The Blogging Fan Is My Publicist

Image provided by Danilo Rizzuti

I recently did a guest post and noticed some great opportunities.

Social networking makes it very important to acknowledge and help those that help you. Maybe that is not an approach that every musician wants to take, but from a small operation standpoint, I love the Idea.

While reading Technorati’s “State of the Blogosphere 2009” I wanted to observe some blogging growth trends.

But as the 2009 State of the Blogosphere survey demonstrates, the growth of the blogosphere’s influence on subjects ranging from business to politics to the way information travels through communities continues to flourish. In a year when revolutions and elections were organized by blogs, bloggers are blogging more than ever, and the State of the Blogosphere is strong.- Jennifer McLean

The Blogging Fan provides an interesting aspect. I’m thinking about engaging with readers on my band site that also have blogs. If this aspect flourishes in internet marketing, why not music marketing?

This is not to neglect other fans, it is to explore who your fans are. How can you help each other? This is not a promotion that is done at random just to increase traffic, its to build relationships.

I see backlash on Twitter from fans disliking artists for their lack of engagement, or still pretending you are bigger than life and are too busy for your fans. I couldn’t agree with the fans more. I’ve even contacted artists with a similar fanbase as mine and was shocked to see how they viewed themselves as rockstars, when their follower size and website look proved otherwise.

What did I learn?

Reward those that show interest in you.

What Blogging Has Taught Me About Online Street Teams

I have always stressed how important gaining visitors is to your site, and even though sales can be sluggish, don’t give up your efforts to improve. One thing I think people overlook is how important of an asset your visitors are. Traffic is a good thing, the more the better. How can you make it work for you?

I was offered to do guest blog for a larger site and I was happy for the opportunity to be featured on a blog with such high visibility, seeing traffic trickle in and introducing a new form of visitors to my project.

In return, I wrote a review about the author and introduced my readers to his site and my article. I reciprocated because I wanted to, not because I had to. I appreciated the acknowledgement. I was more willing to promote his site in the future. I already enjoyed visiting the site, now I found myself talking about the site to others.

Create that feeling for your blogging fans. It doesn’t have to be a guest post. It’s about relationships and learning from one another.

The Blogging Fan Initiative

When your blog starts expanding, your fans start showing up in your comment section. Now it’s time to get to know some of your fans. Let them know you see them, and appreciate their time.

Let them share as your traffic rises. Traffic is what you can return to your fans. Bloggers love more eyeballs staring at their content.

The project is in the hands of the musician. How can you show love for your blogging fans?

1. “Fan of the Week”: find a fan that has a provided some good input to your music or has been a loyal reader. Highlight them in a post and introduce your listeners to them. Highlight who they are, what they do (their website) and where fans can learn more about them. Create a sense of community. Introduce fans to other fans.
2. Visit a Fan’s blog and participate: return the love if you actually enjoy their subject and comment on their blog. It doesn’t have to be music related, it just has to be genuine. Don’t fake it just to promote, genuinely get to know people. Build relationships.
3. Twitter Promotion: introduce your followers to your new friends and Retweet an article they wrote or a website they write for (only if you like it). Great way to show your love for new followers.
4. Social Bookmarking: If you like any aspect of their blog, Stumble or Digg an article. It takes less than a minute and helps their cause tremendously
5. Mention In Newsletter: some fans are producers, musicians or artists, they would probably love the promo

These are just some examples so get creative with some of your own techniques. You might find its easier than you think to build these bridges.

Blogging Fans Respect The Effort

For the independent band or musician, bloggers carry alot of weight. I even believe on a lower level, bloggers outweigh traditional press releases when established in the proper channels.

Don’t view it as a chance to get your music reviewed, view it as a way to increase your visibility with people who are more likely to return the favor in the future. It’s only selfish marketing when you don’t put in the effort to help others. Nobody owes you anything.

Practicing this allowed me to meet some generous souls out there that now I can call good friends. Without their help, I would not have the extra article Retweets, the new RSS subscribers, and the extra daily visitors that show increasing traffic. There is no right way to approach this, just get to it and get to know your fellow fans.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 10:11 pm and is filed under Web 2.0 Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.