Music Marketing: Top 5 Reasons To Have A Fan Page On Facebook

What Do Kings Of Leon, and Ani DiFranco Have In Common?

They have large Facebook.com followings. If you're a musician, singer, songwriter, producer in Today's Music Biz and you don't have a Facebook Fan page, you're missing a huge opportunity.

According to Entrepreneur Magazine (September 2009), Facebook has 200 million users, beating Myspace.com by 100 million. For that reason, Facebook is Today and Myspace "is like, so yesterday".


Top 5 Reasons To Have A Fan Page On Facebook

1.  Facebook allows Public Figures to have a 'Facebook Fan Page'.


A  Fan page is different from your profile page and allows people to comment  and  'like'  your  latest  updates. It also allows Fan's to show you some love without you having to worry about deleting spam comments.


2. Skanks stay away from Facebook.


I hate friend generators.  The good thing about Facebook is that it doesn't have any friend generator applications.  So people who become Fan's of your Facebook Fan Page, are usually not attention whores, trying to pad their friend counts.  I've been on Facebook for about a year now and I've never gotten a request from a 'Spam Skank' inviting me to come watch her sexy vid's.  Facebook allows you to truly build your fan base without the skanks and spam.


3.  Facebook makes Music Marketing easier

Facebook allows you to get more traffic to your website, YOUTUBE Channel, blog and even your MySpace and Ilike pages. For example, if you have a gig coming up, you can update your status and inform your fans. Kings of Leon have over 1 million fan's (which I'm one of a million).  Ani DiFranco has over 30,000 devoted fans on her Facebook Fan Page.


4, Facebook also allows 3rd Party applications.


If you're already on Twitter, there's good news.  You can have Twitter automatically update your Facebook Page.  Facebook allows many 3rd Party Applications.


5. Facebook makes viral marketing easy.


On Facebook, if someone likes what you're doing, they can share it with as many friends as the want.  I know from experience that friends like to pass on stuff their friends send them.  Facebook makes sharing easy.  Viral Marketing is just a savvy word for sharing and Facebook is a simple way of marketing.


Check out our new site Today'sMusicBiz.Com

The ABC's Of Music Marketing

This Music Marketing blog post is brought to you by the letter's A. B. and C
The are three fundamentals for Marketing Music in Today's Music Biz. What are they?  Stick around and keep reading for today's answer. You can jump ahead of the class by watching this video.




What is Music Marketing?

"Music Marketing is the science of selling more music, to more of your fans -  more often".  

That quote isn't entirely mine.  I learned it from Sergio Zyman.  Mr. Zymans' book, 'The End of Marketing As We Know It', was revolutionary.  In that book Mr. Zyman shattered a lot of the Marketing missteps and helped me to focus on what was important for my clients; selling more of whatever they marketed.

The ABC's Of  Music Marketing.

As the title of today's post suggest there are three components to marketing music to gain more sales. The ABC's of Music Marketing are:

• Audience
• Benefit
• Conversons

In fact, there is an easy to remember formula to use when marketing your music to Fans:

"Audience + Benefits = Conversions"

Audience:

Who is your audience?  In marketing terms, what 'Demographic(s)' are you trying to sell to?  Here are some good questions to ask:

• What age range are your fan's? Are they Women 18 - 24 or are they Men 35-54?
  
• What are they into?  
• Where do your fans shop? 
• What life-style do they lead?
• How do your fan's vote?

Once you have a grasp of the Demographic Segments ("Demo) you're trying reach you'll save a lot of time formulating your marketing plans.

One thing that frustrates me is when an Artist asks me for help but they don't have a clue as to whom the Artist is trying to reach.  If I had a dollar for every time a talented Indie Artist said, "I'm trying to reach everybody", I would have retired long ago with a fortune.

 The sad fact is, every song won't sell to every one.  For that reason, it's important to pick your Target (Market / Demo) carefully.

Benefit's:

Benefits include what's in it for the 'Buyer'.  Benefit's should not be confused with features.  For example, if you've got some great graphics as Cover Art, those graphics are features.  On the other-hand if those graphics can make the buyer relax, that is a benefit.

OK, let's take another example.  Say you go to buy some speaker wire and you're on a budget?  You find all kinds of colors, lengths and price ranges.  Since you're on a budget, the higher priced wires are features, prevent you from buying.  Whereas the speaker wires that fit your budget will provide you a benefit.

Now let's say the sales person at the store is trying to sell you on the various colors of the wires (but at a much higher price).  How will that benefit you? It won't. Unless you find a benefit in color coordinating your sound system you'll buy any speaker wire that fits your budget. Fan's buy based on benefits - not features.

Conversions:

A "Conversion" is any action that your fan takes, based on your call to action. Marketing Professionals have a saying that, "nothing matters until after the conversion". Nothing could be more accurate in Today's Music Biz.

For example, Jay-Z has a new website (Rock4Life.com).  This website allows visitors the opportunity to convert and follow all of "Rock Nation's" artist.  How does he do this? By allowing visitors to make their own profile page on the site.

Every Music Marketer should have a feature that allows for small conversions to turn into big conversions later.

So there you have it, the ABC's of Marketing.  Do you have anything to add?  Maybe you have some questions?  If so, feel free to comment below.
Click Here to Discover the Secrets of Success in Today's Music Business. Or log onto www.simbiz.info.

The Big Secret Of Music Marketing

In my days as Music Director of a Hip-Hop Radio Station, I learned one big secret. This secret influenced not only my career, but every successful artist that I've worked with. What is this big secret? Two words "Emotional Marketing".

Taylor Swifts' latest single, "You Belong With Me" (in the video above) is one of the most added songs in America, at Radio, last week August 13. Why is that? Many people don't believe that Ms. Swift has the best singing voice. So what makes Taylor Swift so successful? What is her Secret?

Ms. Swifts' secret can be summed up in the words of every one who has ever been a teen with an unlikely crush on someone. In the song Ms. Swift is singing about a boy she likes. The problem is the boy is dating a popular (but mean) Cheerleader. What Ms. Swift is marketing in her music is love and desire.

Music Marketing is not about how "hot" or "rockin" or 'twangy" your music is. Music Marketing is about getting Fan's to trust the artist. Fan's want to identify with something. Hip-Hop Fan's identify with artists who have 'Swag' a.k.a. confidence. Rock Fan's identify with artists who are not scared to rebel, Country Fan's identify with music that reflects their values.

So, before you launch your next Music Marketing effort, take a moment and think about the emotional qualities of your music. Make sure that you communicate those emotional factors in your publicity efforts. Try to win Fan's emotionally and you'll be more persuasive at selling your music.

How do you feel about this big secret of Music Marketing? Let me know by placing a comment below? Also feel free to subscribe for Music Marketing updates.