Bands are connecting with people more and more on the net, via Social Communities. Especially web 2.0 Social Communities on-line. Here are the top 5 tips I collected from a few different music marketers...

TOP 5 Social Media Marketing Tried and tested Tips 'n Tricks

The top 3 platforms for SMM (Social Media Marketing) today are MySpace, YouTube & Face Book. There are literally thousands of smaller sites dedicated to the promotion of musicians on-line, so pick your favourite few and focus on them rather than spreading yourself thin. In order to find them search terms in Google like “Market my band” “Vote for MySpace bands” “Sell my music on-line”. We like Broadtexter for mobile fans & Tune Core for Digital music distribution.

1. Keep your profile pages simple. Too many fonts, colors, top friends, ad-ons & videos... don't make you profile pages look cool they make it annoying. No one wants to spend much time on a virtual all dressed pizza! 1 of everything is a sure way not to overdo it. No one wants to see 2 slide shows type thing.

 2. Communicate with people mostly during their most active internet times. Marketing data shows that communications made while people are on-line are more effective than those received off-line.

 When? 25% between 3-5pm when people usually experience boredom at their 9-5 jobs and sneak onto the net. 50% between 6:30-10:30pm after dinner when people are very actively on-line. 25% Sunday afternoons all day where most of the western world is quietly lounging around doing house chores.

 3.On-line Etiquette.

<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->        -Don’t message people who are not already friends or fans of your profiles. Don’t send people more than 1 news item in a night (you can repeat the same bulletin up to 3 or 4 times spaced out between 60 minutes, provided it contains the same piece of news)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         -No more than 1 direct message in a day or 1 comment in a day.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·        - <!--[endif]-->Do not use more than 1 method of communication in the same day, meaning if you sent everyone a comment about your contest, do not do anything else that day in terms of communicating.

4. Create an animated profile picture for your avatar. Make sure the animation is discreet, nothing too flashy. The slight movement in your profile pic will stand out in a line up of top friends.To make animated GIFS just use gifninja.com and follow the simple steps. Do not use a long animation

5. Brand and image consistency. Having a profile on MySpace, Face book and YouTube with different logos, themes, color schemes etc... will break the bonds of recognition for your fans. Even though it may seem more interesting for you to have 20 logos and 10 album covers, this just makes you look amateur. Pick 1 strong branding concept and stick to it. This will help fans recognize your profile right away in a line up of profiles or in search results. It is important that your band logo is legible. Having words wrapped up inside crazy graphics will make it hard for people to read your band name and might get your profile confused. Remember, music fans have a lot of bands to remember, so make it easy for them to remember you. Having complex branding is the equivalent of having 2 middle names and expecting everyone to remember them.

Bio: Lee Mac works as a web publicist for indie bands and major labels while she runs 3 web 2.0 music sites that focus on promoting band profiles, music videos and the discovery of new music on the web.

RockVideo.com

MyRockinprofile.com

Audioraider.com

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