Social Sites and "Epiphanys"

  Back in the day, we musicians had to call people to "network". We'd go to our telephone, open our address book and dial a number. That and going out was the only "social networking" system we had. When the computer and cel phones arrived it was a whole new ball game. It was like a whole new world. Then came AOL and Soical Networking became a "thing". Each year that passed, more and more people were getting easier to communicate with. It was Awesome!

 Now here we are in 2012 and we musicians have more tools than ever to gain popularity. Most bands use Facebook now as MySpace became a "media" site. There's also several sites that feature bands exclusively. We have CDBaby, Smart Punk, iTunes and a host of other sites  to sell our products. I use Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, MySpace (not much), Tagged, Reverb, Lastfm, Reverbnation, and more.  I'm also subcribed to several blogs as well (which is another way to get more people talking about you band).

  Today I read Guy Kawasaki's blog about an epiphany he had about the difference between Facebook and Google+ which I wanted to share with you as I think those two sites are probably the most useful to you.

  Facebook is a no brainer, but he interestingly points out is the difference between the two. The long and the short of it is (you should still read the blog post), on FB you have a ton of "friends" and many of them you actually know but for the most part, if you anything like me, the rest are just on your "newsfeed" posting their problems, pictures of their kids,  etc.. and that's not going to do much for your band. And since you are a band with a "Band Page" your competing with the other million bands to get likes and shares like (only with way more people and content as MySpace used to be.

  Google+ however is more content oriented and it has a really cool "hangout" feature (which is an amazing tool for bands). There  are a lot more people on G+ who are interested in the same thing you are (getting more fans). It has an entirely different mentality than FB and I think you should seriously consider doing some homework on how to utilize it.

Enough Said,
Scotty Olson

Jibe Records
2212 Queen Anne Ave N #417
Seattle WA 98109-2312