social media, blogs, music and advertising
Portland band, Hockey, in a social networking environment.
I have some homework for those of you who like to read. Having been on many conference panels in my time, attempting to inform musicians and others about the value of using the Internet for marketing, my research led me to notice how the online social networks and the music landscape tend to shift in tandem. At times slowly, often rapidly. Recently I have noticed different social patterns emerging amongst the memberships of social networks, Facebook, MySpace etc, and how they are accessing music.
With social media and advertising in mind, I started a white paper and have just posted the first blush of those thoughts here. It dawned on me that the thread of information that I was weaving in the paper would be of interest to musicians and music fans alike as we all try to make sense of the online world. It’s a long read but I thought I would share it. The opening paragraphs are below and the read more link is at the bottom.
These days the advertising and marketing world is all abuzz with phrases such as - Social Media, Social Advertising, Facebook Ads, Mass Media Networking Advertising…..etc, etc.. In the last two weeks I have been a panelist at the L I S A seminar in Portland and the Hawaii MusicTech Conference Honolulu. L.I.S.A., which is an acronym for Lessons In Social Advertising, was aimed at marketers and advertisers who [for some reason] don’t understand social networks or haven’t yet worked out how to advertise effectively to them. It focused on topics such as ‘What is social advertising?’ and ‘How do you get young people to recommend your brand?’ The Hawaii MusicTech panel discussed how musicians could effectively use social networks such as Facebook and MySpace to reach an audience and communicate with them.
Two sides of the table as it were. One group wants to advertise, or push, their messages to a mass audience, while the other wants to create a network of like-minded people who hopefully will pull content such as free MP3s and then “evangelize” on behalf of the musicians by spreading messages by electronic word of mouth. With no hint of schizophrenia I happily migrate between both camps.