Social Media

By, Wendy Day at Rap Coalition (www.WendyDay.com)

I have not written much about the digital or on-line marketplace. It’s not because I don’t think it has value, it’s that because it’s such a cheap means of promotion that I don’t want artists to think they can just promote on the internet and that’s it. Many people choose to promote themselves on-line because they can do it from the comfort of their own home, it’s easy, and it’s cheap (almost free).

Because of that, I am going to remind urban artists that the internet is only 15 to 25% of your sales base (less if your music is very gutter and street oriented), so if you are ONLY available digitally, or only promoting digitally, you are leaving money on the table, and missing a large part of your fan base that still buys CDs and still puts value in the traditional methods of finding out about an artist: street buzz.

Both traditional promotion and on-line promotion are important. You, the artist, are a brand. You need to spread the word about your brand into a movement. As your movement grows, you want more and more people involved in it and talking about it to others. This is the goal of any product, person, artist, or idea that is looking to be spread. It is important to reach people in their environment, on their time, whether they read publications, read blogs, surf the web, play video games, watch videos or tv/cable shows, hang out in clubs, go to the Mall—whatever they do, and wherever they go, your brand/logo/mention needs to be in their face. The more they see “you,” the more they will wonder who you are, and investigate if you are worthy of their time and money.

In a perfect world, you want them dancing to your song in the club, hearing your song on mix CDs, singing along to your song on the radio, noticing your song playing in other vehicles as they drive by, paying to see you perform in the club, buying your mix CDs and buying your music (and who gives a fuck if it’s a CD or the download of your album as long as they are paying for it and not bootlegging it!).

Social networking consists of exactly that—interacting with people in a social environment, in an arena where they come to interact with you. Some great resources are MySpace (they can hear your music and learn who you are), Facebook (they can see who you interact with and who you do business with, plus they see what others are saying about you), and Twitter (they can interact with you directly and read what you say and how you respond to others). One thing about social networking sites is that the genuine y-o-u usually comes out, and hopefully that’s a positive thing!

If you are totally missing the boat, you can use these social networking sites as opportunities to sell stuff and over hype and over promote yourself, but people will tune you out pretty quickly. Or you can be smart and use these sites as little inner glimpses of who you are and what you believe to allow your fans to understand and gravitate towards you (or push you away if you are a tremendous asshole). For example, on Twitter, Nicki Minaj (@NickiMinaj) uses her tweets to talk about “Barbies” and her upcoming shows. As I see her tweets, I realize she is a hard working artist who is always busy and performing. This tells me she has a fan base if she’s doing 5 shows a week, and therefore must be popular. It made me want to research her music and who she is, even though I’m sure I’m on some email list somewhere that has sent me her music. She defines her own words called “Nictionary Terms.” She has stood out from everyone else and gotten my attention. I am just one person….she has over one hundred thousand followers. In fact, on a Tuesday in July at 3pm, Nicki Minaj has been mentioned 54 times by name in the past 2 hours (not including her tweets, nor @nickiminaj, nor any label or publicist tweets). That’s great for a new artist who hasn’t dropped an album yet. And with all of those followers and tweets, she still manages to interact with her fans on Twitter. It’s amazing to me.

How Can You Build Your Brand and Fanbase Using Social Media Besides MySpace & Twitter?

In addition to interacting directly with your fans and the industry on Twitter, you can build a Blog. It’s another great was to humanize your brand and share opinions and thoughts with your fanbase. You can talk about your life, who you are, where you are from. You can discuss opinions on current events and places. You can offer a running commentary on how you spend your days, if it’s interesting enough. You can post photos and blogs along the way. Blogspot, Blogger, and WordPress are the free ones I know about without googling for more. You also have the option to build your own blog on your MySpace page.

For those who want to spread their image as well (which is important), photos, YouTube, or UStream can be tied into all of your social networking efforts. Remember if you go live, that having something to say is important. Not everyone is meant to have their own live reality show. I’ve seen many that are as exciting as watching paint dry. I do enjoy the ones in the studio sessions where I can watch artists and producers record. Drumma Boy and J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League offer some exciting ones!! Also, TI’s studio, Echo, has a UStream feed that offers technical tips and do’s and don’ts from head engineer, Dirt! Your live feeds also give you something to talk about , on your Twitter page, blogs, etc, before, during, and after the broadcast.

When I was out on promo tour with BloodRaw we set up his own YouTube TV page and downloaded video footage at the end of every day so fans could tour along with us. We also had a blog page where we uploaded photos along the way so fans could see what we were doing and where we were. By the end of his 40 day promo tour, we had over 12,000 people riding along with us. And that was 18 months ago….before Twitter was popular. I think we’d have more than 4 times the following now since it’s far more popular today and since we could have been instantly interactive (like Twitter).

Podcasts are also a wonderful way to share your brand, and voice, with fans. It’s a quick way to record your voice and share a story or experience in your own words. The podcasts can then be downloaded from your sites or blog, attached to tweets, or uploaded to iTunes if your demand is big enough. Vocals and visuals can often times make a story more exciting than just text. I’ve heard some awesome podcasts by B Real discussing border crossings with weed in his pockets, back when he was touring with Cypress Hill. His amusing antidotes are funny, and are great experiences to hear.

Facebook is a great place to interact with fans as well. A savvy artist can also set it up so that tweets post there as well as on their website, so it gives people multiple ways to reach you directly (or a staff member working for you). Ron Artest’s fake Twitter page (who’s on payroll) is far more fun and interesting than his real page. I’m not even going tell you which is which.

Facebook allows you to post photos, join groups, interact with fans directly, blast information and posts, and keep up with other artists that you’ve befriended or who have similar fan bases as you. It’s a great way to increase your reach and seen as more professional than MySpace (which seems to now skew younger)! As an artist, you need pages at both sites. You can also offer contests, discounts for shows, schedules of events, etc.

Most newer artists haven’t navigated the world of iPhone and Blackberry Applications, but if you have a strong enough following, they are definitely a source of income and promotion. Also, FriendFeed is a newer network that could become a player in the social networking mix for artists soon. It is a social media content aggregator that offers a community of people who conversate around content. And after all, you want people talking about you.

Although it’s important to use traditional methods to spread your awareness and promote yourself, the internet is a great and inexpensive (but VERY time consuming) way to get your name and message out there. The trick is to find the right balance that works for you and best reaches your core fans and new potential fans.