Week 16: Future strategy

Throughout CSIT 165, I had the opportunity to explore the different kinds of social media platforms I haven’t thought about using for my band. I was mainly managing the Instagram account because it has 2,350 followers and it was easier to maintain the following. I made the facebook page a few months ago for the assignment and it was really helpful. More people in my target audience use Facebook than I thought. Although, Instagram is definitely the most beneficial platform for managing a band. People love it, and will constantly scroll through their feed and see our posts. I have to be creative with the posts so that people can engage. The “FREAKS!” Facebook page now has almost 100 likes. I don’t have to do much because the Instagram is linked to the Facebook page. Facebook is great for sharing the events for the upcoming shows. It consumes a lot of time managing social media; however, it’s the best way to promote a band/music.

I am going to invest into buying some Facebook and Instagram ads to help people view our pages. I will look at the analytic charts to help determine who to target and what to use. We finally got a website so I will be running it. Once we have our merch ready, I’m going to put it up on the website. I haven’t had the chance to experiment with the email subscriptions. I will use it once we have more of a following and our EP released on Spotify. Three of us manage the account so at least one of us should be managing it on a daily basis. If we are active, it will help us gain followers.

The plan what I’m aiming towards is to release the EP, plan a few shows, (not too many) gain at least 500 more active followers, be active on the Facebook, promote a lot more, and to build personal connections. I want us to gain at least 10 followers a week. If someone with a bigger following promotes us, that would help a lot. I just quit my band with the bigger following, but I’m in another local alternative band. I will apply the strategies from this class to market us in the most efficient ways. I am going to plan for us to have a promotional photo shoot. Updating daily is crucial, one or two posts a day is a good amount; too many posts will be considered as spam. As long as one of us are active on the account on a daily basis, it will work out well.

Week 15

For my band, I would most likely use google ad words so when people google our website, then it will be the first thing to pop up. Ads will pop up for people within a nearby radius! I can control who I want to reach out to. The good thing is that Instagram and Facebook provide analytics of your follower growth and specific audience. They will come hand and hand to help me select the kind of ad I want to use. I would like to type in a vast amount of keywords so it doesn't have to be too vague when a person is looking us up. I want more people to look us up when we post something new on each social media platform

Week 14

Online advertising

The ads I decided to create are ones to promote upcoming events and pictures of FREAKS! playing shows. An objective is a direct target of where you want to pursue with something. In my case, I just want the audience to come to our shows, listen to music, and to keep updated with us. I want more people to follow us so we can get recognized. The goal is to promote our music on the internet and in person.

The Ads are all boost post/ engagement. I am tired of having ghost followers; the audience should be real. We have 2300 followers and we get an average of 300 likes per post. It’s frustrating because we should be expecting more engagement. The Instagram and Facebook Ads I promoted are promoting Grl Riot Nite and our next show at the Che Cafe.

Facebook

Instagram

week 13: part 2

I have paid for Facebook and Instagram ads to promote my band. I didn't pay a lot for it (I'm a broke college student) but it reached 700 people. It syncs together once I activated it. I narrowed my audience by selecting specific hashtags and accounts related to punk rock music. I paid more for my Instagram because more people use it, plus we have 2,300 followers on the account. It would be a great idea to create another ad when we release our single and EP so people can listen to it that have never even listened. I just used the engagement option for Facebook and selected similar pages, locations, job titles, demographics, education, etc... that people are following. It reaches out to them, but it depends on how much you want to pay. The more pages you select, the higher the price. The ad categories you can choose include: reach, engagement, video views, messages, lead generation. Most of these are specifically for your brand. Lead generation helps you find out information about people that are interested in your business. This is helpful when targeting your audience. If you post a video, video views will sponsor your video and reach out to more people. Engagement and reach are similar; setting a reach means you choose the maximum number of people that see your ad while engagement will get people to see your business on their feed. Choosing the ad type can be tricky because you need to budget your costs. I ask myself, "what will be the most beneficial the band?" And that's what leads me to my choices. 

Week 13: part 1

Bands don't really have advertisements on TV unless if they are well known. It would have to be for something they sell such as merchandise, new music, and ticket sales. I have seen an ad on Youtube for this band called Senses Fail promoting their new music video. It just had a short clip of it. When I watch a music video, there will sometimes be a 5-20 second ad for another music video. Personally, I think it's a great tactic for music to be heard. I frequently see Full Sail University pop up on my Facebook and Instagram feed specifically marketing to people (like me) that are interested in music and interesting in going to music school. This music event called Emo Nite Brooklyn was just sponsored on Facebook. When I clicked, it went to their website's touring date page. Also, 91x's radio music event promotions are is often seen in my feed. 91x is an independent radio station that even plays local bands' music. A lot of times I scroll past it, but sometimes I am interested and click on it. These pages narrowed their audience based off of other peoples (including my own) interests. Sometimes, a concert I want to see is sponsored by Ticketweb impulsively makes me click. I do not like the annoying scamming companies; unfortunately, some exist in the music industry. Music booking companies can be scammers desperately asking any local band they come across to play. Manifest booking is an example. The way they draw attention is by messaging bands to see if they can play a show if they can sell a minimum of 25 tickets, or else they have to pay out of pocket. A band starting off would think that it's so cool that they are being offered a show, but they don't realize that it's a scam. It reminds me of those annoying pop-up ads claiming that you have won a trip to Hawaii if you click on it then suddenly your computer gets a virus.  

I like it when advertisements have interesting titles/ topics. When a company has a nice logo I will look at it longer... especially when it has my favorite colors. 91x has a great logo for its vibe. Darker colors especially attract me. A logo and ad that I can remember in my head are effective. People are misled when they see a company with a bad logo. There has to be a good first impression.

Advertising on social media is easier and less expensive compared to traditional. I can pay $30 a week to target a select audience in promoting my pages. Putting up flyers in public places is not going to be as effective because everyone is paying attention to their phone. Social media is now the way the music industry is promoted. It really depends on the company and what they are trying to market and sell. If it's an independent contractor looking for clients, they can post an ad on craigslist and pass out their business cards. For example, my mom is an accountant that works at home under the name AK accounting services and is working with multiple clients. The way how she got clients was by posting ads on craigslist. She doesn't have any social media platforms for it and it's been successful. 

Week 8: Part 2

Killstar clothing

www.killstar.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/killstarco Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/killstar/

Instagram: 8 hours ago              

Facebook: 8 hours ago. Their Instagram and Facebook pages are synced together so the posts will be at the exact same time.

Killstar is a clothing company that sells alternative, punk rock, gothic, hipster clothing. They each make 2-4 posts on a daily basis. They want to keep customers updated with their latest releases and sales.

Dolls Kill clothing

1. www.dollskill.com An alternative and abstract female clothing line.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dollskill/

• Posted: 2 hours ago and makes 4 a day.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DollsKill

• Posted: 2 hours ago, posts 6-8 times a day.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dollskill

• Posted: yesterday. They tweet 3 times a day. It’s active enough to keep the consumers updated.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/dollskill/featured

• Last post: 2 months ago. It’s obviously not as active compared to the rest.

Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/dollskill

• Daily snapchat stories.

Overall, Dolls Kill mainly uses Facebook and Instagram because they are professionally looking social platforms for their business and it appeals their targeted audience.

Blink 182 (professional band)

www.blink182.com/  This top selling pop punk runs itself like a business. They are signed to Geffen Records. Their producers have staff members run their social media and websites.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6FBDaR13swtiWwGhX1WQsP They post all of their tracks, albums, releases, etc. The last time Blink released their album California Deluxe edition.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blink182/ Last posted: 3 days ago. Updates audience with a weekly post

Twitter: https://twitter.com/blink182 Last post was 1 day ago. Makes around 1-3 tweets daily.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blink182 Last posted: February 9th. Makes a weekly post.

Blink-182 is most active on Twitter. The listeners use Spotify (since Spotify is connected to Facebook) to listen to their music unlimitedly.

Vans

https://www.vans.com Shows 5 social media platforms they use.

Facebook: Posted 4 hours ago. They make an average of a daily post.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VANS_66 Posted 9 hours ago. Vans makes around

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/VansShoes66 They posted 3 days ago. Vans uploads around 2-3 youtube videos weekly. The videos are promotions of professional skaters using their products.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vans/ Posted 4 hours ago, same exact posts on Facebook. Their accounts are synced.

Tumblr: http://vans.tumblr.com Last posted 4 hours ago, they make reblogs/ posts a few times a day.

Vans uses their social media platforms almost equally. It helps them market their brand to         customers. It is successful and it keeps the audience interested.

Soma San Diego- music venue

Somasandiego.com Shows 3 social media platforms

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/somasd/ Last posted: 1 hour ago. Makes 3 posts daily about upcoming shows

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SOMAsd Last post: 11 hours ago. Makes around 2-3 posts       almost everyday

Instagram: Instagram.com/somasd Last posted: 3 days ago. Soma makes a random amount of posts but has made 6 posts.

Soma is one of the few all ages mom and pop concert venue. I personally know the staff and owners, and they run the business by themselves. They have to market their business on social media to help grabs people's attention about their upcoming shows. They mainly use Facebook and Twitter based off of the higher amounts of viewers. It is difficult making money at an all age venue because they don’t serve alcohol which helps venues make profits. Also, less younger people attend concerts and a lot of times people over 21 don’t want to go to a venue that doesn’t allow alcohol. Soma has recently got its alcohol license and only serves it during mainstage shows. They just serve the beverages behind side stage.

From doing some researching, each business/ service are on at least 3 social media sites. It’s almost a necessity for them to have out there because so many people are on social media. The main accounts each company uses are on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram due to the popularity of these sites.

However, some people aren’t on social media, so it’s important to have an eye appealing website. Social media basically reposts pictures of what they advertise. It is the modern way of advertising and is taking over old traditional methods. Everything is converting to internet based websites. Shopping online is very popular and is almost as good as physically going into the store and seeing the products in person. On the internet, you can not do that, but it allows you to not leave your house.

The digital age is beneficial for every business because anyone with internet can see a company’s website and social media pages.

Week 12: Part 2

I just made a LinkedIn account the other day and created a decent profile. I am on there to connect with people in the music industry and larger record labels such as Epitaph, Fearless, Hopeless, and Rise Records. I've sent out invitations to the employees working for the larger labels and studios. I also asked to join the drummers and the drummer industry, touring organization, and DAW groups. LinkedIn a great way to connect with people in the industry I want to get into. I sent the successful people a nice note because I really want them to connect with me. 

Our single is almost ready to be released. There are just so many complications in the recording process because it's expensive, hard to plan out, and easy to mess up. We had to re-record most of our songs because we want it to sound as good as possible. Like I said, our EP is going to be uploaded on Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Itunes, and Spotify. We will be promoting it all over our other social media platforms to get people to listen to it. At the same time, we want to be paid for our music and the best way is for people to buy it on Itunes. On Bandcamp you can choose to donate money to the artists; Spotify will only give you $.05 per listen. We would also be selling physical CD copies at our merch booths. I believe our music is the most important thing to spread to our audience; that's how we will boost our following and be successful.