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The Independent Music Artist And Social Networks – 3 Strategies

You’ll find the web littered with advice for independent music artists all about how you can use social network sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter to promote your music, attract a tribe of supporters and make more money.

It’s easy to get lost in the hype which surrounds the latest and greatest social network. First it was all about MySpace, then Facebook came along and stole the show, then Twitter and so they rise and fall.

You need good strategies to deal with social networks in order to leverage them for maximum advantage for your career and business.

I give you these 3 strategies which I think you should keep in mind when it comes to your web music marketing…

1 – Be Present…

Obscurity is your enemy, make sure you are seen in all the right places. Yes, this means you’ll create profiles on web sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Last.fm, YouTube and also on sites more specific to your genre or niche.

You realize there is nothing worse than a “ghost town” profile last updated over two months ago and which shows no real sign of activity.

You can therefore see why you’ll have to spend time to update all these profiles and communicate with the users on the different sites, or get someone to do it for you.

You can use a service such as Ping.fm to update multiple social networks from one central location. You can also use FriendFeed.com or SocialThing.com to track the different networks you’re active on.

2 – Don’t Push, Pull…

You won’t get far with traditional advertising and marketing methods on the web. You know the type of advertising where you basically scream or flash your message anywhere you can in the hopes that you may distract the already over-distracted masses with your product.

You want to rather build relationships with your potential tribe members and turn them into active supporters of you and your music. So…

… be authentic, be honest, interact with your visitors as much as possible and over-deliver on value with the music and the other content you provide on your web site. You want to also give tools such as “share this page” widgets to help your supporters spread the word about your music.

Word of mouth is easy to create when your music is good, you are present and open and your web site is often updated with lots of quality content. People will share things they enjoy with friends and tell others how much they like you when you are nice to them. You can not buy word of mouth.

You cannot avoid word of mouth when you offer outstanding value!

3 – Own It!…

Your own web site, that is. Your own web site and domain name shows that you are serious about
your music and also gives you control over the content and stats generated by your visitors.

You create equity for yourself when you add content to your own web site which is not the case when you add content to social networking sites.

Social networking sites do however offer you a potential source of visitors to your web site. Your strategy should be to direct visitors from outside web sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and others to your own web site. So…

… use the social networks to add to the value of your own business, not build the business of the social networks.

Conclusion…

You need to be present and update often on the major social networks and other genre-specific networks.

People talk about things which they enjoy and find valuable. People share music they like. So…

… create and deliver value to people on your web site and with your presence and you’ll receive value in return.

Your music marketing will be most effective when you have your own web site to which you can funnel visitors from social networks and other outside web sites.

About the Author

Marius van Dyk is a renegade musician, producer, entrepreneur and independent music and web business helper-elf. He’s also the creator of http://www.renegadeproducer.com which offers a big-picture view of all the aspects the independent music artist needs to consider in music and in business. His Mantra? Make Your Own Music – Your Way!