasting them with links, videos, and nonsense about buying your album.

Sadly, most bands qualify [as what the marketing world refers to] as spammers.

Engaging is easier than you think and should come naturally (assuming you are not a recluse).

• Share albums, videos, and news about other music you enjoy or local bands you play with. Ask others what they think.
• Share news related to the music industry or issues that reflect the personality of your band and use them to engage in conversation.
• Instead of posting links to the same videos and songs repeatedly, post clips of the band working in the studio or upload a demo mix and allow fans to share their opinions so you can take the art to another level. Involve fans in your process(es).
• Network with bands in other areas to create an atmosphere for gig swapping and collaboration as well as cross promotion of content.

This list goes on but the takeaway here is engage in a way that results in feedback and interaction.

Build a community.

Focusing on the wrong metrics

Your follower count means nothing unless you see conversions.

Huh?!

More important than a follower, view, or like:

• How many fans have signed up for your mailing list?
• Do you pass around a mailing list signup sheet at your show?
• How many people have you met at shows? (You do hang out with the audience after the show…right?)
• How many people have bought a CD or t-shirt?

Stop putting all your energy into increasing numbers on social sites and focus on converting the followers you have into loyal fans.

Use social media to funnel music listeners to your website where you attempt to convert them into a mailing list signup, song download, or merchandise sale.

Would you rather have 1,000 likes or 100 fans spending $1,000 on music, merch, show tickets and crowd funding campaigns?

Show me the money!

Repeating yourself on every social network

Sending your Twitter feed to Facebook then copying and pasting it to Google+ so the same message appears on every site is a horrible idea.

So is auto play on audio embeds but that’s for a different time.

You are not expected to know marketing, you make music! Allow me to guide you on this train of thinking…

People who use Twitter are different than people who use Facebook and the people who use Google+ are not like the others.

It is imperative you consider these facts when developing a social media strategy and act accordingly.

Make sure you actually use social media as a music fan before deciding how to market your music using these tools. Follow bands who are in a position you would like to be in and see how they use each network. Notice what works, what doesn’t work, and then perfect your plan of action.

Posting several updates to Twitter every hour (depending on the nature of the updates) is more acceptable than posting to Facebook every 15 minutes.

When you over saturate a person’s FB News Feed, they hide you from their feed. Or worse…unlike your page or mark your posts as spam.

A general guideline is try to retweet, reply, comment, and share relevant content from others more than you broadcast and peddle your own wares.

Sell Without Selling

If you focus on building a community around your band instead of acting as a bulletin board, you will start noticing the true power of social media.

You will not see overnight results.

The key is to stay consistent, focus on creating great music, and communicate directly with your audience.

If you create a community of loyal fans, they will want to support you.

Your community will become your sales force and all you need to do is be yourself and continue giving fans a band worth loving.

Consistency allows you to reach a tipping point where fans begin promoting your music for you by wearing t-shirts, playing CDs at parties, and recommending you to their friends.

It is hard to conceive this when you are starting at zero, but 6 to 12 months down the road you will notice things happening simply because you remained persistent.

While fans are busy promoting your music, you need to seek out gig opportunities, blog reviews or interviews, and other chances to put yourself in the presence of tastemakers who can expose you to their audience.

Bloggers, journalists, booking agents, and other industry personnel will not give you their attention unless you have proof of a loyal, engaged following.

Buying followers or views might help you manipulate chart rankings and other metrics, but they will never replace the power of community. If you have 5,000 page likes but no one is liking, sharing, or commenting on your updates; we all see right through you.

So can the people who can expose you to bigger audiences of music fans.

In closing:

• Build your tribe
• Nurture your community
• Stop acting like a corporate sales machine

You might also be interested in this panel discussion concerning Marketing, PR, and Promotion on a Budget hosted by Indie Connect NYC which discusses mores things indie musicians are doing wrong online.

How Have You Avoided Killing Social Media?

Let us know below what you have done to overcome these four social media killers above (or any others that you’ve experienced) in the form of a comment below!

image credit: bigstockphoto

***DISCLAIMER – Bedloo is a current client of Cyber PR***

The foundation for any successful business is knowing the needs of their market. A thriving business has identified a target market, knows its needs, and has the bandwidth to accommodate their demands. Sometimes this isn’t so easy to pinpoint, or find the answers to. For instance, maybe a musician has a couple of ideas for his next T-shirt design, but can’t come to a decision. Maybe he’s been working on some new tracks for his upcoming album, but is having trouble on committing to a guitar tone that works for him. This is a perfect opportunity to let the fans into the creative process.

Bedloo is a new web and iOS app that allows musicians, or anyone for that matter, to ask a question within their network, and learn from their responses.

Now I know what you’re thinking… we’ve seen this concept before, and nobody paid any attention. Even Facebook tried it, and their plug-in was scrapped after just two years! Bedloo is different for three key reasons:

• You are limited to two options to vote from, with no option to add your own answer. This gives the host more control over their poll and allows for much more focused data.
• Bedloo allows you to add multimedia into the app in order to view your choice before you vote. A platform like Facebook is much more conducive to visual content, which means that these polls are more interactive and inviting.
• These polls can be embedded, meaning that one Bedloo poll can be posted on multiple sites or blogs, and the data will be consolidated into one place.

HOW IT WORKS

Bedloo is a very intuitive app with a great user interface. When you create your poll, you pose the question that you want to ask your community, and you provide your two choices. Here’s the fun part: you get to contextualize your poll by adding in relative multimedia to each answer.

• Thinking about a new exclusive T-shirt design for your 2014 tour? Whip up two separate designs, and add these mock-up images to your Bedloo.
• Working on your next track? Post SoundCloud clips from your studio session and ask them which MIDI instrument you like better for that lead synth sound.
• Playing pranks on your bandmates on the tour bus? Post YouTube or Vimeo links to your top two pranks, and let your fans duke it out in the polls!

DISCOVERY FEATURES

The app interface accommodates active and passive discovery methods. The current social networks incorporated into the app for sign-in and sharing are Facebook, Twitter and Google+, and they also provide you an embed code to post your poll on your blog or website. For SEO purposes, they also allow you to meta tag your poll to accommodate passive discovery among people who may find your Justin Bieber-related poll when they search his name in Google.

SERVE YOUR OWN PURPOSE

You can customize the time limit on your Bedloo, or you can keep your poll open indefinitely. This is great if you want to run a contest with your fans and offer up a grand prize to a lucky voter once the entry period expires. What’s the incentive for the host? The platform collects user analytics to break down your fan base’s age brackets, gender, and geographic location. Want to figure out where to tour next, and which demographics to market to? This could prove valuable!

AS A SOCIAL NETWORK

While it’s a great tool for brands to study up on their target market, it also acts as a social network, where you can follow your friends, brands, and other influencers on the platform. Just like any social platform, Bedloo displays a feed on your homepage that displays the polls that your network have posted recently. You can also sort your feed by category, and what’s trending worldwide. This feed can be accessed from both the web app and on iOS.

THE ROAD AHEAD

Like most online platforms, the wheels start to gain real traction once the user base has reached a point where businesses can attain significant data from their audience. If you are a musician (and yes, you are a business), here’s my advice to you: if you want significant data which you can extrapolate, do an AWESOME contest as a way to give your fans an incentive to vote. Picking a T-shirt design for a chance to win that T-shirt is a nice thought, but creativity is the musician’s forte! There are tons of things you can do to incentivize your fans.

The other factor that will help determine the app’s future is their ability to increase sign-ups. As it currently stands, users are allowed to vote as a visitor without having to create an account. Part of the reason why so many apps require you to sign in via a social network is to gain the ability to access your basic information (ie. age, gender, location). Once the app has figured out how to encourage social media or email sign-ups, I have a feeling that you will be seeing a lot more artists and companies using Bedloo.

My New Book Crowdstart is available for Pre-Order Now!

This is an excerpt…

How To Get PR for Your Crowdfunding Campaign

“People do not buy goods and services. 

They buy relations, stories and magic.”

-Seth Godin

I know what you are thinking: a great way to get attention for my campaign would be to get PR for it!

Not so fast.

“Traditional” PR outlets are newspapers, magazines, and television; I caution you when approaching these outlets for your crowdfunding campaign.

Online PR is another story and if you are like the vast majority of crowdfunders and you are raising money for a project that is relevant to a smaller niche-focused group (your personal fan base), the most effective PR you can garner is online PR.

This means approaching blogs, podcasts, and online tastemakers that are targeted to the niches that will care most about your project. This type of PR is worth your effort if you are launching a larger campaign (10K and above).

Old-Fashioned PR

Traditional journalists are looking for newsworthy items with wide appeal. This means news that is topical and relevant to a large audience and include an intriguing angle.

There are only three times that a crowdfunding campaign would be considered newsworthy to traditional media:

1. A campaign has had explosive numbers in a short amount of time (i.e., Amanda Palmer raising a quarter of a million dollars for her album in the first 24 hours).

Read the full excerpt on the Cyber PR blog.

The post My New Book Crowdstart is available for pre-order now! appeared first on CyberPR Music.

You have your music, your vision, and you are eager to make that first move in the world of PR. But before I jump into what you’re here for, the nine critical things you should now about PR, we need to be sure that your ready to begin such a relationship with the media. It’s not a matter of feeling ready, it’s a matter of being ready.

Before you even begin thinking about PR, you need to have what I refer to as your social media house in order. This is your foundation. You need to have your presence sufficiently fleshed out on the internet from your website to your blog to your Twitter page. You won’t get the results you want from your PR campaign if you don’t have a strong internet presence.

With the number of musicians and publicists flooding the inboxes of the media, you can count on the fact that these editors and writers will be checking each submission’s social media presence as a means to weed out who not to cover. As always, you want to have the edge. Having a presence doesn’t mean having more Facebook likes than everyone else. It means having consistent activity online and engaging with your fans.

Once your social media house is built and stable you can begin thinking about amassing the publicity you’re looking for.

Let’s get started!

1. What is publicity exactly?

Before we delve into specifics, let’s make sure we have the basics covered. Her are some definitions of what publicity is exactly, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Publicity – “An act or device designed to attract public interest; specifically: information with news value issued as a means of gaining public attention or support. Also: The dissemination of information or promotional material.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Publicity is precisely all of these things.

A music publicist is hired as a member of your team to represent you to the media. Media is traditionally defined as editors and writers of newspapers, magazines, college journals, and television. Some publicists may also cover radio for interviews or live sessions on tour stops. But if you want to get on the radio charts (like CMJ), you will need a radio promoter. More and more publicists are covering Internet PR, like my company. However, not all traditional publicists do this, so make sure to ask before you hire.

A publicist’s job is to liaise with the press. In other words, a publicist establishes working relationships between you and those in the media. You should not expect them to get you a booking agent or gig, a label deal, or any other type of marketing deal. That is what a manager is for. A savvy and well-connected publicist may be able to hook you up with all of the things mentioned above, but it is not in his or her job description.

2. You Are the Visionary Here.

Remember, as the artist, you are the buyer, and you are shopping for PR. You’re in the driver’s seat. It’s your money and your music that enables publicists to stay in business. Hiring a publicist is like hiring the next guitar player for your band. You have to choose someone you like, who jives with your vision and your short-term and long-term goals. Everyone on your team has to be on the same page for you to advance. All too many times I’ve heard that a publicist was hired in spite of the artist’s personal opinions. You should like your publicist, and they should be the right fit for you.

3. With Publicity, You Pay for Effort – Never for Results.

I’ve had disgruntled artists call me and say, “I hired a publicist and I only got six articles. That cost me $1,000 per article!” Unfortunately, this is not how you quantify a PR campaign. How you quantify a PR campaign is by how much buzz (i.e. Facebook activity) and feedback your band is getting during and post PR campaign. You pay for the amount of time, effort, and consideration the publicist makes on your behalf. Now, of course, you should get some and even many results. Getting nothing is totally unacceptable. But you never know when your publicist’s efforts will show up months, and sometimes even years, after your campaign is complete. Not everyone who is going to see your YouTube video is going to view it the day you post it.

4. A PR Campaign Needs to Be Planned Well in Advance.

For long-lead press (meaning, for example, magazines with national distribution like Rolling Stone), the editors put their publications to bed three full months before they are published. So if your album is coming out in October, you must have it ready to go, artwork and all, in July. Of course, not every PR campaign focuses on national press, but no publicist will take you on with zero lead-time, so you definitely need to prepare lead-time for every scenario.

• Recommended Publicity Campaign Lead Times:
• National Campaign – 3-4 months before the release
• Tour Press Campaign – 4-6 weeks before the shows
• Local Campaign – 4-6 weeks before placement
• Online Campaign – 2-3 weeks before placement (minimum)
  • (Placement = blog article, album review, calendar listing, podcast/radio interview, etc.)

5. The 4 Components of a Press Kit.

In today’s digital world, a thorough one page press kit consists of four parts: the bio; the photo; the articles, quotes & album reviews; the music.

The Bio – Create a one-page bio that is succinct and intriguing. You have an original story; tell it! I strongly advise hiring a bio writer (this should cost between $200-$500). If you are not ready to pony up the cash, consider enlisting an outside source to help you. I find that people who are great storytellers make great bio writers. If you would like to hire one of our trusted and affordable writers to help you craft your story, check out http://www.ReviewYou.com for available bio writing services.

The Photo – Arrange a photo shoot; if you take this seriously, you will benefit tremendously. Create a photo that is clear, well-shot, and attention-grabbing. Showing movement is a plus (sitting on a couch or up against a brick wall has been done too many times before). If you have a friend who knows how to use PhotoShop, enlist him or her to help you do some creative and fun editing. Always utilize your resources!

The Articles, Quotes & Album Reviews – Getting that first article written about you can feel daunting. Two great places to start are your local hometown papers (assuming you don’t live in NYC or LA), and any music websites or blogs you like. Also don’t forget to check for comments on iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby that you can use!

The Music – The way you present the music, like the press kit, must be well thought out. Do not bother sending out copies of your CD via snail mail – instead send a link to Bandcamp or SoundCloud with professional artwork and proper tagging so the writer can access your tracks easily.

6. Publicity is a Marathon, Not a Sprint.

PR is very different in nature from a radio campaign that has a specific ad date and a chart that you are paying to try to get listed on. There is no top 40 publicity chart. With the number of albums coming out into the marketplace (approx. 1,000 per week), it could take months longer than your publicity campaign runs to see results.

7. Online Publicity Is Just as (If Not More) Important as Offline Publicity.

I would argue that online PR is more important, because today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s recycling (and that’s if you even get today’s newspaper). Most articles you find in printed newspapers and magazines are just as easily accessible online. Online publicity goes up fast, and it can be around for months and sometimes for years. The internet also provides a platform for you to discuss articles in a public arena (i.e. comment sections, Twitter). More people rely on the Internet as their main source for news, so Internet placements are absolutely wonderful and totally legit, and they can help your Google rankings as well.

8. Publicity Does Not Sell Music.

If you are hiring a publicist to see a spike in your record sales, I have news for you: There is absolutely no correlation between getting great PR and selling music.

PR is designed to raise awareness of you in the press, to help build and share a story, as well as build up critical acclaim. Of course, a great article can lead to sales, but overall, if selling albums is your goal, PR is not the only thing you will need. To sell albums you will also need to build a loyal fan base (see In Defense of 1000 True Fans) and take care of fans with sweet offers.

9. All Publicity is Good Publicity.

I know we have all heard the phrase “all publicity is good publicity”, but it’s beneficial to truly understand this. If one of your goals for PR is to get your name out there (and this should be a goal), the truth is that the average person remembers very little of what they read. People only retain a tiny percentage of what they read. Readers and internet scrollers are not going to remember a lukewarm or mediocre review of your album. I mean when was the last time you remembered the band that was the subject of a tepid review?

And never ever take your own PR seriously. As my favorite artist Andy Warhol once said, “Don’t read your press; weigh it.”

The post 9 Critical Things You Should Know About Publicity Before You Make Your First Move appeared first on CyberPR Music.

Ariel Hyatt, founder of Cyber PR is one of the warmest people I know. She’s dedicated to what she does and who she does it for, and a prime example of branding incarnate, as you can spot her & her trademark fiery red mane from anywhere in the room. So when I found out she was hosting the Your Music, Your Rights, Your Career (#YourMusic) seminar this past Saturday, I got tickets for my whole crew and we sat in the front row. Six nonstop hours, jam packed with insight and information from movers, shakers, thought leaders, and curators of cool in various facets of the music industry. Afterwards the whole crew and I went straight to the studio and had an amazing session (click here so you can hear what we recorded when we release it http://tinyurl.com/EnterTheCult).

Here’s My Guest Blog After Attending the #YourMusic Seminar; maybe this whole thing is easier than you think…

First things first let’s demolish whatever train of thought you may have. Demolish it. Let’s destroy and rebuild.

No, this isn’t as painful as you think, what it means is that you get a clean slate, and that’s an amazing thing.

You’re reading this because you love making music, creating art, entertaining …and making money right? …Riight?

You didn’t pour your heart and your soul into your art just to post it on Facebook, Twitter, and a “link in bio” album cover photo it for the ‘gram did you? If so, stop reading this right now, go post your latest link and go away.

Mozart Didn’t Sell Music, He Sold An Experience

Let’s destroy the thought that we live in a world where we create music/art to “sell” it, obliterate it; that world no longer exists baby. Let’s be evolved.

Why are kids tapping their parents pockets to cram into any “EDM festival” they can? It’s the same reason people line up outside of stores days in advance for sneakers, or a video game, or an iThingy. They’re not just making a purchase, they’re living out an experience.

In a time before the “Music Industry” existed, creatives of all sort have, well, gotten creative when it comes to sourcing income for their craft. Mozart didn’t compose amazing music trying to go platinum, Shakespeare wasn’t writing to be a “New York Times Bestseller” – by masterful execution of the craft, an experience was created, value perceived, and high demand ensued.

Let’s bomb on one more thought: You are not your YouTube views, you are not Facebook likes, or Twitter followers, your worth will not be measured in album sales, downloads or awards. You were valuable since the day you were born. Shout out to Michael Whalen for taking great measure shift the perspective from creating for validation to creating because that’s what you do. Doing this allows you to create all new value for yourself and your work. Personally, I haven’t  been into school since before getting kicked out of the 11th grade, but fond of learning I am, and Michael Whalen operated surgically as a teacher.

Ok so now we’re at a clean slate, we know that we’re valid, and we’re creating out of our best selves from that purest place of love, which means we’re pouring out the good sh*t right? We’re not door to door music salesmen anymore; we’re creators of moments and experiences that people enjoy. We’re evolving and it feels good. Ready to move forward?

Before We Get to the Millions, The Private Planes, and All the Acclaim – Know Your Damn Rights. 

How are you expecting to cash in off your art if you don’t know where the money is going to come from? If you’re expecting someone to “just do it for you” or maybe for the cash to fall out of the sky after you finish uploading it, go get that customer service job that you’re gonna hate, keep posting links of FB for know one to see, and go away some more. Because apparently that’s ‘easier’ than taking the time to learn about the business you’ll be existing in. Heck, even the customer service job is going to put you through a training.

Do yourself the favor of learning about copyright law, how easy it is to set up your own publishing company (you’ve probably already did it and don’t even know), and developing and understanding of publishing, because this is your business. Most independent artists both write and perform their own original music. Do you know you can paid double for that? Do you know you can receive royalties for performing your songs live?

Have a really cool logo? Understanding copyright law means you can set yourself up to be paid when that really cool skateboard company wants to put it on a line of their boards (personal ambition).

Here are some of your main income sources, know them and know your rights in them. It’s 2015, you don’t have to walk through the cold to the library and flip through encyclopedias to educate yourself on the subject – just spend a few less minutes watching those funny ass BuzzFeed videos (guilty of it too) and take some time reading through the wealth of information available online. Experts in the field are on Twitter and if you ask concise questions, concise answers you will get.

Recording Income

Publishing Income

Live Performances

Merchandise/Ancillary

Branding

Learn what each means to you and your process. Or wait until somebody else comes along with a magic wand to do this for you. Do you want to be an entrepreneur, or do you want a fairy godmother to come babysit you?

MONETIZATION: In the Garden of Conversation 

“Success is in the Details”

One of the most enlightening things I learned from the day is that conversation = currency.

Suddenly I began to see things in a different light. What, if anything are your fans saying about your music? How are you as the gardener tending and curating the conversation? Do you take a genuine interest in your fans & followers?

Ask yourself this: how do you fans use your music and what role does it play in their lives? Do they listen to your music to workout? When they’re driving? When dealing with a painful circumstance? Maybe your music is the music they play to get pumped up before they go out with their friends, or maybe it’s that song you play on the ride home. Remember we’re not door to door music salesmen; we’re creators of moments and experiences that people enjoy. Think about the experiences your fan base has with the music, and then don’t just think about it – take it a step further and engage in that experience. Talk to your constituents, they talk.

At the moment YouTube is the best platform of monetization for your videos. Do your due diligence in setting up a proper partnership with YouTube. Give special care setting up the Title, Description, Your Tags, And your Thumbnails. “Success is in the Details”. That quote was prevalent throughout the day and it rings true. It’s the difference between more people discovering your music & the difference between you making money and missing money.

Now that your understanding how your base is interacting with your music, and you’re tending to the garden curating the conversation around your music, it’s time to unleash the power of your fans. Unleash them.

User Generated Content (UGC)

Playlists

Covers

By encouraging your fans to upload videos using your content, sharing your music in playlists, and even doing their own covers – it enhances the experience, it spreads the conversation, it deepens the engagement, and if you’ve done your due diligence, then your Monetized content is generating income for you. And look you didn’t have to sell anything  .

A case study in action of this would be the “Harlem Shake” phenomenon from a little whiles back: there was an experience to be had, conversation formed around it, the fans were unleashed, the experience enhanced, the conversation spread and the results – over 10,000 UGC videos resulting in billions (plural, with a B) of views.

Somewhere Between Marketing & Promotions, PR, Social Media, And Crowdfunding, I Learned the Answer. And here’s the great takeaway…

The whole day proved to be amazing. My perspective was changing and my head was getting crammed with new information and ideas I couldn’t wait to run off and put into action.

As I listened to folks well versed in the lingo of marketing and branding, I began to notice a common theme that seemed to me to be what the universe wanted to get through to the crowd. Listening to artists who had successfully completed crowdfunding campaigns, and even the founder of Pledge Music, there was a simple lesson forcing its way into the crevices of my grey matter.

It all boiled down to two simple questions:

Who Are You? And What is Your Story?

No PR firm going to take you on, no amount of marketing and promotion will do, no fans are going to fund you, and it honestly doesn’t matter which social media site your on: you’re equally stupid on all of them until you can truly define who you are, what you stand for, and what your story is.

Knowing this, establishing this, and sharing this. That’s what makes people drawn to you and rally around you. And that makes your job significantly easier doesn’t it? Because now people will rally around you being you for who you are. Now you’re not creating for validation. Now you’re not a door to door music salesmen. Now you are defining the experience, molding the conversation, and you’re doing it by being you. That’s what your fans have been waiting for this whole time. They gain something in sharing in your story, in being apart of that experience. So don’t deny them. “The most personal you can be, the most universal”.

There’s one more piece to this though, have a plan. Set yourself some goals. You will achieve them, and then you’ll move on to other greater challenges. Most of the obstacles in your way are of your own creation. Joyfully let them go. They don’t serve you any longer. This is easier than you think, but it does require that you think differently, and more so than anything that you consistently and persistently take action.

And if you don’t have one, get yourself an email list, nurture it, send them cool stuffs, and sign up for mine here: http://tinyurl.com/EnterTheCult ️

About Deuce Ellis

Deuce Ellis is a Cult #Believe in #DeuceEllis & ALL your dreams shall come true.

Much like a pyramid Deuce Ellis has built a solid foundation from the ground up, steadily bringing him higher and higher. From touring with hip hop icons like Das EFX, and Prince Po (Organized Konfusion w/ Pharoahe Monch) & rising stars such as Aloe Blacc – Deuce has traveled the lands honing and perfecting his craft.

In quite spectacular indie fashion #TheCult leader organized a series of his own cross country tours, driving state to state with Tiger The DJ, crashing couches, trashing hotel rooms, and connecting with the people, whether the crowds were 5 or 5,000. Whether rocking Warped Tour, sharing the stage with the legendary Rakim, or indie sensation Mac Miller, Deuce Ellis crosses demographics, bringing the world into his niche instead.

And it’s deeper than just rap music. Deuce’s artwork has hung in a Mr. Brainwash exhibit in LA. With Tiger and renowned NYC fashion designer Nippy Lavern (also his best friend of 20+ years) they organized and hosted a monthly Fashion parties bringing together the latest in clothing & music & a celebration of the culture in Brooklyn, USA. Not only has he built his own tours, but he’s helped other artists get their start on the road as well. Deuce has also written a book of poetry titled #BLVCKXMAS” set released December 2014. The Cult leader has thrown his own successful underground concert series “It’s a F*cking Hip Hop Show” in Brooklyn, highlighting up and coming talent from NYC & acts from all over the country & has used this event to drive to collect food, toys & clothing for those in need.

Currently Deuce Ellis is the co-funder of the Annual Artworks Festival. The inaugural event took place Saturday July 5th, 2014 in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, The Artworks Festival is a day long multimedia Music & Arts celebration bringing artists, performers, musicians, and creatives from all over the world to Brooklyn to Party & Bullsh*t. The Artworks Festival is co-founded & co-curated by internationally acclaimed Dj, producer & longtime collaborator Mario Bee.

You can also look forward to new music coming from Deuce Ellis – a 7 track concept EP titled Nothing is Sacred is set for release Friday, February 13th.

The post Guest Post by Deuce Elllis: The New Music & Entertainment Business: Easier Than You Think? appeared first on CyberPR Music.

Tumblr: the microblog platform known as the hub for fan girls/guys and young millennial feminists but, actually, is so much more.

In Tumblr’s own words:

Tumblr is so easy to use that it’s hard to explain.

We made it really, really simple for people to make a blog and put whatever they want on it. Stories, photos, GIFs, TV shows, links, quips, dumb jokes, smart jokes, Spotify tracks, mp3s, videos, fashion, art, deep stuff. Tumblr is 229 million different blogs, filled with literally whatever.

Cool! Rad! Totally awesome and — completely overwhelming.

A big part of what makes Tumblr so difficult to adopt for many first time users is the fact that it comes off so open-ended. We’re here to shed some light on how you, as a musician, can use Tumblr without boxing yourself in.

So First, What is Tumblr in Straight Up Technical Terms?

To clarify – Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking site.

What makes Tumblr unique is 1.) it makes it really, really, really easy for users/fans to share your blogged content (and vice versa) and 2.) it’s super chill (free format).

Free Format? – That Sounds A Little Intimidating.

Just stay with me.

As with any blog, your Tumblr is what you make it. As a musician, you’re probably like “Nah, you’re just saying that. I have to use it as a promotional tool”, and I’m here to tell you “No not really. It’s probably best to think of Tumblr as a well-branded creative space.”

What Other Artists Are Doing –

As Your Website

Sky Ferreira uses her Tumblr as her official website. She has pages that include all of the info you’d have on a regular website such as tour dates, photos, merchandise, etc. She keeps her content fresh by having her Instagram feed onto her homepage.

*Getting a little ahead of ourselves, but if you’d like to know how to add your Instagram photos onto your Tumblr, here’s a great How To.

Using Tumblr as your official website is definitely taking the road less traveled by, but it works for some. Just remember that Tumblr is still a social platform in many ways (this we’ll get into a little later) and it’s always in your best interest to be wary of the fact that they can change the rules on you.

Other artists who use Tumblr as official websites are Diiv and Modern Baseball.

As a Blog Hosted on Your Website/ A Blog on It’s Own

You can also use it as a blog that you host on your website like Grimes does, or just a creative space where you post and reblog (I’ll fill you in on reblogging) things that inspire or interest you like MS MR does.

So as you can see, as a musician, you have quite a few options. At this point I’m assuming that you’re still feeling overwhelmed but hopefully the idea of Tumblr is becoming a little more intriguing if not appealing.

To Be Continued with an upcoming PART 2 ….

The post Demystifying the Enigma Platform: Tumblr (PART 1) appeared first on CyberPR Music.

You’re Going to Want to Create an Account

Go to www.tumblr.com and click the Sign Up button and enter the following information.

Email – This will be the email that you want your account associated with. I do suggest using an email that you will actively check and not tuck away and forget about.

Password - Always good to pick something you’ll remember

Username - This will be the name that people will see when content you post shows up in their feed.

Since you’re an artist/band it’s important for you to use your artist or band name for search purposes. You’ll want to do the same a little later when you create the URL for your Tumblr for SEO purposes.

* Tip for a newbie– very few non musician users (unless they are using their site a portfolio or place to show off their work) use their birth name as their username or name of their blog. You’ll see things like shipwrekfrontierpioneer, studdedheartsxo21, and ryangoslingsgirl. (So just don’t be alarmed.)

A neat thing to note is that web surfers don’t need a Tumblr account to view your Tumblr blog. Your Tumblr blog will have it’s own URL (as hinted prior) and will exist on the internet as a web page. Even though in settings you can change it so your Tumblr will not come up in a Google search-  I can think of few reasons why you’d want to go this route.

Okay now that you created an account and are logged in -

(In between creating your account and getting to your dashboard you’ll be prompted to follow 5 blogs to “get started”. You can skip this step and come back to it when you have a better lay of the land.)

You’ll see a house with a halo that says This is your dashboard – not-so-ironically, this is your dashboard.

Guys here is where it’s going to get creative.

You’ll see above your dashboard a toolbar that says Text, Photo, Quote, Link, Chat, Audio, Video. This is where you create/upload original content for your blog.

If you want to add a video, click Video in that toolbar, and pop in a video and when you click post you’ll see the video pop up on your dashboard. Here’s the thing though- that video does only pop up on your dashboard. It will also pop up on the dashboard of everyone who is following you on Tumblr.

Here is where it’s going to get social. Woo!

So your dashboard is pretty much equivalent to your Twitter feed or your Facebook feed. However, unlike Facebook and even more so than with Twitter, it’s encouraged for people to share other people’s posts. Facebook calls it sharing, Twitter calls it Re-tweeting, and on Tumblr it’s known as reblogging.

Imagine a place where people are actively looking for art, cultural references, quips, GIFs and just stuff. It’s like the place to be!

Well — not so fast.

Let’s point out a few things,

First thing to point out. Tumblr is not THE easiest place to gain followers. Gaining followers is really dependent on content. There are three way to gain followers.

- Put stellar, interesting, original content on your Tumblr.
– Hashtag your posts and make sure the hashtags are relevant to what you’re posting. There’s a spot to add these when you create an original post as well as when you reblog a post.
– Follow other people who are putting out content similar to yours, reblog them, and like their stuff. (Tip: I tend to find that reblogging is more effective than liking when it comes to gaining people’s attention and harvesting that follow)

Second thing to point out: You aren’t going to have much traction on Tumblr if your fans/potential fans aren’t using Tumblr.

That being said, overall, Tumblr, unlike any other social media platform, has quite the distinct personality (Snapchat probably being an up and coming competitor). If you don’t believe me then consider the fact that the @SincerelyTumblr Twitter handle exits.

And right about now you’re probably either like ‘dude that’s right where I need to be’, or you’re like ‘okay but I’m not a whiny millennial experiencing the world is GIFs’ —

It’s okay there is something for everyone, but it’s good to point out that Tumblr does skew young.

Last Thing: Tumblr is not the place for shameless self-promotion.

Let me explain it this way. I’ve been a Tumblr user since I was 17, so I remember when Tumblr began to introduce sponsored posts on to their users’ dashboards. What was so interesting about it was I almost reblogged an add for some shampoo company without even realizing it!  The point is these companies promoting themselves on Tumblr are not making ads that just say “Breakfast special at [Restaurant]”. They’re making clever GIFs that blend in with the territory (posts that look like solicited posts on users’ dashboards).

Take a lesson from the heavy hitters and put out content that will appeal to the site’s user base.

In other words, post your song, post your creative tour poster, post the doodle that you made in the tour van, but don’t put in the caption anything resembling “Come to my show”/ “Buy my CD”. Please, PLEASE. As a Tumblr user I’m giving you the inside scoop.

* Of course you can always have a widget on your homepage that says something like “CD Available here” or something like that, but leave it out of you posted content.

Now that you know how it works —> You probably have some ideas as to the content you want to share —> And you can now customize/ pick a layout that will complement the content you’re putting on your blog.

Here’s how to customize your blog:

On the page where you see your dashboard go to the upper righthand corner and click on the little person icon (a faceless head with shoulders). Then click on Settings in the drop down menu.

Here you can make some basic edits to your settings.

If you click the button that says Edit Appearance you can change your profile image, your cover image, the title of your blog, and your description.

On this same page you can also change your

– username
– URL (of your blog)
– Appearance of your blog (I’ll get to that in a sec)
– And a plethora of other really cool options like allowing people to ask you questions on Tumblr (these come to you like messages and then you have the option of responding and sharing/making them public on your blog and in all of your followers’ newsfeeds)

Now let’s own this and pick a theme:

Theme is synonymous with Layout (btw).

There are a bunch of free themes you can choose from. If you click Edit Theme and then on the new page you’re directed to click Browse Themes you can check them out. With free themes you have flexibility to customize the HTML and really make it yours.

Reblogging- It’s Going To Get Intimate.

So reblogging. How do you do it and why should you do it?

Reblogging is super easy and very much so part of the territory with Tumblr.

There are three great benefits to blogging other people. 

1. Reblogging other people allows you to share awesome content that you otherwise wouldn’t have on your blog. Your blog may become a source of inspiration for yourself. For example you can archive cool designs that may inspire your album art down the line.

2. As mentioned prior it’s a way to gain followers, ingratiate yourself within different Tumblr communities, and gain followers.

3. If you have fans who are sharing content about you, reblogging their photos from a show or their fan art can be a great way of showing that you approve and appreciate the support. Remember positive reinforcement from school? Check out Taylor Swift’s Tumblr.

It just goes to show how Tumblr gives you the tools and you have free reign to do with them what feels right for your creative project.

If you want you can start by following us on Tumblr

PS A lot of bloggers use Tumblr so hmmmm ….

The post Demystifying the Enigma Platform: Tumblr (PART 2) appeared first on CyberPR Music.

This is one of my most popular articles – It is included in my book and with social media growing at such a rapid pace, I decided it was a good idea to revisit my social media food pyramid and update it for 2015.

Read the full article on CyberPR.com!

The post Cyber PR Social Media Food Pyramid – 2015 Version appeared first on CyberPR Music.

As an independent musician, a digital PR campaign can be a critical component to an overall marketing strategy that will help you to:

1. Reach new fans

2. Increase online influence

3. Create new content that can be used to continue to build strength of existing fan base through social media

4. Better understand marketplace position

While all four of these goals are essential for you to have, and there is no doubt an effective PR campaign can help you achieve them, many artists jump into full-fledge PR campaigns a bit too early.

In order for PR to be truly successful and achieve everything you want it to, you must have the 5 following assets at the ready:

1. Music For Release

Okay, let’s just get this out of the way. There is no need for a PR campaign, no matter what direction or niche you’re going to target during it. If you don’t have music available for the media to listen to, you’re wasting your time, the media’s time, and your money.

The ideal scenario is that you have at least an upcoming EP (containing at least 4 songs) that is set for release around 1 to 1.5 months from the date you start outreach. For the most part, bloggers don’t like to mention an upcoming release if there is any more than 1 month of lead-time between their feature and the release. And they’ll be less enthused about your single if there is no upcoming EP slated for release within the next three to six weeks.

And let’s not forget to think about the readers! With the web being the way it is, music blog goers are confronted with interesting info 24/7. Therefore, it’s really not in your best interest as an indie artist to space singles and EPs light years apart from each other. Keep the rollout tight and the momentum up.

That said, it IS certainly possible to do a PR campaign for music that has been released previously. Try to keep it conservative though, like six months, a year, but beyond that, you might be pushing it. When releasing previously released music, just know that there will be journalists who will pass just on the fact that the music hasn’t been released within the last three months.

Bonus Note: Your songs MUST be professionally recorded. Live tracks are fine if you are promoting a live release, but even then the mix needs to be of professional quality.

2. A Professional, Compelling, Telling Bio

A professionally written bio that weaves a compelling story about who you are and what makes you unique is not something to overlook and leave to your Twitter stream. A great bio (we call it a signature story around here) is an essential asset to an effective PR campaign.

Your bio should serve as a one-stop shop for bloggers to get the facts on you, your project, where you’ve been, and where you’re going. And, even though your music will speak for itself, you’re going to want to talk about yourself and your music in a way that will entice people to click that play button.

Unfortunately, one paragraph saying that you are a musician from so-and-so making rock music that will blow everyone’s mind is not going to make anyone want to click that button. What will make people listen, is a bio that communicates your story and pays acute attention to detail and nuance.

Pro Tip: There are bloggers out there who will repurpose your bio in order to create enough content for their blog. These are few and far between, but you will run across them! This is, however, good news for you if you have a strong bio! The fact that many bloggers will re-purpose the bio means that you now have the opportunity to control the messaging of their features, telling their readers the important points about you that may stick out to fans as unique and intriguing.

A professional bio can run you a few hundred dollars, but it’s reusable and will come in handy long after your campaign has ended.

3. Professional Promo Photos

Do you know what gets people to click on your write up? The photo. It might be kinda sad, but it’s true. If you have any doubts, just think of your own knee-jerk reaction when checking out artists without a household name. Because of this natural human instinct to care about imagery, you’ll want to pay close attention to the messaging in your photos. What do you want the takeaway to be for people who glance?

You can’t get away from needing great photos. All bloggers (and even some podcasters) will want a photo to go along with their feature. Many new media makers have a quality standard to uphold and poor photos of you and/ or your band could actually be a deal breaker.

On the other hand, unique, creative and well thought out promo photos can be the ice breaker needed to get bloggers to check out your music.

Here are a few great promo photos of a few Cyber PR® clients that absolutely helped them to have great campaigns:

Zoya http://www.zoyamusicofficial.com/

Syre & Fresko http://www.syreandfresko.com/

Taylor Casey http://www.taylorcasey.com/

4. A Niche to Conquer / Some Serious Consideration of Genre

Identifying a specific niche to target and/or pinpointing your genre is a critical component to any successful digital PR campaign.

Let’s talk about niches first.

It is important to note that your niche does not, in any way, need to reflect your genre of music. Anything that you are passionate about, anything that has inflicted you as a person (such as a disease or social plight) or any part of your upbringing that has helped to define who you are as a person and a musician can be a great niche.

The idea here is that on music blogs, you are just another musician being covered, however on, say a positivity blog or an anime blog, you are the one, or one of very few musicians being covered making your story and your music far more unique which can help it to resonate with the reader-base.

Okay so genre.

The media is getting to a point where it hears singer-songwriter and their eyes glaze over. You probably are a singer-songwriter, and that simple categorization is important at times, but it may not work for everyone.

It’s important to think of the publications you want to be in, read them, and see how they describe/talk about music. If they label everyone as singer-songwriter, you’re good to go! If they are approaching things from a more intricate perspective, you might want to think of yourself in those terms as well. You don’t have to be a music journalist yourself. You just have to be conscious.

There are many more genres (and subgenres) than just rock, pop, country, jazz, EDM. Do some poking around!

5. A Social Media Presence

Too many musicians underestimate the importance of a social media presence to a digital PR campaign. While it’s all important- the music, the bio, and the promo photos- there are two reasons why it is so important that you also have a strong social media presence:

1. With so many musicians and publicists inundating the inboxes of bloggers and journalists, it is inevitable that they will check out the social media presence of each submission as a filter for who to, and who not to, consider for coverage.

This certainly doesn’t mean that you need to have a HUGE social media presence with hundreds of thousands of fans, but it does mean that you need to be consistently posting content to your socials that communicates “you”, and you need to be engaging with your fans (and the media too!).

Ultimately, apart from being introduced to totally awesome music, bloggers are interested in driving traffic to their sites. A blogger wants to know that if he or she is going to take the time to cover your music, you will be able to return the support by sharing the feature with your fans, helping the blogs to build their followings as well.

2. In order for PR to truly be effective, each feature needs to be properly leveraged through social media to mobilize the existing fan base.

In other words, each feature is new content that you can use to engage your fans without having to say ‘listen to my music’… this form of sharing your successes is a much more subtle form of self-promotion than the much dreaded shameless self-promo that all too many musicians practice (and no one likes).

Again, having hundreds of thousands of fans isn’t the point here, but rather you need to have a consistent content strategy that covers all 6 rooms of your social media house, which includes (but isn’t limited to) Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Blog, Newsletter. Here is a quick outline of how often you need to post to each platform in order to remain ‘consistent’:

Facebook:

1 Post Per Day

Twitter:

2 – 3 Tweets Per Day

Blog:

At least 1 new post every other week

Newsletter:

1 newsletter per month

Youtube:

At least 1 new video per month (note this doesn’t need to be a professional music video)

Instagram:

Posting at least 5 times a week.

Just to recap for successful PR outreach you will need music that’s ready to go, a professional, compelling bio, great promo photos, a niche to conquer, and a social media presence. If you don’t have these five things, get to it!

The post 5 Critical Things You Need Before You Start PR appeared first on CyberPR Music.

Tumblr: the microblog platform known as the hub for fan girls/guys and young millennial feminists but, actually, is so much more.

In Tumblr’s own words:

Tumblr is so easy to use that it’s hard to explain.

We made it really, really simple for people to make a blog and put whatever they want on it. Stories, photos, GIFs, TV shows, links, quips, dumb jokes, smart jokes, Spotify tracks, mp3s, videos, fashion, art, deep stuff. Tumblr is 229 million different blogs, filled with literally whatever.

Cool! Rad! Totally awesome and — completely overwhelming. A big part of what makes Tumblr so difficult to adopt for many first time users is the fact that it comes off so open-ended. We’re here to shed some light on how you, as a musician, can use Tumblr without boxing yourself in.

So First, What is Tumblr in Straight Up Technical Terms?

To clarify – Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking site. What makes Tumblr unique is 1.) it makes it really, really, really easy for users/fans to share your blogged content (and vice versa) and 2.) it’s super chill (free format).

Free Format? – That Sounds A Little Intimidating.

Just stay with me. As with any blog, your Tumblr is what you make it. As a musician, you’re probably like “Nah, you’re just saying that. I have to use it as a promotional tool”, and I’m here to tell you “No not really. It’s probably best to think of Tumblr as a well-branded creative space.” What Other Artists Are Doing – As Your Website Sky Ferreira uses her Tumblr as her official website. She has pages that include all of the info you’d have on a regular website such as tour dates, photos, merchandise, etc. She keeps her content fresh by having her Instagram feed onto her homepage.

*Getting a little ahead of ourselves, but if you’d like to know how to add your Instagram photos onto your Tumblr, here’s a great How To.

Using Tumblr as your official website is definitely taking the road less traveled by, but it works for some. Just remember that Tumblr is still a social platform in many ways (this we’ll get into a little later) and it’s always in your best interest to be wary of the fact that they can change the rules on you. Other artists who use Tumblr as official websites are Diiv and Modern Baseball. As a Blog Hosted on Your Website/ A Blog on It’s Own You can also use it as a blog that you host on your website like Grimes does, or just a creative space where you post and reblog (I’ll fill you in on reblogging) things that inspire or interest you like MS MR does. So as you can see, as a musician, you have quite a few options. At this point I’m assuming that you’re still feeling overwhelmed but hopefully the idea of Tumblr is becoming a little more intriguing if not appealing. To Be Continued with an upcoming PART 2 ….

The post Demystifying the Enigma Platform: Tumblr (PART 1) appeared first on cyberprmusic.

You’re Going to Want to Create an Account

Go to www.tumblr.com and click the Sign Up button and enter the following information. Email – This will be the email that you want your account associated with. I do suggest using an email that you will actively check and not tuck away and forget about. Password – Always good to pick something you’ll remember Username – This will be the name that people will see when content you post shows up in their feed. Since you’re an artist/band it’s important for you to use your artist or band name for search purposes. You’ll want to do the same a little later when you create the URL for your Tumblr for SEO purposes.

* Tip for a newbie– very few non musician users (unless they are using their site a portfolio or place to show off their work) use their birth name as their username or name of their blog. You’ll see things like shipwrekfrontierpioneer, studdedheartsxo21, and ryangoslingsgirl. (So just don’t be alarmed.)

A neat thing to note is that web surfers don’t need a Tumblr account to view your Tumblr blog. Your Tumblr blog will have it’s own URL (as hinted prior) and will exist on the internet as a web page. Even though in settings you can change it so your Tumblr will not come up in a Google search-  I can think of few reasons why you’d want to go this route.

Okay now that you created an account and are logged in –

(In between creating your account and getting to your dashboard you’ll be prompted to follow 5 blogs to “get started”. You can skip this step and come back to it when you have a better lay of the land.) You’ll see a house with a halo that says This is your dashboard – not-so-ironically, this is your dashboard. Guys here is where it’s going to get creative. You’ll see above your dashboard a toolbar that says Text, Photo, Quote, Link, Chat, Audio, Video. This is where you create/upload original content for your blog. If you want to add a video, click Video in that toolbar, and pop in a video and when you click post you’ll see the video pop up on your dashboard. Here’s the thing though- that video does only pop up on your dashboard. It will also pop up on the dashboard of everyone who is following you on Tumblr. Here is where it’s going to get social. Woo! So your dashboard is pretty much equivalent to your Twitter feed or your Facebook feed. However, unlike Facebook and even more so than with Twitter, it’s encouraged for people to share other people’s posts. Facebook calls it sharing, Twitter calls it Re-tweeting, and on Tumblr it’s known as reblogging. Imagine a place where people are actively looking for art, cultural references, quips, GIFs and just stuff. It’s like the place to be! Well — not so fast. Let’s point out a few things, First thing to point out. Tumblr is not THE easiest place to gain followers. Gaining followers is really dependent on content. There are three way to gain followers.

– Put stellar, interesting, original content on your Tumblr. – Hashtag your posts and make sure the hashtags are relevant to what you’re posting. There’s a spot to add these when you create an original post as well as when you reblog a post. – Follow other people who are putting out content similar to yours, reblog them, and like their stuff. (Tip: I tend to find that reblogging is more effective than liking when it comes to gaining people’s attention and harvesting that follow)

Second thing to point out: You aren’t going to have much traction on Tumblr if your fans/potential fans aren’t using Tumblr.

That being said, overall, Tumblr, unlike any other social media platform, has quite the distinct personality (Snapchat probably being an up and coming competitor). If you don’t believe me then consider the fact that the @SincerelyTumblr Twitter handle exits.

And right about now you’re probably either like ‘dude that’s right where I need to be’, or you’re like ‘okay but I’m not a whiny millennial experiencing the world is GIFs’ —

It’s okay there is something for everyone, but it’s good to point out that Tumblr does skew young.

Last Thing: Tumblr is not the place for shameless self-promotion.

Let me explain it this way. I’ve been a Tumblr user since I was 17, so I remember when Tumblr began to introduce sponsored posts on to their users’ dashboards. What was so interesting about it was I almost reblogged an add for some shampoo company without even realizing it!  The point is these companies promoting themselves on Tumblr are not making ads that just say “Breakfast special at [Restaurant]”. They’re making clever GIFs that blend in with the territory (posts that look like solicited posts on users’ dashboards).

Take a lesson from the heavy hitters and put out content that will appeal to the site’s user base.

In other words, post your song, post your creative tour poster, post the doodle that you made in the tour van, but don’t put in the caption anything resembling “Come to my show”/ “Buy my CD”. Please, PLEASE. As a Tumblr user I’m giving you the inside scoop.

* Of course you can always have a widget on your homepage that says something like “CD Available here” or something like that, but leave it out of you posted content.

Now that you know how it works —> You probably have some ideas as to the content you want to share —> And you can now customize/ pick a layout that will complement the content you’re putting on your blog.

Here’s how to customize your blog: On the page where you see your dashboard go to the upper righthand corner and click on the little person icon (a faceless head with shoulders). Then click on Settings in the drop down menu. Here you can make some basic edits to your settings. If you click the button that says Edit Appearance you can change your profile image, your cover image, the title of your blog, and your description. On this same page you can also change your – username – URL (of your blog) – Appearance of your blog (I’ll get to that in a sec) – And a plethora of other really cool options like allowing people to ask you questions on Tumblr (these come to you like messages and then you have the option of responding and sharing/making them public on your blog and in all of your followers’ newsfeeds) Now let’s own this and pick a theme: Theme is synonymous with Layout (btw). There are a bunch of free themes you can choose from. If you click Edit Theme and then on the new page you’re directed to click Browse Themes you can check them out. With free themes you have flexibility to customize the HTML and really make it yours.

Reblogging- It’s Going To Get Intimate.

So reblogging. How do you do it and why should you do it? Reblogging is super easy and very much so part of the territory with Tumblr. There are three great benefits to blogging other people.  1. Reblogging other people allows you to share awesome content that you otherwise wouldn’t have on your blog. Your blog may become a source of inspiration for yourself. For example you can archive cool designs that may inspire your album art down the line. 2. As mentioned prior it’s a way to gain followers, ingratiate yourself within different Tumblr communities, and gain followers. 3. If you have fans who are sharing content about you, reblogging their photos from a show or their fan art can be a great way of showing that you approve and appreciate the support. Remember positive reinforcement from school? Check out Taylor Swift’s Tumblr. It just goes to show how Tumblr gives you the tools and you have free reign to do with them what feels right for your creative project. If you want you can start by following us on Tumblr PS A lot of bloggers use Tumblr so hmmmm ….

The post Demystifying the Enigma Platform: Tumblr (PART 2) appeared first on cyberprmusic.

This is one of my most popular articles – It is included in my book and with social media growing at such a rapid pace, I decided it was a good idea to revisit my social media food pyramid and update it for 2015. Read the full article on CyberPR.com!

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