Awesome Viral Video Promotion

One of my favorite myspace designers recently sent me a link to a viral video promotion that he'd seamlessly integrated into the website for the Ohio-based rock band Before Their Eyes. Near the top of the website just below the band's photo and logo, visitors are prompted to share an exclusive video as a status update with friends on Facebook or Twitter first and receive access to the video second.

Tracking on the site's backend shows that this particular campaign generated over 2,000 posts between Facebook and Twitter.

While the concept of exclusive fan content is certainly nothing new, I love the way that this has been so attractively built into the backend of the band's website. In only 2 mouse clicks I have shared the content and viewed the video without ever leaving the site; this is infinitely more attractive a proposition than finding, copying and pasting code or a URL, leaving the page to visit a new one, figuring out the best way on each constantly-evolving social network to share it, etc. I also love that because the promotion exists entirely on the band's website, in essence they 'own' the promotion, as opposed to hi-jacking a branded technology that somebody else has created for a similar purpose and plastered their logo over.

The only concern of course is cost. Web design and video production services do not come cheap. However if you email Nick Moore at nmoore3@gmail.com to inquire about this service, he may cut you a good deal.

Tricks of the Trade for Building a Twitter Following

In the past couple of months, building Twitter followings for my marketing clients has become a part of my everyday workload in the way that can only be compared to myspace 'friend adding'. If done improperly it can be enormously time consuming and extremely frustrating. Here are a few tricks that I've picked up in my own work that I am confident will make the process easier for you.

First and foremost you must understand your options for identifying people with common interests within the Twitter network.

Tweepsearch allows you to search Twitter profiles-- specifically what people have written in their name, location and 1-line bio. It does not search actual tweets but can be extremely useful, especially if you are hoping to target people in a specific city or state, or people whose primary reason for being on Twitter revolves around a specific purpose (as described in their 1-line bio).

Search.twitter.com allows you to search tweets but not profiles. Be sure to use the 'advanced' option in order to limit your search to specific phrases and keywords. The advantage here is that when you search, those who have written updates containing your search term recently show up in the results. It lists them in order, in fact. This helps because you will waste less time searching through profiles of people who have abandoned Twitter months ago.

Now that you know where to search, here are a few tips on HOW to search and who to follow.

1) Only follow people whose most recent update was posted within the last 2 weeks. If somebody has not logged into their profile since early 2008, they are probably not going to log in the next day to follow you back.

2) Only follow people who appear to be real people; avoid following accounts that appear to be business, informational or promotional. These profiles certainly have a legitimate place within the Twitterverse, but the truth is that most are exclusively interested in their own product or service and have no interest in learning about yours. This includes other artists. Instead, follow those who have a profile picture or name that identifies them as a real person.

3) Do not follow profiles that appear to be sex-oriented. This can be signified by the letters 'XXX' within the person's username, by an erotic profile photo or through updates. These folks are only interested in one thing and it isn't you.

4) DO follow people who are already following somebody with an interest very similar to your own. Underneath the 1-line bio on every profile you can click on the 'followers' number and link. If you find somebody whose followers you feel would be interested in learning about you, this link will bring up a list of that person's followers. Using the rules above, simply click the 'follow' button to the right of each person's username. I find that this strategy is the most time-efficient because unlike searching on Tweepsearch or Search.twitter.com, you do not need to open a new window to follow somebody.

5) DO follow people who appear to be posting in your own language. The return-follow rate for users in other countries is simply too low to be worthwhile, even if you are promoting a product or service with international appeal. This is the only difficulty with finding people via #4 above.

6) Do not follow people whose 'followers' list drastically outnumbers their own 'following'. This is the case with many promotional and business related profiles. Tweepsearch allows you to see these numbers before clicking through to a profile; definitely worth a glance.

5 Rules for Successful Artist Newsletters

With the advent of social media and the ease of managing relationships with fans provided therein, many artists these days see email communication with fans as a thing of the past. I, however, still find the monthly newsletter to be a relevant part of the overall marketing objectives of most artists. Probably the most difficult aspect of digital marketing for artists is the fact that in this day and age people interact with music and artists online in a plethora of ways and places. I think that it is important to respect fans decisions to interact with you when and where they choose to do so and to accommodate them accordingly. Email is still an important part of most people's everyday lives, and if fans choose to offer up their personal address to you it is your responsibility to give them what they want and deserve. In no particular order here are 5 rules for getting the most out of your email newsletters.

Rule #1: Limit Frequency
When considering how often to send out your newsletter it is important to keep your position in the recipient's life (and Ipod) in perspective; Do not assume that every single signup is a superfan who wants you to bombard their work email account every day of the week with what you ate for breakfast that morning. On the contrary, assume that the majority of signups are content to hear from you once in awhile and use your newsletters sparingly. My recommendation is once per month; definitely no more than twice. If you overwhelm your fans inboxes they will simply stop opening the message, rendering your newsletter ineffective. If you are facing a quiet point in your activity as an artist and you have nothing compelling to say in a newsletter, wait until you've got something exciting to send it out.

Rule #2: Provide Original and Compelling Content
You must give your fans a reason not only to sign up for your newsletter but to open it once it arrives in their inbox each and every time. Without at least some small tidbit of original content that does not exist elsewhere online, what is the incentive? Always include something that is exclusive to the newsletter; a personalized note from the artist; a sample of a new track in the works; exclusive photos. You can also use this content as an excuse to promote your newsletter via your web properties. Another idea is to offer giveaways such as free CDs to random signups; do this once per week if you are able and announce the winners in the newsletters to show that the giveaway is real.

Rule #3: Promote Effectively
Provide an easy way for your fans to sign up for your newsletter and feature it prominently on every web property available. The easiest way to do this is with an email collector widget-- the type offered by ReverbNation and other services. I also like to draw added attention to the newsletter by creating a custom banner that sits on top of the widget. The banner can invite fans to sign up and provide the incentive you've created for doing so. On Facebook, use the Gigya Mystuff Application to add your collector widget. Cross-promote the newsletter through mentions on Twitter once in awhile and remember to include your incentive for signups. If you are using myspace comments to communicate with fans, plug the widget and banner into your comment code and invite all new friends to sign up.

Rule #4: Limit Sales Pitches
A common artist mistake is to overwhelm web properties with sales pitches; ie. links to purchase on Itunes AND rhapsody AND CDbaby AND Amazon, etc. It's easy to take for granted the fact that your fans are knowledgeable about purchasing music whether digital or physical and will have no problem finding it should they decide to do so. Use your newsletter to announce new single and album releases; encourage fans to listen to and enjoy your music and make their own purchasing decision when the time comes. After your music is available steer clear of overwhelming pleas to purchase. Also relevant to this, be very careful not to overemphasize tour dates that are only relevant to a small percentage of those who signed up (ie, a newsletter to promote your big show in NYC when only 10 of your signups live there).

Rule #5: Format Effectively
Like all of your web properties your newsletter must be formatted perfectly; use color schemes and artwork that are in line with your other pages. Proofread all text to avoid errors in grammar and punctuation. Double check to make sure that all links are functional. Use fonts that are appropriately sized and easy to read. Format all pictures and text in a way that is clean and attractive. If it's within your budget, hire a graphic designer to create a custom newsletter template for you.

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.

Book Review- 'Twitter Revolution'

Twitter Revolution is a quick and easy read on a subject that many social media marketers hold near and dear written by Deborah Micek, a respected social media marketer and author of 'Secrets of Online Persuasion'. (Warren Whitlock is also named as an author but the voice heard throughout the book belongs overwhelmingly to @coachdeb.) I picked this one up in the hope that it would motivate me to finally jump on the Twitter bandwagon for myself after years of building and supervising accounts for my clients and also to confirm that I was on the right track with what I'd already been doing.

To be honest much of what this book covers can be chalked up to common sense but I did pick up a few useful pointers. I could have done without the hype in the opening chapters designed to convert Twitter skeptics (after all, if I fell into this category I probably would not have purchased the book, right?) but once I actually got to the 'meat' of the book it quickly became a worthwhile read. Of particular significance from a marketing standpoint was Part 3: Influence & Persuasion to position & brand yourself on Twitter & other social networks. In fact if you're already up and running on Twitter successfully I'd say Part 3 stands alone as a useful read.

I would definitely recommend this book for artists and managers who classify themselves as avid readers and those who enjoy keeping up with trends in marketing, but if you already understand the rules of fan relationship management then, as I said, a little common sense will go a long way on Twitter as it does elsewhere in social media.

Oh and in case you're wondering I HAVE jumped on the Twitter bandwagon. Follow me here.

Lily Allen on Twitter

Can I just say how much I LOVE the fact that Lily Allen is an active Twitter user? May God strike me down if I'm wrong on this, but anyone familiar with Lily and her music will attest to this fact that the updates are genuine....the tweets are a little too 'cheeky' to be coming from some hotshot PR person or label rep (and trust me-- the folks working in digital at Capitol Records are far too good at what they do to let something like this happen with one of their artists).

Lily has posted 145 updates since she began on January 30th and already has over 46,000 followers. The fact that she did not begin until a week before her U.S. album release does make me a little nervous. You can't knock the girl and her team for tapping into the Twitter community to promote the new album, but I sure would love to see her remain active over the next several months.

In general I've always recommended that artists not dive into Twitter unless they are in it for the long haul, and I stand by that. Twitter is a means of creating and managing relationships with fans over a long period of time and is not necessarily the best place to begin a media blitz to promote a new album or project. It sure can't hurt if you're an A-Lister like Lily, but I firmly believe that fans resent artists who get started on something like Twitter and quickly lose interest. Twitter is also not useful and effective for every single artist out there. For example, I do not see it as particularly relevant for developing artists in most cases. Disagree? Prove me wrong!