Though it is no longer as difficult for potential music fans to discover new music online, a similar struggle still remains for many hopeful musicians. Now, rather than the major problem being figuring out how to get a large amount of your demographic exposed to your band and music, the problem is now how to make yourself and your band’s music stand out enough that a consistently large enough fan base and followers are developed and maintained.
There are many ways of going about tackling this issue. Here are a few options for musicians looking to make themselves and their music famous online.
YouTube Marketing and Promotions
YouTube is the largest user submitted video community on the planet. It has done so well for itself that it has been purchased by and is now maintained by Google. There are a number of new key product and service offerings to YouTube’s huge list of members that many people are not aware of.
Among the most lucrative of these said products and services happens to be YouTube’s partnership program. A select amount of YouTube users that have garnered enough unique video hits for their growing list of original uploaded content can look to become a part of YouTube’s partnerships. Some of YouTube’s top performing partners are boasting figures between $17-20,000 per month, if not occasionally more. This is not an easy feat to reach at all.
You can try to accomplish what takes most of these lucky publishers many weeks, months and sometimes even years a lot quicker by opting to advertise any given video you own and have uploaded to YouTube through Google’s Adwords program. This usually results in tens and hundreds of thousands of views within a short period of time.
From there you can apply to become a partner and your channel’s videos will begin to show pre-roll advertisements, video rollover advertisements and standard Google image advertisements alongside your popular videos. Word of mouth on YouTube has even contributed to the signing of Justin Bieber to his current deal with Usher’s record label.
Facebook Promotions
Facebook might have a lot more continued relevance and power online due to its numerous partnerships with key players on the Internet landscape. Add to this the fact that sites and corporations everywhere have made Facebook list building, promotions and marketing a top priority within their own business models and you can see how they might easily continue to beat out Twitter and Myspace, at least in page rankings by search engines.
Here you can very easily and straightforwardly target any specific Facebook demographic you want. Advertisement space on Facebook is rapidly increasing and many individuals and analysts are beginning to question whether Facebook’s ad space is a fair or hugely inflated price that they are forcing on their users simply because they are currently the premiere social networking site online.
Luckily, with applications and widgets in abundance for musicians and businesses on Facebook you won’t have to solely rely on paid advertisement tactics, but you should always includ pay-per-click/view advertising within your Facebook marketing scheme for best results. Other than this, just make sure you reach out to as many potential fans and music business contacts as you can by adding as many people as you desire to your band’s profile.
This will give you the opportunity to greet each person personally and help you keep your friends in the know via status updates, which should be maintained and updated regularly for best business practices. Also, remember to frequently check your Facebook inbox as many bands seemingly neglect to do this. This is a great opportunity for you to gain a distinct edge on your competition.
Twitter and Musician Followers
You can’t deny the power and force that is Twitter. To some Twitter is a pain to attempt to manage and maintain and others wisely see it as the future of communications, micro-blogging that is. On Twitter you are forced to cut out the usual marketing extras due to restrictions on how many characters you can post at one time.
Users on Twitter are very receptive to links and you should find that many of your links receive a significantly high and sometimes even abnormal amount of click-thrus. This is a great thing. You can expose so many new people to your band, its brand and merchandise.
You can even cleverly progress your imaging through Twitter. Corporations like the WWE have even tested the effects of attempting to progress storylines through Twitter to very much success and a lot of fan approval. Perhaps you could figure out how to progress your band’s persona and fan base interest or interaction.
Mix and Match These Sites for Greatest Success
One site is not going to be the clear cut best way to market and promote your band online. Fan base and email list building takes time and a great and valiant continual effort by all band members and record label staff members associated with any given band for greatest levels of success.
You must constantly try new things on these and some of the other major social media sites out there; specifically niche markets like Garageband, ReverbNation and Soundclick. Keep on trying and maintain your efforts relentlessly on all major fronts and in the end you should begin to see the fruits of your band’s efforts. This being more exposure online and more CD and other merchandise profits.
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