2010-05-06dated from the first comment; a lower bound

The Musician's Guide to Social Media - How To Write

Published no later than May 6, 2010, dated from the first comment on the original post. Platforms and services described here have changed. This is kept as a record, not as current advice.

Direct to Fan marketing is where it’s at in the music industry at the moment and collecting and maintaining a healthy email database is a crucial element of this. The value of an engaged fan who opens your weekly, fortnightly or monthly email newsletter is not to be sniffed at – these are the people who are passionate about your music and will use their influence to spread the word about it. A related workplace perspective is covered in Monitask’s limbic resonance.

They are also your lifeblood and are the group most likely to purchase the more expensive of the tiered value bundles you are selling through your website. Regular, informative communications with your fans is key. And we’re not talking repeated requests to download the album from iTunes. You need to spend time and effort building up your database and communicating with your fans.

The rewards are there if you do. Here’s a great post written in 2008 by music PR guru Arial Hyatt with some really sound advice about how to do just this. The keys points are below: 1. Ensure the “sign up” link for your newsletter is PROMINENTLY displayed on your website (and all your social networks too). 2. Sales conversion from email databases are usually about 1-3% but you can increase by building rapport with fans and giving them added value. For a current measurement and audience-data reference, see Hotjar.

  1. Use a proper email management system such as ReverbNation or Mail Chimp (both free) so you can minimise effort and measure results properly. 4. To increase your email open rate, add your recipients first name into the subject line of the email (can be done with some email management systems). 5. At the top of the email, give a short summary of the contents.

People like to know what’s coming up. 6. DO NOT GO FOR THE HARD SELL! These are your fans so it’s important to respect them and cultivate the relationship. Instead provide them with information that is valuable and interesting to them – namely, stuff about you! For example: how is the touring / recording going; funny stories involving band members; links to other music you like; topical content such as your thought on the latest film, tv or book.

  1. Keep the email compact – everyone hates an intimidatingly long email. Link longer stories and full tour listings from your website / blog page to save space. 8. Close with a call to action – links to buy from your store and also social network buttons. Read the full article here.