Author David Meerman Scott made a honest and realistic quote, “if you want 20,000 fans you must do 2000 different things that each generate 10 fans.” This was my favorite quote from 2010 and I am going to take this on as a challenge for 2011 for an ambitious project to give you 2000 different things you can do to generate 20,000 fans.
Some of these items will apply better for larger acts, some items will work for any act. Some may work for you, some may not… not yet. Some these can be done with little effort, some will take some web development, some might even require some significant development. Some of these have successfully worked for me over the years. The point is to create a list of items that would cover a wide range of acts and abilities.
The end result of all this will hopefully be more Facebook likes, Twitter followers, email list subscriptions, more sales and more traffic to your website… more fans!
2000 Things to Generate 20,000 Fans Challenge
19. Real Time Show Updates.
At SXSW Interactive last week one of the panels I sat in on while waiting for my panel to begin was Social Business, and it was lead by David Meerman Scott. I am not a stalker, lol. He just happens to have a lot of great things to say. His topic for this panel was real time social marketing. He talks about how social media is really just a tool for marketing in real time. You have to act now when something is happen, not later. Speed and agility are the new advantage, not how deep your pocket book might be. The person who acts that fastest when a opportunity happens takes the lead.
How does all of this apply to a musician? So much of what a musician does is in the moment, real time. Case in point… a live show. If you wait two days, let alone a week, to post a setlist, or show notes, or a review you are really a non player in your own career. Your fans have already beat you to the punch on all of those items, and you should be leading them. Your fans should look towards you first as the source for what happened. You should be the authority on your own band. So how do you market yourself real time at a show? Live updates. I know some of you are already saying, “do you want me to stop in the middle of a show a make a Twitter post or Facebook update.” No you shouldn’t, but there are options. How about a crew member? Maybe the person you have at your merchandise table? Or even recruit a fan and give them the “honor” of officially reporting on the show. They will think it is a honor to do it for you. Hold a contest to select a fan for each show. Guess what, you just started gathering more emails just by holding the contest. I did this once for a entire tour, giving away a pair of tickets to each show in exchange for a review, that was due the next day. This was before Twitter and Facebook so live updates didn’t exist, but fast updates to the site did. Start simple, just get your setlist with a few little show notes Tweeted out. Then expand from there.
Fun post! I’m not a big fan of others tweeting on a musician’s behalf. It feels really fake. I signed up for Tom Waits, Ozzy Osbourne, and Cee Lo Green on Twitter. They all have other people tweeting for them, and it resonates as very hollow and lifeless.
However, right before and after a show would be fun. Maybe also, during the middle of the set, take a pic of the audience and send to TwitPic. Make it fun for everyone.
My feeling is this shouldn’t be done by someone as if they are the artist. It should be clear it is someone else doing live show updates, since the artist can’t do it.
I suppose I’m more referring to the 3rd person feel even when someone else is being clear they are tweeting on behalf of the artist. It just doesn’t feel right to me personally.
But, I guess my idea for the geolocation-aware-webcam-enabled Twitter Helmet for Live Performances is a bit overkill…
I love the idea of the helmet! Sign me up for BorgFest 2011!
Seriously, I think the idea of “on behalf” is where the feeling of false connection shows up. I could stomach it a bit better if it was presented in such a way as to get a glimpse of an act from “the inside” (especially if the team member had some kind of personality of their own) than I could if it were presented as coming from the act itself.
Be the way, I enjoyed reading your post here the other day, as well.