2 Optimize Your Media

Social Media Optimization

Social media optimization is essential to generating sales. Taking the time to title, describe and tag the social objects on your site and social profiles pays off in conversions to sales and higher search rankings. Referrals from search engines are a key source of traffic and a drop in traffic = a drop in sales. This is why distributing remarkable content across your syndication network is so important.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is by far the greatest revenue channel in the mix. It is a direct line to your consumers and provides an accurate depiction of the scope of your audience. Email is immune to the ever changing procedures and protocols of social networks as well as their inevitable ebbs and flows in popularity and influence.

If someone deletes their facebook profile, this has no bearing on you ability to reach them with news and special offers. When used creatively email is a powerful marketing tool.

Optimize Your Landing Page

Offers should be one click away from the landing page because only 15% – 30% of visitors click through to the offer page. Your email marketing efforts should take fans directly to the offer page, bypassing the landing page altogether. Consider integrating offers into the landing page presenting ‘calls to action’ right off the top.

Iterate and Experiment

The success of your marketing efforts depends on the level of innovation you apply to your products, services and campaigns.

The social networks and analytics apps are tools that allow for easier implementation and real-time measurement. Be creative, fearless and above all engage.

7 Steps to Establishing Your Band with Social Media

Social Media provides unprecedented marketing opportunities for artists/bands. We have entered an era where the labels have neither the budgets nor personnel for artist development. Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, arguably two of the greatest and most successful artists of all time, would not survive their first release in today’s market because their initial commercial efforts failed.

In the 70s, boutique labels like A&M records would sign artists with the understanding that artist development takes time. Today, not so much.

The brand is the band. You want your brand to resonate with the essence of your music, image, persona, characteristics, style, intensity and passion.

Ask and answer the following questions:

1.Who: Who are you?

Pick your 3 favorite bands and check out their logos. Describe the first thing that pops into your head when you see each one. That image or thought connects you to and symbolizes the personality of that band. Design your brand to represent you, your core values, personality, voice and presence.

2. What: What are people saying about your brand?

Assessing how fans and critics perceive your brand allows you to determine whether their perception is in line with the image you’re trying to project. Use Google Search, Google Blog Search and Analytic.ly to actively listen to what people are saying and use this information to create a benchmark that represents current perceptions tied to your brand.

3. When: The aforementioned tools alert you when your keywords appear in online communities in real-time. By monitoring the daily level of activity you can identify conversations that present opportunities for positive interactions as well as identify those that lead to negative impressions. It’s worth noting that negative comments are an opportunity to engage individ

uals with positive experiences that may turn them into fans.

4. Where: Identify the communities where your presence will be of the most value to your brand.

Myspace, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and genre specific music blogs are the most prevalent social networks for artists/bands in current social media. Use the tools mentioned above to identify communities where fans and critics are talking about music and bands in your genre and develop a strategy to develop and exercise a voice within those communities.

5. How: Become an active part of the community.

Every social network has its own culture, your voice must resonate your brand’s persona in a language/style indicative of their specific culture. By observing the way people interact within the social networks that are of value to you, you will develop an understanding of how to engage without being disruptive/offensive and by monitoring the feedback of each engagement you can hone your approach to be more effective. This will allow you to build relationships and cultivate loyal fans who will likely become advocates of your brand.

6. Why: Discover reasons to engage.

Through observation you will find recurring themes and topics that allow you to engage in conversations within communities that allow you to establish a voice and build rapport with its members. The more positive interactions you have the stronger your voice and presence becomes.

7. Influencers: The power of influence.

There are members within communities whose sphere of influence is expansive and powerful. Identifying and connecting with ‘influencers’ is pivotal in word of mouth campaigns. Employ steps 1 though 6 to identify and engage influencers in the communities that are of greatest value to the expansion of your brand.

Social Media Optimization

Social Media Optimization
SMO is the act of aligning titles, keywords and descriptions with social objects to better the connection of one’s content within social networks to correspond with the keywords people type in search engines so your content is easily found by those who seek it.

Titles
The official name you apply to social objects. The idea is to design your titles to capture attention immediately and in turn induce sharing of that object across the social graphs of those who encounter it. The headline must contain keywords users are searching.

Descriptions
Here is your chance to frame the social object. Use the description to entice viewers to share, further their interest in your brand and enhance the quality of the experience through heightened engagement. Use keywords that target your audience and relate to your brand.

Tags
Tags are keywords relating to your brand and audience that describe the content through corresponding phrases, labels and expressions.

SMO positively impacts your SEO efforts and plays a key role in increasing the search rankings of your site.