It looks as though the tricks of the MySpace glory days are STILL being used by some bands today. The only difference is that the social network has changed.
This type of behaviour doesn’t make any sense at all! In fact, I’d argue that those “tricks” are what drove people away from those social networks in the first place. And what are those tricks exactly? Indiscriminately ADDING EVERYONE (read: Spamming). That means, Friend-ing EVERYONE, Tagging EVERYONE, Following EVERYONE, Over-posting, etc.
Wake up folks this doesn’t work. Most people have enough social media savvy to know when they are being spammed, even if it’s on a new network (like Instagram).
The only way to make meaningful long-term fans via social media is to do it the old fashion way; Post good content, engage new followers, and pace yourself. Writing “IF U FOLLOW ME I WILL FOLLOW U BACK” on someone’s wall/photo/stream will only work if you’re interested in gathering a following of people who only care about their number of followers. They don’t care about your music.
Use your head, and be real online. Spamming gets you nowhere and wastes everyone’s time; EVOLVE.
Music Consciousness
Voyno
1 Comment
Spot on! Unfortunately I look forward to more articles. Can’t seem to subscribe cos of some sort feedburner probs.
Here is a blog of mine that is on the same lines.
Online Friends Are Not Whores
If you invite someone onto your page and just leave the automated message “Xyz wants to be your friend” then you’re treating your prospective new friend like a whore.
After all you wouldn’t go up to someone in a singles bar and just say “I want to be your friend” You’d chat them up first, find out something about them, pay a genuine compliment and so on.
So why don’t people do the same when looking for online friends on the social networking sites, especially My Space?
Then there’s the Whore Train and similar software which is the ultimate in impersonal friend searches. It’s the online version of promiscuity where the amount of friends you get is more important than the quality of those friends.
And of course A & R peeps aren’t fooled. Nor is anyone else for that matter. On the other hand if you have many friends and the number of well thought out comments they post is high in percentage terms then people might prick up their ears.
So make your online friends special by doing the following:
1. When inviting them use the message facility and show that you’ve visited their page and say something nice (but be genuine) about their site such as the design or you like their songs or comment on something in their bio etc. Anything to show that you’ve bothered to look at their page properly.
2. If possible address them by name in your message
3. When they accept you as a friend post a comment on their page thanking them but don’t leave it as a bare “thanks for the add.” Make the thank you different if possible and also say something more about their page/music etc
4. Aim to post a comment once a month, open a spreadsheet to keep track if necessary. Yes it takes time to do that but it will show that you are a person who cares about your friends.
Remember an online friend is a fan you’ve not yet met! 🙂
The Legendary Frank