Studying Music Online

Doug Orey is a Student Advisor at Berkleemusic.com. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2009 where he earned a degree in Music Business and Management. He is currently an avid gigging musician heavily involved in the Boston rock scene. He is the lead singer/rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for The Field Effect (www.thefieldeffectmusic.com/). He enjoys pizza and also has a beard.

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Every musician should be on Twitter. It’s a quick, simple and direct way to engage and grow your fan base when you are away from the stage. Just like everything else, there is a right and a wrong way to using Twitter, and you want to be sure that you are using it for good and not EVIL! Below I’ve outlined a few tools, tips and tricks that can help you manage your Twitter presence and max out it’s potential.

Content, Content. Content!

Not a day should go by with out a tweet from you or your band. But Doug, I have nothing cool to say or talk about! That’s where you are wrong. Your fans want a little glimpse into your day to day. What are you doing when you’re not rocking faces? Something as simple as “Listening to the new @yellowbirddd_ track and it rules!” puts you on their level and might help them discover artists you enjoy. Bottom line is don’t over think it. Share what you’re doing, listening to even eating. Tweet a picture of your view from your seat in the back of the van while you’re touring. People connect to your music. Let them connect to you as well.

Interaction = Awesome Sauce

No doubt you follow some of your favorite musicians on Twitter. How often do you see fans soliciting re-tweets and replies from the superstars? It would just make by birthday if I got a RT from @KarminMusic!!! Obviously the more popular you become and the more followers you amass it will become difficult to respond to every tweet, but setting aside just 10 or 15 minutes a day to tweet at some fans can make their week, month or even year! Let them know they are appreciated, welcome new followers, it takes all of 30 seconds to write 140 characters or less. If they tweet back at you then you’re showing up in their feed and all of their followers see it as well. Don’t forget your fellow musicians in all of this. You’re playing the game together, always nice to have some allies!

Navigating the Vast Realm of the Twitterverse

So your music rules and people are paying attention. You’ve been interacting with your fans and pumping out the tweets but now there are so many you can’t keep up! There are a few tools out there that can really help you manage all this awesome madness.

TweetDeck – Personally I use TweetDeck. It’s the official aggregator of Twitter and is super easy to set-up and use. You can use it through the web, install it as a Chrome App if you use Google Chrome as your Browser or install it on your Mac through the Mac App Store. It displays your Twitter Feed, Mentions, Direct Messages and custom searches all on one screen. It can also sync up multiple accounts so if you and your band members all have personal twitters you can manage those as well!

HootSuite – HootSuite tends to take things to the next level. With a paid subscription you can get detailed analytics on your Twitter traffic and even further customization in terms of display and search options. A label rep, manager outside marketing team, and not the band itself will most likely utilize the paid options. You do need to save sometime to write songs and practice after all.

Twitter Mobile App – Chances are at least one if not all of your band members have a smartphone. Great way to hit your followers on the go, the van can be a boring place on those long drives between gigs…unless you have a small TV and a VCR, but seriously you can only watch Twister so many times! Tweet a picture of the audience from stage, let them feel the thrill of staring out into a packed house!

So for a quick recap – stay active, interact with your fans, there’s an app for that. Share your thoughts below and be on the lookout for a follow-up blog about some things NOT to do on Twitter!

Doug

www.thefieldeffectmusic.com
@thefieldeffect

Check out our Online Music Marketing course if you are interested in leveraging all of your digital marketing efforts.

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Berkleemusic’s next term begins on June 25th, 2012.

Find out more at berkleemusic.com or contact a Student Advisor:

1-866-BERKLEE (USA) | +1 617 747 2146 (Intl) | advisors@berkleemusic.com

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