I’ve been using Twitter ‘seriously’ (I’m not sure how you measure that) for a few months now but I was a slow starter as I previously mentioned here.
I think at first the problem for me is that it just seemed like it was going to be another web 2.0 novelty that’d I’d quickly tire of and abandon after a while. I did abandon my Twitter profile leaving myself hanging with less than ten followers and half a dozen posts.
Not for the first time, I was wrong. There are just so many tech and music people ‘twittering’ it kind of reminds you of all the Google euphoria when the search engine was so ubiquitous that ‘to Google’ became a verb.
What helped me a lot was seeking out the help of a bunch of people that did ‘get it’ by searching Google (as always). I thought I’d gather together a bunch of the best online blog posts and articles that I found in my research.
How To Use Twitter For Music Promotion (About.com) Twitter.
About.com Music Careers writer Heather McDonald is always very concise in her writing, unlike me. Once signing up for Twitter Heather recommends, “looking for fellow music types. Music fans, journalists, artists, labels, etc – these are the people you want to follow you.” She continues.
“Twitter can be a great way to not only keep fans informed about your news but it can also make them feel closer to the whole process when you tweet about things you’re working on as you’re doing them. The trick is not to go too far and overload people.”
There’s some great easy to follow tips here, if like me you find the whole thing (even in its simplicity!) confusing at first.
Can Twitter Be Used For Music Promotion? (14Sandwiches.com) Twitter
Musician Martin SFP (that stands for his band Star Fighter Pilot) recommends some do’s and don’ts for music promotion on Twitter. A key observation is the more instant and open nature of Twitter. “There’s an ever-increasing audience of people who will happily ‘Follow’ anyone who posts interesting content using the service.”
So. Martin recommends, ” If you’re going to have a presence on Twitter make sure you update at least once a day wherever possible. It shows that you’re interested in sharing with your followers and will make sure that you stay in their consciousness every day.”
Don’t spam your followers with gig listings, converse with them using @username replies and give insights into what you are doing and talk about other bands that you like.
How To Use Twitter For Band Promotion (FromTheDeepEnd.com) Twitter
This blog post from the folks at Grooveshark gives starter tips for bands/artists. “The best way to start is with a smaller circle of good friends, while your band is either touring or recording. Your own friends are a good starting point just because those friends can then recommend you to their Twitter friends by twittering your name, and you’d grow much more quickly from there.”
They suggest a 30/30/40 ‘strategy’. “About 30 percent of your tweets should be conversational about everyday things the bands is doing, another 30 percent should be band business-oriented things like your CD release, and the remaining 40 percent should be you engaging your community.”
And a useful tip they suggest and which I just implemented on my main MySpace music profile is to add a constantly updating Twitter Badge to your MySpace and Facebook pages so your non-Twitter fans can see what you’re up to. There’s a good source of links to musicians Twitter pages in the piece so dig around those and you’re sure to find some music fans that you’ll id with.
Elbo.ws MP3 blog aggregator have a list of fellow music bloggers who have Twitter pages. And new media blogger Jonathan Deamer has a list of music industry types to follow.
Twitip have an invaluable article on how to construct your own ‘Top 10 Must Follow List’ and reveal a list of things that are sure to get you UN-followed on Twitter. Which include how to bore everyone to tears with your mundane account of your day.
The ubiquitous Bob Baker talks about ‘Smart Ways To Use Twitter For Music’. “How could an indie musician, music site or service business make the best use of Twitter? How about a …song of the day, recording tip of the week, music video of the day or indie artist of the week”.Artists and bands should use Twitter to alert fans about gigs, new song samples, new blog posts, media coverage, or where their music can be purchased. Without reverting to annoying spam.
Top Twitter Tips For Musicians (Steve Lawson). Steve notices that “like most musicians, my start on Myspace involved using the search function to find other musicians and ‘fans’ and adding them without any interaction.”
“I accumulated thousands of ‘friends’ in no time, and for about a month was getting hundreds-sometimes-thousands of plays a day. But very little of it turned into any real interaction with them, either at gigs, buying/downloading music or just messages to say ‘hi'”. He continues.. Point #1. “Following someone on Twitter means next to nothing. The interaction means everything.
Point #2. “Twitter is all about other people”. “Its not primarily about you. You can’t turn up, post links to your own page and hope people will find you. Because everyone else is way more interesting than you are. So, be interesting.
EachNoteSecure blog offers another insight on ‘Musicians On Twitter You Should Follow. And Some To Ignore’ which is a good place to start for beginners.
And finally (at least for now!) is renown ‘Media Futurist’ Gerd Leonhard who has written both, ‘7 Reasons Why Everyone In The Music Industry Should Try Twitter’ and more recently, ‘Music Industry:So Now You Are On Twitter-So What Should You Do Next?’ on the Twitter phenom.
“People are sharing ideas, links, news, videos, books, tour-dates, program updates, record releases etc with each other. All this updating is generating a huge flood of calls & responses (I sometimes call this ‘the river’) which is – ADD effects aside – starting to become a very important new way of marketing and promoting something (sharing is caring, remember?)”.
“It (Twitter) teaches us the meaning of Conversation – and we need to learn that, urgently. If you don’t tweet anything good (i.e. post relevant messages) nobody will follow you, and if you don’t respond to messages people will stop looking at your tweets, as well”. He also suggests that to find good people (pick your follows carefully!), try Twitterholic, twellow, Twitter search, or AllTop or Tweet Directories.
“Answer the direct messages and pings that you will get from people that follow you. This is crucial to get a real networking situation going. Make your tweets timely, succinct, unique and relevant. Most importantly, your tweets must contain strong content otherwise you will not get people to pay any attention to you. Refrain from too much marketing hype, canned stuff, self-promotion and boasting”
In my own experience since twittering on a regular basis I get more incoming links from fellow twitterers to my blog. The more I post on twitter and the more I post on here both my blog and my twitter profile get a traffic surge. I’d say that traffic to my blog is up at least 30 percent since adopting Twitter. I try and post here at least twice a week and numerous times daily to my Twitter profile.
Plug your own stuff, sure (I do) but be subtle, don’t constantly bash people around the head with your new blog post, your new release or MP3. You’ll piss people off. I’ve been using Twitter to share useful/interesting links I’ve found too where as before I would’ve posted to my del.icio.us profile.
And most telling for me is this. Out of all the social networks I have used, including MySpace, Facebook, Stumble Upon, Last FM, YouTube, MyBlogLog, FriendFeed, Flikr etc etc etc Twitter has proven to be the one where I have by far had the most genuine human interaction, even in the relatively short time I’ve been tweeting/twittering (whatever that word is!).
Just remember, for it to work, communication is a two way thing.
Other Useful Resources
Twitter Groups:Musicians (Twittgroups.com)
Twitter Is Radically Changing The Way Musicians Are Building Communities of Supportive Fans Around Them (MusicThinkTank.com)
Twittering With Consumers (Website Magazine)
How To Destroy Your Twitter Brand In Minutes (Mashable.com)
Power-Tweeting:101 Everyday Uses For Twitter (InsideCRM.com)
Follow Fail:The Top 10 Reasons I Will Not Follow You In Return On Twitter (Mashable.com)
Twitter Top 10:Who Should I Follow If I’m Interested In The Music Industry (Jonathan Deamer)
How To Make The Most Of Twitter (The Guardian)
If I Was An Unsigned/Independent Artist In 2009 I Would (In No Particular Order) (Sentric Music)
Musebin Looking To Twitter-ise The World Of Music Reviews (TechDigest.tv)
Twitter+Foxy Tunes = Twitty Tunes! (FoxyTunes.net)
Media Futurist Free PDF’s (MediaFuturist.com)
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