Paid Search Marketing: The Social Media Strategy

January 2, 2015

Building Traffic Channels – the spokes of your hub.

Learn to get online traffic to your website. This section will guide you through proven techniques for getting subscribers to your sight.

Getting traffic is easy. Most people struggle with this because they get too much of the wrong kind of visitors. For example: Let’s say you have a company that sells lamps. You can purchase a bunch of google advertising that will direct traffic to your site for the word lamps when someone types the word “lamps” in Google. You can spend all the money in the world. Unfortunately, you won’t sell too many lamps. Why? It is because the customer might be searching for “freestanding lamps” or “street lamps”. These are two totally different products and you might only sell Table Lamps. Long story short, if you are not targeting the correct types of terms or people, then you will waste a ton of money.

So, with this new knowledge lets go over how the process works. The goal is to build an email list. Wait… What…? I thought you said we will be advertising on other networks? Okay you got me. So, let me break it down for you. What you will be building is what is known as a sales funnel.

What is a sales funnel?

Simply put… a sales funnel is the system by which you put prospects in the top of your funnel. Then, they move through a sales process. Finally, you have customers come out of the bottom… Yes, paying customers. Here, I will show you a “paid sales funnel” and then provide you with different places you can pay for these campaigns.

How does this work?

Well, first off the quickest way to get traffic is “Pay-Per-Click” advertising. Pay-Per-Click is just what it sounds like. It is where you pay when somebody clicks on your advertisement. The advertisement should be a promoted post in whatever platform you are using (check below for platforms). Create some content that is either music they can listen to, a post that is relative to your target audience, or a video interview of another band.
Once they are on your website you can focus on relationship. The best method is to get someone to subscribe to your email list. This is covered extensively in the next chapter to stay tuned. Giving someone content that is relative to them will help you to build a relationship.
How do we know if the relationship is going well? It is called trust. This is when a person has moved through the first two stages and are opening your emails and commenting on your music. It is where they like what you do and believe in your cause.
Finally after someone trusts you it’s time to make an offer they cannot refuse. What this does is make a raving fan out of that person. They trust you so much and like your special discount on your brand new album that they have no problem giving you money.

Different Places You Can Get Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Facebook – This is the largest social network out there and can be very successful. Most people throw money away and have no idea how to spend on this platform. The key is to start small. Then review your results tweak your messaging then see the results. It can take a while but all good things do. Here is a great post on how to start on Facebook.

http://okdork.com/2014/03/04/how-to-start-advertising-on-facebook/

Twitter – Twitter ads are taking off right now and it’s good to get on the gravy train before everyone figures this out. Twitter has a variety of options for advertising. The best one for your music marketing efforts is using their Promoted Tweets.

Sign up for an account. If you already have twitter, then you are good to go.
Once signed up, go to the twitter search section. Look for other bands in your genre. Follow these bands.
Then go over to digg.com and look at what is popular and the most re-tweeted stories.
Now you know what your audience will like.
Create a similar tweet and link it to your similar article.
Now in twitter, choose your target audience or interests in timeline.
Target your tweet. Using Keywords In Timeline Setting.
Look for .50 to .75 cent cost per click (cost per engagement is what Twitter calls it).

There are services out there that will help with this such as:

http://justretweet.com/

http://tweetpeddler.com/

http://retweets.pro/buy-twitter-tweets

http://retweet.it/

Stumble Upon – A great site that you can use for free, but here is how to use the paid traffic.

Create a blog post. Here’s a few tips of the type of post below.

Make a highly visual blog post with lots of eye catching photo’s.
Make a list style post that has songs of musicians that you like along with one of your songs.
You could also promote. Ten “must see” concerts by local bands or five musicians you didn’t know played live music in your area.

Using paid discovery on stumble upon.
1. Sign up for a stumble upon account.
2. Select the URL of the article that you want to promote.
3. Once you are in stumbleupon ads, you will have some criteria that you will need to fill out.
4. Select your target market. You already did this in the first chapter.
5. There are two options; .10+ per click and .12+ per click.
6. With the more expensive of the two, you will be able to be more specific with your criteria, interests, age, and location.
7. Using “interests” helps and location will work wonders.

Get visitors.
1. Once you have the account set up, you will want to run the ad.
2. Make sure you start slow and small until you get the hang of it.
3. This is a great form of promoting concerts that are coming up. Make sure you use an eye catching picture at the top of the post. Create an awesome header that makes you want to read the article.
4. Make sure your page loads fast, fast, fast.

Take a look at http://searchengineland.com/5-seo-tips-boost-page-speed-187931

These are my favorites for getting paid traffic. The trouble is that you can easily spend a lot of money and not have it work. Trust me, 98% of marketers spend money that doesn’t make sense for their business and then say how horrible the service is. The thing is companies want people to spend money so they make it really easy to. So don’t think it will work amazingly the first time. Instead, spend small until you get the hang of it. If something seems to work then spend a little more to make sure. Once you figure out what is working for you spend more until you reach your goals. Right now you have mastered getting people in the top of your sales funnel. You now have traffic! Follow along in the next section to really see how to get bags of cash out of your sales funnel.

Find Followers: Using Bicycle Wheel Marketing

January 2, 2015

Building an audience is one of the hardest things to do as a musician. This technique is a tried and true way to profit and promote yourself as a musician, or band.

What is this Bicycle Wheel Business?

Let’s start with the basics first. You are a musician how do you sell your tickets, music, or even merchandise? Well, if you are in the 21^st century the best way is through your website. Your website is the best way to succeed in the music business today. I am not going to cover how to make a website because there are enough tutorials online just search in Google [How to make a website]. What I will tell you is how to promote your website and use it to gain followers, sell out shows fast, make sales on your albums the day they release, and profit from merchandise.

Overview

Imagine a bicycle wheel. There is a hub, which is the center. Then you have spokes that extend out to the rim. Your website is the hub. The rest of the internet is the rim and the spokes are the connections of your website to the rest of the internet. Your goal is to have connections (spokes) that bring people to your website (the hub). Your website should be a destination and not just another place for people to find out about you.

This will make more sense as you read further, I will teach you about how to get people to your site. In the next chapter, I will go over more detail of each traffic channel.

Let’s start with the website first:

Your website is a communication tool. You will want to have a store so you can sell tickets, music, and merchandise. The second goal of your website is communication with current fans and prospective fans. You want to make your website a hub for your music and information that is relevant to your target audience. (Remember the list you created in chapter 1)

How does this work?

We’ll, besides from having your music you might want to have live recordings of shows. This will help you start to form the foundation of trust with your potential fans. By giving away free information people will start to trust you and give your band authority. Taking the hub even further you could post music and interviews that you have done with other bands in your genre. This way you will be getting in front of fans from another band helping to rapidly build your audience even bigger!!

So, what kind of stuff do you want to post on your website?

Many marketers have preached that “content is king”. This sounds good, but what does it mean? Content is information that you create to connect with an audience. The most important piece of content that you can create is one that speaks to your target audience. So, how do you do this? Well first off most people coming to your website are looking for information about your band such as post music, music videos, and articles about your band. Create story’s that are about how your fans help you. Tell your fans how important they are to you. Use your media to connect with your fans. Here are some ideas below of how to progress:

Video – This is a great way to show your band in action. A music video helps people feel like they are there watching you. Create an interview that shows the “behind the scenes”; what it’s like to get ready for a show. Connect with fans. Be creative but the best thing you can do is show yourself as you really are. An interview will help fans connect with you on a deeper personal level.

Audio – This not only includes your music this can be a podcast of your favorite songs. It can also be an interview with your band members. The point of this media is to make people feel connected to you.

Written – Use a blog to post articles about your band. Tell a story speaking to your fans telling them how much they mean to you. You can get really creative, telling fans to send in articles of how the show went for them. You can post the best article on your site. Get creative and tell a story about your band and the fans.

Infographic – An infographic is a style of media that uses clipart and pictures with information to communicate an idea. This type of content is very effective in communicating an idea. The trick is to be selective in what you want to communicate.

Comments – This highly overlooked activity is one of the most important techniques. Whenever your fans comment on a blog, respond to each comment. This takes time but it shows you care about your followers.

Use your content to tell your unique story. Don’t just post and pray. Calculate and think about what you are posting and what effect it will have on your communication with your following. In today’s competitive music industry, you will want to get people to follow your band. This means telling a story that shows your authenticity and connects to the emotions of your audience in order to create raving fans. Now, you should have a good foundation of your marketing foundation. The website is your hub. Continue to the next chapter to learn about getting people to your site.

How To Network In The Music Industry

January 2, 2015

Networking is one of those things that scares people in the beginning, but this is the guaranteed method to get you more screaming fans quickly.

The biggest mistake people make when they are networking is not selling themselves. The sad reality is people are always looking to get noticed, but nobody wants to give back. Let me tell you a story to illustrate this point.

You have two people named Charlie and Sarah. Charlie is a good musician with plenty of talent. He knows he is good and just wants to be recognized for his talent and skill. Sarah is also a musician. Let’s say they are both guitarists.

Charlie has been asked to play with other bands; but really he knows he is a great musician and people should want to play with him, or at least invite his band to open for another band. The biggest frustration is Charlie has great talent and sees other musicians around getting more popular. Charlie has the skills but what is going wrong?

Sarah, on the other hand, has talent, but she also isn’t stuck up about how good she is. She wants to be even better, so how does she go about this. Sarah calls other bands that she has become friends with. She asks them if they need any help or would want to collaborate. Sarah is continually searching for musicians that she aspires to be like and tries to figure out how to work with them. This helps her grow as a musician, but she is secretly building a network.

Over time, Charlie has become jaded and resentful. He knows he should be playing with other bands, but wonders when the phone is going to ring for his chance. His life has not changed and he continues to do what he has always done; playing gigs when they pop up and doesn’t seem to be gaining any ground.

Sarah, on the other hand, has cultivated a network. When a friend is playing a show, they are now asking if her band wants to open. Sarah continues to water the seeds of these friendships. Finally, she starts to book some shows of her own. As here yelling fan base continues to swell, she is now asking bands to open for her.

What this story illustrates is that you get out what you put in. The music industry is competitive. What helps are connections and networks. These connections don’t show up overnight, they get cultivated. So, below is a technique written by Shaun Letang from Musicthinktank.com (By the way, awesome technique Shaun).

Johan Hansson Unaltered

The Ladder Method.

BlowUpLadder Method – Collaboration.

Your goal is to create a network of musicians that will provide a launching point for musical success.

Start out by making a list of other musicians in your genre that you would have access to.
Rank these artists on how popular they are. You can make a list that has artists on multiple levels, creating a tiered system. Typically the top of the list will be very busy and not have time for any new up and coming talent. But, this is where the secret sauce is. Pick the tier that you rank on. Now, look at the level above you and these are the musicians that you want to get to know and play with.
This is the fun part. Go around, check out their shows, find out where they hang out or try to get a hold of them through email or social media. On the first contact, don’t approach them and ask, “Hey, can I play with you?” This rarely works. The key is to use some simple psychology to get them excited to help you.

Simple psychology?! What does that mean?

On your first encounter, get to know them. You want to strike up a conversation about them. This gets people excited and thinking “Hey, this persons really cool.” The first trick is to show genuine interest in who they are. Ask them questions that normal fans would not ask. This is called the trench technique. You want to start off by asking surface questions. Then, you will slowly ask deeper and more meaningful questions. Check out the below example:

You: Hey, you really rocked up there. That was awesome. Good job!

Rocker: Thanks!

You: This might sound crazy, but can I ask you a question? (Get permission to ask a question. This will prevent them from getting upset at you for asking a question because they agreed to it).

Rocker: Umm sure? (They might be confused, but don’t worry. Just keep rolling with it).

You: I like your [pick a song you just heard them play]. That was really great when you [describe a specific part of the song in musician terminology], I totally enjoyed it. Did you write it?

Rocker: [They might give you a funny look, but you just gave yourself credibility asking a question that requires more thought than the average question]. Yes, I did. Can’t believe you knew what I was going for.

You: No problem. How did you come up with it?

Rocker: Well… [blah blah blah]

Congratulations! You just got someone to like you. The keys: No matter what they say, always try and direct the conversation back toward them talking about themselves. If they ask you a question, that is fine, but answer it as quickly as possible and continue to get them speaking about themselves. This will work wonders and show that you are truly interested in them.

Now, before the conversation is over, ask them for one last thing. Explain that you are really interested in them and think they are in a successful musical place that you would like to attain someday [-this appeals to their ego-]. Then ask them if they would be willing to help you. Talk quickly about your musical background and say, “I would really appreciate an opportunity to jam with you sometime.” [Now, don’t say a word. Wait and let them speak. Your heart will be pounding, you might feel sweat on your palms – it’s okay, Just make sure they either give you a yes or no.] If it’s a yes, you know it’s worth pursuing. If it’s a no, don’t worry about it and move to the next person on your list.

Once you have played a show with several of these musicians, it’s time to move to the next tier of musicians. Remember this can take time but it is totally worth it. The major key is to keep at it and don’t let a “No” get you down. Once you play with one musician your efforts will combine for a snowball effect.

Next, find out how to use Bicycle Marketing to build an audience and build a swell of fans.

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