How to make the internet work for your band.
Thought it might makes sense to write a wee bit about the use of the web and in particular how it can increase your profile as a band, some of this stuff will be common sense and confirming what you might already do and other stuff might make you think a little, so here are my top 10 pearls of wisdom:
- Get a name – wait a minute we already have a name, yes but have a think if you want your fans to find you easily on the web a unique name does help. Nothing more irritating than having to guess how to find a band on line (go try looking up ex-local bands Carpe Diem or Chasing Rain, now try looking up the new names for the bands (Last Summer Effect and The Frues) see it makes life easier)
- Get some space – make sure that you have Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Sound Cloud and YouTube accounts with clear branding (ie ensure the bands name is clear in each of these). There are ways of tying in links between most of these so what appears on your website appears on your twitter etc., as an interim measure, well its ok , but you should be aiming towards communicating in different ways depending on the media.
- Tell folk stuff. Branding the band is probably another article but in using the above social media ensure that basic information is included: who are you? what genre do you fit into? what have you done in the past? where are you based? and what do you want (are you looking for gigs etc.)?. DO NOT FORGET to have a contact email address, although recent Facebook changes have made this much much easier.
- Don’t tell folk stuff. Ok use your band media to get your message across, be professional so avoiding slagging people off, making things personal or a sense of humour that may be mis interpreted it’s only going to make things harder for you.
- Book of Face – do not be tempted to create a friend page, have a look around see how many bands and companies use them, it’s not ideal and Facebook are trying to close these down anyway. Face book has worked hard to create a custom space for musicians there is no reason not to use it. Remember to use the events page, it is a useful way of communicating with your fans and creating hype for an event.
- Beware of the trolls or the keyboard warriors. You will get folk that want to have a gurn, perfectly acceptable, use your charms and consideration to take appropriate action. However persistent negativity is not useful, it is after all your space, so if you have tried don’t feel guilty about deleting messages and banning users.
- Get a domain name and a website, these needn’t be complex things so just be clear about what you want to communicate and how. So for instance a single page with links to the social medias may make sense.
- Don’t steal stuff or leave yourself open to accusations of theft particularly images. Get an email clarifying usage of images. Please don’t assume that if its ok for you to use you can then pass it on to someone else to use.
- Use Twitter and Facebook, it seem silly but communicate with other bands venues, fans etc. They are essentially relationship building tools. Better relationships = more audiences, simples.
- Consolidate and build – use of the online medias take a good bit of work either engaging with folk or updating information (always keep stuff up to date – consider it like a brochure for your act , if it looks dilapidated or deserted it may put folk off)
Just one final thing remember the music!!!!
