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5:46 am
June 10, 2011
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QuoteI've stumbled across some great connections with people via social media. These are people who have significantly helped me (if interested, see below for a partial list).
But, honestly, I'm not bragging. I was doing some serious thinking about how many opportunities I have probably missed by being so cavalier about how I approach social media. I do auto-posts, turn on the twitter/youtube friend adder softwares, and try to respond in a friendly manner when someone says something to me. It's pretty crude, not very social, and I've probably offended some people. What if I was intentional about who I followed/friended instead of just blundering along adding potential fans?
I feel like I need a strategy. Does anyone strategically follow/friend others beyond just potential fans. What if I followed a bunch of music bloggers and started interacting with them? What if I did the same thing with publicists, DJs, or what-have-you...? This really sounds naive, but does anyone have any thoughts about who to follow/friend beyond just potential fans? Does anyone have a strategy beyond fans? The thought just occured to me that one blogger might be worth 100 or more fans.
I'm probably answering my own questions as I write this. Welcome to my think tank. LOL! Feel free to chime in with ideas.
______
My "heart" logo design was free from a graphic designer I met on twitter. I met my artist development consultant on youtube. We've been able to meet in person a few times, become friends, and I can't begin to tell you how much advice and how many connections she's given me. Also, due to social media, I've gotten airplay, radio interviews, an "I'm watching you" email from someone at Warner, blog placements, and I just landed a magazine interview today. Last night, a jazz pianist who has played with a bunch of the greats called me on my cell, encouraged and counseled me for about 45 minutes, and at the end of the conversation said, "Oh, I'll give you a plug to a friend of mine at WGBH." I met him on youtube. Even as I write this, I keep thinking of more people and favors.
6:09 am
June 10, 2011
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Ok. Here's a thought that just came to me: http://www.listorious.com. Seems like a good place to do some research. 
8:10 am
June 10, 2011
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Very interesting thoughts Charlie, I always like reading your stuff! I've often wondered about if sometimes just "going for the fan" approach might be a bit to impersonal at times, but I hadn't really seriously thought about why. I think you just nailed it!
What would a jam session with Gordon Lightfoot, Collective Soul, and Damien Rice sound like?
Check out Greg Parke and you’ll have a pretty good idea!
3:23 pm
June 10, 2011
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I re-read my post, and I fear it might be misinterpreted as a criticism of John’s Twitter strategy. I just want to be clear that I have attempted to strap rockets onto John’s strategy and I have been doing things that John has not necessarily advocated. John hasn’t advocated scraping huge lists of people and importing them into friend adders, and he hasn’t advocated not speaking to people unless spoken to first. That’s something I’ve done in my desire to get more traffic.
What I do does get me more traffic than the way John taught in MMM 2.0, but it also has a down side. The down side is that it’s easy to rocket right past people. Now that I think about it, the favors I received that I mentioned above all came from people who actually tracked me down and emailed me through my website. That’s pretty sad.
I turned around one day to find that Ramsey Lewis was following me on Twitter. Hmmm…I wonder if he followed me first, or if he was on a list that I scraped and just thought I was interesting enough to follow back. I’m not sure why he would think that. Have I said hello to him? Err… I’m too darn embarassed to do that now.
3:56 pm
June 10, 2011
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Charley Langer said:
I re-read my post, and I fear it might be misinterpreted as a criticism of John’s Twitter strategy.
Hey Charley,
I didn't get that feeling at all! I think we all know that Johns methods completly kick some serious butt, otherwise we wouldn't be here. But we are all individuals, and the results we get are going to be very widespread, so why not share the results?
If you had posted that you tried one of John's methods and it totaly didn't work, I might suggest that you go back and take a second look, But you are obviously having some very impressive results, and to me it seems that you are building on Johns methods, not critisizing them.
Posting your results are a great asset to this forum!
What would a jam session with Gordon Lightfoot, Collective Soul, and Damien Rice sound like?
Check out Greg Parke and you’ll have a pretty good idea!
4:55 pm
June 10, 2011
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Greg Parke said:
I didn't get that feeling at all! I think we all know that Johns methods completly kick some serious butt, otherwise we wouldn't be here. But we are all individuals, and the results we get are going to be very widespread, so why not share the results?
Thanks, Greg. I appreciate that. I worry about being misunderstood. I also worry sometimes about NOT being misunderstood! LOL! I told my wife one time, "Honey, I'm not trying to be a jerk. It comes naturally."
Anyway, my results are: I get more traffic by attaching rockets to John's twitter strategy. I have sold a lot of records to twitter fans. In that way, it works great. I have also had a lot of happy accidents doing what I'm doing. I'm just questioning whether I might be missing opportunities by doing what I'm doing. I suspect I am.
Maybe I can attempt a hybrid approach by segregating my twitter followers into lists. I think that's something you can do in twitter, but I've never used that function. I don't know how I would do a hybrid approach in youtube.
5:40 pm
June 10, 2011
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Hey Charley
To be honest, I have been kind of sitting on the sidelines taking in a lot of what you have been doing. You are quite a bit ahead of me on a lot of this stuff, and I have been putting all my efforts into trying to finish my new CD. It is taking so long because this is a completly one person project. I'm doing all the writing, tracking, mixing, mastering, re-writing, re-tracking, re-mixing.......you get the idea! It just got to be too much trying to keep up with implementing all the new stuff in MMM and the insiders circle, work on the cd, as well as booking and performing gigs, plus maintaining some sort of life with my family and maintaining my farm/remodeling project. Once the CD is finished (only 1 or 2 more songs to go!!!) then I can devote that time to MMM and the Insiders Circle again, and picking back up where I left off. Just as a fair warning, you might get tired of all the questions I will probably be asking you!
I think you may be right about the hybrid approach to Twitter. I have heard rumblings about being able to do that somehow, but haven't taken the time to dig into it yet.
Anybody else have coments on this?
What would a jam session with Gordon Lightfoot, Collective Soul, and Damien Rice sound like?
Check out Greg Parke and you’ll have a pretty good idea!
No worries at all Charlie. I think interacting with intention is spot on. But I also think you'd do well to do this on a more encompassing scale. I have both done this, and had this done to me. As someone who has a big list I get approached almost every day from people who want me to promote something. Usually I just archive it or politely respond that I can't do it.
However every once and a while someone is smart about it and they start by sending me an email to say they are on my list and really like what I'm doing, maybe they have bought something from me. Then I start seeing blog comments, maybe even a post on their own site that Google alerts picks up. Then a retweet or shout out, etc. Usually accompanied by a few emails either praising or asking for advice. Sometimes this is intentional and sometimes it's natural. But either way it almost always works as long as the person has something of value to offer. If you targeted 50 bloggers and industry people like this Id be shocked if you didn't carve out some really great relationships.
While I know it wasn't your intention, that's kind of what happened with you and me. You bought my stuff, communicated in the forum, left blog comments and sent in a few emails... next thing you know you're on my blog and getting sign ups as a result. I see clicks on that post every day.
So yeah, totally a good idea.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
1:59 am
June 10, 2011
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John Oszajca said:
While I know it wasn't your intention, that's kind of what happened with you and me. You bought my stuff, communicated in the forum, left blog comments and sent in a few emails... next thing you know you're on my blog and getting sign ups as a result. I see clicks on that post every day.
So yeah, totally a good idea.
I really hadn't looked at it like that. You're absolutely right. The more I think about it, the more I think I need to start spending time building a few stronger relationships, as well as continue to build a lot of more casual relationships.
It sort of mirrors the way we naturally build relationships in "real life" with family, friends, and acquaintances. I've just been really focused on getting fans and somewhat less focused on the closer relationships. Now I'm seeing the value of the closer relationships. I'm really recoiling at the way I'm talking about this. It sounds really crass and self-serving, and I'm not really that kind of a person, so obviously (for me, anyway) those closer relationships have to be sincere.
Didn't realize this was going to be a thread on human relations.
Nah, I hear you. There is no way to honestly talk about marketing without talking about the fact that it's manipulation. It absolutely is. But manipulation in itself is not a bad thing. It just simple means to "to move or arrange by the hands". We do it every day all the time. Whether you are conning people or raising money to fight cancer, it's just about controlling your message so you get the desired result. If you are a bastard then it's a yucky thing. If you're not, it can be a great thing that changes the world for the better. Unfortunately there are just a lot of bastards out there.
Having trouble with your marketing? Wish you could have an experienced direct-to-fan marketing expert look over your actual campaigns, music, or content and offer feedback? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a little one-on-one assistance so you can ask questions that pertain to your specific goals and get a second, more experienced, perspective? Click here to book a session with me now.
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