CONVERTING "SOCIAL LIKES" INTO SUPER-FANS:

CONVERTING "SOCIAL LIKES" INTO SUPER-FANS:

The Importance of a Mobile Community

If you are just starting out, or have been around for years as an artist, now more than ever, controlling the way you communicate and engage with fans has become vitally important.

In the old paradigm of the music industry, if you were lucky enough to get signed on talent alone, your label would take control of your marketing and branding for you. In the NEW music industry, major labels rarely even consider an artist who doesn’t already have 50,000+ fans on social media and a solid email list of “Super-Fans.”

So how do you build fans on your network pages, and how do you convert those “likes” into Super-Fans? 

I’m going to first assume that you already have a strong website where fans can go to read a bio, see photos, listen to your music, find out where you’re gigging and watch videos. Your website should be a “hub” of all things “music”. It must be easy to navigate and have easy to see tabs, that fans can click on to get right to the information they are looking for.

Once your website is structured and formatted for mobile access you are now ready to engage your fans to action. The first thing to remember is fans don’t want to be “sold”, they want to engaged with you as a friend would, so be personal but cautiously so.

The three most important network sites on which to grow fans are Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, hands down.

Use Facebook for a quick story, Twitter for sharing pictures, brief thoughts for the day, or a quick link to a newly posted video, and YouTube for organizing music videos and personal interaction videos for fans. 

Do remember though, what you share on the “branded band accounts” should be managed and not be a free-for-all. The value in this cannot be overstated. If a fellow band-member posts an entertaining personal moment on their personal Facebook page, you may want to consider reposting it on the band page as well, but posts should be entertaining or informative about the music. Post something a fan can ultimately relate to on a personal level or find personally entertaining and you'll keep their attention. But keep it about "the band." By engaging the fans in this way, you will be encouraging them to feel the emotional responsibility of helping you be successful in your music career. 

Make an effort to include your fans whenever you can, but don’t bore them with every little moment of the day. Choose the important, funny, beautiful or exciting moments, and share those. Just remember, share what you yourself would want to know.

Many potential new fans now live by their Smartphones and are no longer sitting at their computers in order to stay informed. So keep it brief but engaging. A video message is opened 75% of the time and viewed 85% to completion depending on the content so use video whenever possible.

I encourage artists to upload a short video at least once a week, be it a one minute backstage video, a two minute “meet my dog” video or a three minute acoustic or acapella performance. By regularly posting on YouTube your fans will grow to trust your friendship with them and start checking in on your website/app and YouTube page more regularly. A loyal fan is a profitable fan.

So now you have social network “likes,” how do you convert those “likes” to loyal, Super-Fans?

Get their personal contact info!

Give them something for free, and fans will freely give you something in return; their email address or cell phone number. 

The importance of personal contact info can’t be stressed enough! 

The statistics state that out of 50,000 “likes” on social media, a 4.5% conversion rate is the average, which means 2,250 potential ticket, CD and swag purchasers. It only takes 1000 true fans to make a good living. If you target those fans, and encourage them to purchase CDs, T-shirts, gig tickets or even contribute to your Fan Funding page on Kickstarter, and engage them to spend just $100 a year on your offers, you will be earning $100,000 a year simply off their loyalty alone. Not bad for an artist that may be sleeping on friends couches and eating Top Ramen.

MailChimp reports that 30% of subscribed newsletters are opened on average. That means that 70% of your Super-Fans may never read your email but the 30% that do, want the info! 

But think about this... connecting with fans in the same way that they connect with their world is not only strategic, but also highly effective. Statistics show that 97% of people receiving a text message, will read it within the first 4 minutes! …and 33% of Facebook members use a phone as their primary way to access Social Networks. If a fan gives you their mobile number in exchange for a free download or the like, they are willingly “opting in” to receive texts from you as a way to stay connected. Remember, woven into their desire to stay connected is a sense of responsibility to help you succeed and they want to be called to action. So a Mobile Fan Club is a major asset.

By announcing your Mobile Fan Club at a gig, and giving something away for joining (i.e. a free download or Meet & Greet after the show.) You have an opportunity to make joining your mobile community an event! 

Give your mobile fans the feeling of being a part of a very elite group and you’ll have the ability to engage them as such, by offering specific giveaways or discounts just for them.

While planning your strategies, remember research firms are expecting 300 million NEW Smartphone users to be online, with mobile interaction in the next couple of years! If you want to be ahead of the curve and connect with fans in the same way that they connect with their world, mobile interaction is where you need to be, and having a strategic Mobile Fan Club will give you a major edge.

Radio Promotion 101.5 - A building process

It's not enough these days to be an artist with a fantastic, broadcast worthy, single to release, that every relative, and relative of a relative, thinks it's the best song they've ever heard. Radio stations and their Program Directors have to feel the same way. If you are an independent artist on an independent label, you are subject to their scrutiny of your ability to self promote, including but not limited to, your touring consistency and your willingness to do whatever it takes to please your fans and the station listeners. Remember, every programmer has anywhere from 35 to 100 artists spinning on their station at any given time and put yourself in their shoes - what would you be looking for, if 50 artists were standing at your back door, all with "fantastic" singles, wanting to get airplay, but you only had room to add 5? How would you determine who gets played? Would you judge them solely on appearance and personal style (which of course is not visible on radio?) Would you judge them solely on their music, with no fan base to back them up and no gigs lined up? Would you say to yourself "...now there's a nice kid, I think I'll give him a break" (and believe me, that happens more often than not)... or would you ask yourself "who's got the most potential to hit it big in the industry and who has that 'IT' factor due to not only their personality and style but also their work-ethic and commitment to their career?"

Radio is a subjective industry and pleasing every programmer is probably never going to happen. But one thing is for sure, if you are willing to get out there and you have what it takes to bring in the fans/listeners for a station, chances are you are going to get their attention in return. Radio promotion is a building process and rarely do all the stars line up for you as an artist on a first release. You will need to build the relationships with the stations that support your genre of music and with consistency and by being pro-active over the course of two to three releases you will begin to see the change in how radio receives you. When you help a station maintain and, more importantly, grow their listener-ship, you become like family; and as we all know, family expects a lot of you and not always at the most convenient times.

Still, it makes no sense to invite yourself over to a station for an on-air visit if you are not, at the very least, a local artist with a a full CD for sale, or a touring artist performing in their town, with a single releasing to radio and full CDs for sale. Radio listeners are a pro-active bunch themselves. They show up at the remotes and get autographs and give-aways from their favorite DJs and performers. Listeners want to know that their fan loyalty is going to be a positive experience for them, either through free tickets to a show, winning a CD for listening or the like. They want to know their "Like" button decisions matter and through them the artists they "Like" will reach a pinnacle of success. Yet they also know, there is only so much they can do for an artist and the rest is up to the passion and drive that artist has for himself.

That said, how do you gain the attention of a programmer in order to be invited to a station for an interview, let alone a concert for their listeners? First, have something to talk about, be creating events within your career that are worthy of attention. Donate your time to their causes, have something to give away to their listeners, a fantastic gig coming up, etc... and then hire a promoter to get the music and the word out to them. Any promoter worth their weight in salt keeps an updated list of programmers and their contact information. In addition, every Program Director has a set time when they are willing to take what we in the industry call "music calls." With the downsizing of many corporate businesses these last few years, many PDs are now programming 2, 3, even 4 stations at a time, which makes their time for "chatting" about music pretty non-existant. Many have gone to e-mail over music calls and again, an updated and current contact list is essential if you intend to be effective.

In addition, there are certain "rules of engagement" that have been learned by most of us promoters through trial and error, and it is through our various interactions with the programmers that we can determine whether or not they are going to take our calls and continue to give us time out of their busy day. Those are decisions that are made on a one-on-one basis and most promoters know who they can count on to at least test a single and who is not going to add an Independent artist, EVER, unless they are a home town kid that has a strong local following. It doesn't do a Chicago station much good to add an artist who's sole fan base is in Arkansas. They need to know that artist can draw a crowd in their town. In addition, every programmer has his/her own personal preferences that are based on their personality and that again is information garnered over months of interaction. One PD may love Country but not Bluegrass and another may love Indie Rock but not Metal. And many times it's not even the PD making that determination, it's the station owner and the advertisers. The worse thing an artist can do is pressure a Program Director to add his/her song to the station playlist when it doesn't fit their style of programming. PDs are very savvy and they can smell a "green horn" from a mile away... some are compassionate and will give you a few minutes of their time and others will eat you for lunch.

If you are just breaking into the music scene and are an emerging band or artist, on a tight budget, you are better off spending a little bit of money on a promoter who knows the ropes and can get the station PDs to take their calls, e-mails and faxes. There are varying degrees and budgets that a promoter can work within and every promoter is different. The least expensive promotion out there these days is digital promotion. The internet and digital delivery systems have leveled the playing field for new artists to compete in the non-commercial market and a small investment can go a long way to getting your name and music out there. Radio, again, is a building process and needs to be repeated many times over for Radio Stations to get that you are serious about your career and you're not going away! You do not want to spend so much money on your first release that you have no budget fir a second third or forth for that matter. It takes time to garner respect as an artist, and even longer to create name recognition. One programmer may think your first release stinks and then see potential in the second, love the third and so on... But once you have earned the respect and attention of radio programmers, there is no other single institution out there that can do more to help you and your career. And remember, there is NO such thing as an "overnight success," and talent is only 1 tenth of the truth, the rest is all hard work.

Be it commercial or non-commercial, terrestrial or internet radio, you need radio working for you, as they will be an essential part of your national and international sales success and SoundScan numbers.

My next blog will be about how to capitalize on Radio Airplay and what it means to the Independent artist and label.