Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Developing Themes Fighting Dragons


I came across this cool game in the course of my daily Myspace trolling on the page of Chicago area pop-punk band I Fight Dragons. IFD is the self-described 'Only NES-rock band' and this is evident in their music, artistic design and in this cool flash dragon fighting game that is consistent with their overall Nintendo theme. The game, which appears strategically at the top of the myspace layout, is simple: press the space bar to shoot bullets at falling dragons and the arrow keys to move.



Marketing genius? Let's not go crazy. Cool? Very! I love that the game contributes to their thematic material in a way that engages the user beyond music and imagery; even if a first-time visitor only plays the game for a minute, the band has left a unique and memorable impression on that visitor.

I for one would love to see more interactive web content like this from artists in the future. The obvious obstacle toward the creation of this type of content is the expense; a custom designed flash game with even very basic functionality can't be cheap to produce. I was working with Jive Records when a similar concept game called T-Pain's Cocktail Crazy was used to promote his spirit-inspired album Epiphany a couple of years ago; I wasn't told the exact production cost but it was made clear by the new media people that it WASN'T cheap. All the more reason to keep your friends close and your friends with computer programming skills even closer.








Thursday, October 22, 2009

Tips for Writing a Winning, Professional Twitter Bio

In a recent social media training session with a client I found myself with the task of instructing about 10 employees of an advertising agency on how to write professional and effective Twitter bios. What I write here is specific to business professionals who wish to use the service at least in part to meet and communicate with business-related contacts in addition to friends. For bands and artists, that will have to wait for another entry.

Let's get started.

Once you've logged into your profile, under your account settings you'll see both 'Name' and 'Username'. The former reflects what exactly appears after Name on the right side of your profile page. The latter reflects both your URL and in general how you communicate with @username replies. Even if you have not been able to secure the Usename twitter.com/yourname (which I highly recommend), there is no reason that you should not list your full name on your profile with accurate spelling and punctuation. No need for underscores, abbreviations or especially caps here! Simply include your first and last name as you would in your email signature.

Also, clearly include your location-- city and state. Avoid using cute misspellings, abbreviations, and city nicknames. The reason? No matter what your motivation for being on Twitter, I'm going to assume that you want people to find you who wish to do so. To do this people will use search engines like Tweepsearch and will probably search for 'Chicago' or 'Los Angeles' rather than 'Chi-Town Baby!' or 'City of Angels'. Also, unless you truly call multiple cities home, avoid the temptation to list multiple cities in an attempt to look well-traveled or cultured. 'NYC/LA/MIAMI/VEGAS/FRESNO' tells me that you live in Fresno and you're trying to be something that you're not-- at least not yet!

For your actual Bio section, you have 160 characters to share all information not already provided. There is no need to repeat your name or location. Since your space is so limited, a good practice is to lead off with a 2 to 5 word phrase that describes you professionally-- your professional tagline. If you met somebody on the street at this very moment, how would you respond to the question 'What do you do'? Would it include, a title? A company name? If your current professional status isn't exactly where you want it to be, perhaps a word like 'aspiring' is appropriate.

Founder and CEO of My Company. Ecommerce Manager at My Company. Intern at Major Record Label and Aspiring Publicist. Sales professional. Entertainment industry professional. Freelance consultant. Urban culture and style writer.

Now think about some professional interests, skills or passions that aren't necessarily described within your professional tagline. What professional interests do you have that aren't a part of your job title?

Blogger. New media fanatic. Marketing maven. Investor. SEO Expert. Technology geek. Speaker. Author. Entrepeneur. Event planner. Consultant. Media personality. Student.

Next, come up with a few descriptors that are more personal. Not TOO personal of course, but feel free to include anything you'd share over a semi-awkward business lunch with your boss.

Proud mom. Harvard alum. Washington Redskins fanatic. Brooklyn native. Spin class rockstar. Backpacking nut. Book worm. Guitar player. Lover of nature. Favorite uncle. History buff. Wine enthusiast.

Likewise, here are a few things that you most likely would not share over a lunch with your boss and therefore have no place in your twitter bio.

Party girl. Reality TV junkie. Magic the Gathering fanatic. Danielle Steel nut. Liberal democrat. Conservative republican. Lonely single guy. Shopoholic.

Of course there is nothing wrong with any of these but one should definitely save the most personal items for later in the conversation. Much, much later.

Finally, close with your reason for being on Twitter. Who would you like to meet? Are you looking to network with other professionals in a specific industry? Individuals in a certain location, or with a shared interest (business or personal)?

Looking to meet......

New interesting people. Other hospitality industry professionals. Other creative types. Local photographers. Other aspiring actors. Rhode Islanders.

One thing to avoid here is an obvious alterior motive or marketing message.

Someone who will hire me. People who will patronize my new restaurant. Fitness nuts to buy supplements from me. CEOs to hire my ad agency. Philanthropists to support my cause.

You normally only get one chance to invite someone into your world on Twitter; use your bio to make them feel at home by appealing to a shared interest, profession or common goal. Your profile simply is not the right place for a sales pitch or marketing message.

Combine everything you came up with above, squeeze it into 160 characters or less and you've got a winning Twitter bio.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

The Do's and Don'ts of Custom Myspace Layouts

One of my first jobs as a marketing consultant for indie artists is often to tackle a disastrous myspace layout, either by conducting a simple content cleanup (removing excess content, resizing images, fixing poorly worded text, etc) or by hiring one of my talented professional designers to start from scratch.

Bringing in a professional artist to revamp the look and feel of your myspace page is one of the best investments that any independent artist can make in their online presence. This isn't to say that more time and attention should be paid to myspace than to other web properties, but at a time where people are quickly deserting to Facebook and Myspace is overrun with other indie artists trying to garner attention, your best shot at standing out from other artists is by making a positive first impression with the remaining 'real people' through a professional layout.

A few things to keep in mind. First of all, in spite of myspace's declining thunder, it is still the one place where an artist is most likely to make their first impression with potential fans online. This is true for a couple of different reasons. For one, for anyone who 'googles' you, your myspace page is still very likely to appear at or near the top of search results. Also, because of a myspace profile's somewhat predictable layout and structure, people know that myspace is still the quickest and easiest way to listen to your music and view your pictures.

Here are a few rules to follow as you work with your artist to create a custom layout.

DO create a custom header (i.e. any content above the advertisements and menu bar) that incorporates key imagery, artwork and your page's primary call to action. A primary call to action is the single thing above all else that you want anyone visiting the page to do beyond simply listening to your music. Is it watching your new video? Downloading the new album on Itunes? Joining a fan club? Following you on Twitter? No matter what it is, your custom header is the best opportunity to make this request.

DO NOT include an overwhelming amount of content in your custom header. A visitor should be able to fit all header content into a single screenshot. The reasoning behind this is simple; as I stated above, people visit myspace music pages for the predictability factor. They do not want to have to scroll through an overwhelming amount of custom content to find what they're really looking for-- especially your music player and link to view more pictures.

DO place key profile elements in predictable places. These include the music player, basic info, profile picture, blog entries, tour dates, top friends and comments board. Again, people are visiting your page specifically to find this content; make finding it as easy for them as possible!

DO include simple flash elements in your custom header if it's within your budget. A flash-savvy designer may be just what you need to give your page the extra 'pop' it needs! However, DO NOT include flash elements that take more than a few seconds to load on the page. People simply will not stick around to wait for it.

DO include custom links or buttons directing fans to your other web properties. However, DO NOT make this your primary call to action. Be respectful of fans that choose to connect with you on myspace; those who want to find you on Facebook, Twitter or Youtube know how to do so without your direction.

DO use stationary background art. Background content should never scroll down with other content. Also make sure that all page content is viewable on top of background artwork (i.e., no white text on a white background).

DO NOT allow your artist to place a large 'Designed By' logo and link on your page unless you agree to this. If you choose to allow this, make sure that the logo is small, subtle and works well with other design elements.

DO make sure that your artist incorporates stylish, current fonts in your design. If the font doesn't look and feel professional to you, ask your artist to try something else. Remember- you don't have to be an artist to know what you like and what looks good.

That's all for now. Next I'll discuss a few guidelines for the 'about this artist' content on myspace pages.