Oh boy! Tweet. A waste of time? Who gives a hoot? Oprah? Ashton Koocher? Well again…social media is just that, a social tool that can be used effectively if you have an audience of followers who are actually listening. The noise ratio can be significant on Twitter with all the spam. There is porno spam, SEO spam, spam spam, get rich quick spam, video marketing spam, you name it; everyone and their Mom will follow you in hope of you following them back to increase their “followers” numbers.
First and foremost, let’s talk about how Twitter is used. There are a few different ways that people “tweet.” Not all people tweet alike.
Also I want to state upfront that I think of Twitter as somewhat of an “ad stream” or “micro blogging stream.” So if those people that are following you miss your “Tweet” as it flys by, down and out of sight; the message is gone. John Perry Barlow tweeted today, “A tweet has the shelf life of a quark.” Let’s call it useless. Even if your followers use www.peoplebrowsr.com or www.tweetdeck.com, the message is gone; rarely do a lot of folks, including me, look at your stand alone Twitter page. If you catch my interest I would maybe check out your Bio, and check out your “Tweet Style” to see if it’s something I would be into “following,” but I don’t always follow those who follow me. You will notice some very successful people only follow an “inner circle” of friends and industry associates. So the old school tactic of “follow a bunch of people and they will follow you back” simply does not always work. So moral of the story: unless your followers catch your tweet as it flies by as they are *on-line & on twitter*, search for it by term or #hashtag and find it via twitter search or other 3rd party tool, or look at your stand alone Twitter page and browse down your tweets; it’s gone! Forever. Face it.
Tweet Styles
1) Some people, celebrities, bands, tweet their every move. “I am eating breakfast, eggs and bacon,” “I am on ski lift and you are not,” “Drinking beer at the Fourth Street Tavern,” “Just got pulled over on 101 North.” It’s the TMI syndrome and the most un-informative use of Twitter IMHO. But if your a 20-30 something male/female and this is what you to keep in touch with friends, associates, and maybe employers to let them know where you are and what you’re doing; so be it. You’re ok. If you a huge celebrity and you’re fans dig it; ok, cool wit’ me.
2) Some people like to tweet their expertise and “being in the know” so they share their knowledge via tweets and links. The Tech Bloggers usually do this to drive traffic back to their blogs or Tech Entrepreneurs do this to show they are in the know and can break new “news”. Examples would be folks like:
@GuyKawasaki
@mashable
@techcrunch
3) Here is a cool “manifesto” I found from a cool geeky girl @nthmost that describes how she uses Twitter. So…after viewing you can see she explains “Twitter is a cocktail party for me”. http://tinyurl.com/tweetmanefesto
4) Chronicle your travels in mini-blog format, including GPS locations, twitpics, and Tumble Blogs. Check out super-uber cool leader of www.hypem.com @fascinated great tweets; he travels and works it constantly! He is authentically fun to follow.
So you can see I could go on; but it is absolutely clear everyone uses Twitter in different ways.
Hashtags
When you “tweet,” if you first put a “subject header” of sorts before your informative tweet, people can search that common known hashtag and find your Tweet. Some actively used hashtags for music or Web Music Tech on Twitter are:
#musicmondays
When you use #musicmondays you should include a link for someone to check out your music. Whether it be an a) audio stream b) audio download … folks are always expecting a sample; freebies galore can be found if you use Twitter search on a Monday and search through the feed returns. Be forewarned this is one of the oldest hashtags and it looks like people are also just posting their favorite music, it’s not just indie bands posting their music anymore. Booooo! But then again, an example of the fan being in control of the Web and its’ social uses.
Examples that I used last Monday:
#musicmonday iTunes http://www.tinyurl.com/lifelovemiserymusic
#musicmonday play the game http://www.jamlegend.com/artist/LifeLoveMisery Facebook Fan http://www.tinyurl.com/llmfans www.lifelovemisery.com
#musicmonday ♫ Tumbleweeds http://tra.kz/tumbleweeds
#musicmonday ♫ The King is Dead – http://iLike.com/t/8yEo
#tuesdaytunes
Is Tuesdaytunes the new #musicmonday ? No. Did @jtimberlake coin the new hashtag? I dunno. I see people quoting lyrics, I see some referencing artist, songs. We can just hi-jack it, as reality goes just use the tag and someone will be searching for that tag and your song will come up. So make your Tweet halfway attractive, all’ight? All’ight.
Here are two examples:
#tuesdaytunes Loaded up my personal Myspace page with 10 songs including @lifelovemisery @sayladobro @kingmoneyshot some ol’ Bobby Peru +
(via @jtimberlake ) #tuesdaytunes — the Dead Weather: http://bit.ly/2h0kIN
#faibw
Follow an Indie Band Wednesday is the idea. This should be used in the same manner as #musicmonday
Example:
#faibw Check out the pics from our video shoot last Sat at Oakland’s Studio 880, home of Green Day.
Great vibes! http://www.tinyurl.com/llmfans
#listening
This one looks to be a good one to get your fans and friends to list and then list your music. People are using it and then listing what they are listening to right now in true Twitter fashion. Well it’s as easy as that; shameless self promo indeed, tweet something about your artist or band, use that hashtag baby; #imjustsayin
Example
#listening @lifelovemisery http://www.lifelovemisery.com Wow dark rocking rock with a string section
#followfriday
#followfriday is simply put as a referral or recommendation day. Twitter users suggest other user to “follow”.
Example:
texasgoth365 #followfriday @toddtate @lifelovemisery @Alyssa_Milano @Brad_King @weightless @thrasherDUDE @aplusk @HowardLovecraft @zoecello and more
Get it?
Twitter Audio Linking Tools
Now let’s talk more on the Web Music Tech side so we can make your tweets pretty audibly sweet. Sure you can get a follower’s attention via including a link to a video or to your Website, where you may have audio links, but let’s talk about taking it to another level.
@playTweet
@playTweets is a cool script written by Web music tech guru Lucas Gonze (@lucas_gonze) with some help from some friends. Check out easy breezy video tutorial. And another page to check out. The really cool thing about this is if you pull it off and use it right you can play the music right from your Twitter page. The Yahoo Media Player pops up and whamo! You’re rocking.
Example of one I just pulled off:
play http://tra.kz/BobbyPeru The Deep Sounds of Bobby Peru – El Camino (@toddtate)
Right above here … between “play” and “http” a small “play” button appears when you run the bookmarked script once you have followed @playTweets and listen information in the above format; it’s pretty slick. Some challenged computers user may not get the functionality; but yes indeed geeks are common in these territories!
Tra.kz
This is a url shortener that is directed towards “music only” link and take you to a page that will play the link in a cool little player.
So I can take this long deep link : http://www.angrycoffee.com/toddtemp/ReckonerREMIXbyPercolator.mp3 and I can turn it into this: http://tra.kz/Radiohead . You just have to know how to ftp a mp3 file to a server with your geekness.
Your Twitter page presentation
There are a few apps and methods to make your Twitter page “match” your graphic design, or press assets. I myself for my case study @lifelovemisery ( and my rocking band ) used the graphics color “Color Palette Generator” that is ingeniously included in the www.fourfour.com Independent Band Management platform, and simply matched the colors with Twitter’s built-in design functionailty under settings>design>change background image>change design colors. By running the app on the album image it told me the following colors are good matches:
| dull | |
|---|---|
 |
#666655 |
|
#555533 |
|
#778877 |
|
#886644 |
|
#889988 |
| vibrant | |
|---|---|
|
#775511 |
|
#778855 |
|
#77aa77 |
|
#bb5500 |
|
#99cc88 |
So I went with some of the “vibrant colors.” It does not look too bad I would say for DIY no graphic design talent/no-budget.
Next is to just search Google for “Twitter Backgrounds.” Did you know that Twitter backgrounds are click-able now? Is that true? I’m gonna redesign @lifelovemisery soon, take it to another level. Band Twitter pages are pretty simple, why make it complicated? Put a url and some contact info in the provided information areas.
Take a look at this great article on Mashable by the incomparable @benparr .
Hey, go for what you know, DIY person! Or….
Does Twitter sound like a pain in the ass? Don’t got time for this as a manager, record label, or performing musical artist? I may be of some assistance if I am available. Let’s continue this conversation if need be.
Most of the information on this site is painstakingly formatted in this PDF file below so you can print it on white paper with easy to read black text. Or you can print for FREE by subscribing to the RSS feed at the top of the page, and also be in tune with any and all updates. Try Google Reader, its’ pretty cool. Also many hyperlinks will take you into the Web and show you the examples given. In some cases better then the Website! Ha!
Ebook – ” Web and Social Media Presence for Music Marketing and Fan Engagement” by Todd Tate –
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