Happy Friday! Im so excited about the coming weekend that I have decided to share some of my insights into Facebook promotion for live music; inspired & developed by the Social Media business session yesterday at the Eastern Enterprise Hub. Massive thanks to Louise Stephens from Little Green Plane. Her incredible presentation has influenced this blog a lot, but I have given it a uniquely 'music' slant for us promoters & musicians. I hope you find it useful. So you've got a great gig that you want to tell everyone about on Facebook, hows best to go about this? The first (and most important) thing to consider is your audience. Who are they likely to be and how do they like to receive their information? Think about it, A LOT, put yourself in their shoes and consider what time they are likely to be online and what kind of information they want to be told. Louise taught me this yesterday and its one of the best bits of advice I have heard in a long time. Making a Facebook event is the first port of call for most Music Industry types. Its free (expected) and most of the world's population are on there, but, how people use it is changing. Take note. More & more people are culling business contacts and reverting to a 'family & friends only' mode so you need to bear this in mind. Your gig is competing against pictures of someones child, puppy dog, family holidays. You get the gist. Etiquette has changed drastically over the past few years too. I hate it when a promoter/band posts repeatedly, over & over, every 48 hours, in the same facebook groups. It comes up in my notifications, fills up my feed and makes me think of them as being a nuisance. Drip feed people. One or two posts a week. MAXIMUM. Also TELL ME ABOUT THE GIG. You know, THE BANDS and musicians who are playing. What do they sound like? Even better, post a video or audio clip. Reposting the event page OVER AND OVER with the statment 'live bands' will NOT make me come to your gig. Interest me. Tell me something cool about the music. Please note, cheap drinks is not why live music fans go to gigs. A great PA and awesome Sound Technician IS! So many gigs have terrible sound and I can't bear to attend another half-arsed show that is put on purely to increase the bar take with little or no thought. So what makes your gig REALLY great? Tell me about it, with LOVE & PASSION. Copy & pasting the same generic 'sales pitch' will not impress or motivate anyone. It properly PUTS ME OFF. The perpetrator is NOT considering how the audience in each facebook group differs. They are lumping us all into one category, and who out there doesn't love the personal approach? I do. I have stopped answering emails from bands who can't be bothered to find out my name. So with all this in mind, are you promoting your gig in the right place for your audience? Where is best to focus the majority of your time & effort? Well, Im guna be controversial here and say 'printed media' first. Print some posters & flyers people. Oh and do ACTUALLY give them to people. Most chip shops & takeaways are more than happy to take flyers & posters. Again, build up a personal relationship and they will support your gigs forever. I am a poster devotee so maybe im biased here, but too many 'so called' promoters never actually print a poster to advertise their gig. STOP CALLING YOURSELF A PROMOTER. Thanks. Seriously though, when it comes to digital marketing Im a complete Twitter convert for Music promotion. Its bloody brilliant. Its more fun, punchy (love the 140 character limit) and fast paced. You can post, repost, tweet and share till your hearts content (without annoying anyone) cos its all about volume & quantity. So go nuts people. Tweet every 5 minutes & I will think you are bloody great for putting in so much effort. Do use hashtags as well. #music #ipswich #events I have had loads of random retweets because organisations pick up on these and promote them. For free. I hope you enoyed my nuggets of wisdom. I've been promoting gigs for 8 years so have made pretty much every mistake under the sun. I hope this blog helps you make less. Oh and please do come and find me on Twitter and yes, I always Retweet. Have a GREAT weekend. Love & Boxes x P.s. You want people to go to your gigs? My best bit of advice is GO TO OTHER PEOPLES GIGS. See you at a gig sometime soon.