The Social Media Fake Book

For Musicians and Composers

Jerry Bowles

   Email  [email protected]

Phone  (212) 582-3991 Web site  http://sequenza21.com

Sequenza21 Blog/Community

   Launched as static website in 2001 Redesigned using Blogger software in 2005 Relaunched using WordPress in 2006

How are we doing?

Social Media Today

What is/are social media anyway?

o o Online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social media Technologies that allow anyone with access to the internet to create, distribute and promote content without intermediation Jerry Bowles

What is it good for?

   Engaging in a two way discussion to get your message out (and get messages in) Letting your fans tell people who don’t know about you how cool you are (viral, word of mouth) Creating better programs and performances through feedback and collaboration with supporters

Before You Begin

    What do you want to achieve?

How much time do you have to devote to it?

What level of tech skills do you have?

What resources do you have as “content?”

Choose Your Tools    Hundreds of applications to choose from Using them is labor-intensive Choose only those that are most likely to have some chance of success

Basic Types of Social Media Tools  Blogging  Blogger  WordPress  Social Networking  YouTube  Facebook  Twitter  Social Bookmarking/Recommendation  Delicious  StumbleUpon

The Holy Grail: Create an Ecosystem        Create a blog to start and join online conversations Establish and build an active Twitter account Create a Facebook page Modify your press release strategy for blogger coverage Promote social media channels on your website and in email signatures Use YouTube for impact Turbo charge with StumbleUpon

Step 1 - Start a Blog

 Your choices  Free blog, hosted on a service like WordPress or Blogger   Standalone blog on your own web domain Monthly fee at a blogging service like Movable Types

Free blog & hosting at WordPress.com

Free blog & hosting at Blogger.com

Free Blogging resources

 Advantages    They’re free Easy to set up; no tech knowledge needed You can be blogging online in 15 minutes  Disadvantages    Loss of branding identity Limited number of design “themes” Limited ability to use resources such as videos and mp3s

WordPress Software, Your Paid Domain and Host

WP + Unique Domain Name and Web Host  Advantages     Software is free Many “themes” available Open source, with hundreds of plug-ins to perform various tasks Access to code to make modifications  Handles rich media like videos and mp3s  Disadvantages   Requires a little tech skill to set up and maintain Monthly hosting costs

Examples of Musicians Blogs

http://starkravingcello.blogspot.com/

http://blog.davidhthomas.net/

http://oboeinsight.com/

Déjà vu, anyone?

Custom-Built Blog http://nicomuhly.com/

http://jeremydenk.net/blog/

http://blog.eighthblackbird.com/

Video Blogging

Step 2 – Create a Facebook page

          More than 350 million active users 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day More than 35 million users update their status each day More than 55 million status updates posted each day More than 2.5 billion photos uploaded to the site each month More than 3.5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week More than 3.5 million events created each month More than 1.6 million active Pages on Facebook More than 700,000 local businesses have active Pages on Facebook Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans

Types of Facebook Pages

   1. Profiles: These are for individuals, and have been designed for individual communication 2. Groups: These don’t have to be official or registered organizations, they can be (as the name suggests) just a group - small or large.

3. Pages: These are for businesses and organizations, and are designed for bulk communications.

Example of an Organization Page

Duo Parnas Facebook Page

The Performer’s Secret Weapon YouTube

Step 3 – Create a Twitter Account

How It Works

   Based on sending 140 character messages to whoever wants to “follow” you You get people to follow you by following them If they don’t follow you, dump them after a period of time and add new people

Reasons to Tweet

     attract visitors to performances/recordings, whatever you’re selling (but subtle) network with fans and other musicians grow your profile/”brand” drive traffic to your blog get help and feedback

First Steps           1. Join and set up your profile 2. Follow people with similar interests *Key point 3. Get into the conversation (the importance of @, as in @sequenza21) and RT, as in RT @sequenza21) 4. Don’t spam 5. Update daily 6. Find the latest buzz and contribute 7. Help other people out 8. Create relationships 9. Integrate Twitter with other social networks 10. Establish relationships beyond Twitter

How to find people to follow

   Look at the follower lists of other musicians who do similar stuff and see who they follow Check what “lists” they’ve made (if any) and see who might be valuable for you to follow (and, hopefully, to follow you back) Check what “lists” they’re on that other people have made.

Dave Thomas as the Beaver

Other places to find people with similar interests to follow   http://listorious.com/ http://wefollow.com/

Add a entire “list” with a couple of clicks http://tweepml.org/

Use a URL shortener to save characters in links   Turns http://www.sequenza21.com/2010/0 1/prism-quartet-celebrates-25th anniversary-at-lpr-on-131/ into this: http://bit.ly/b2nfT0

URL Shorteners

 Most popular: http://bit.ly

 One You Should Use is StumbleUpon http://su.pr

(available only after you sign up for

Step 4 – Sign Up for StumbleUpon

http://su.pr

Questions