My father sang rockabilly in the 1950s under contract with Capitol Records. (Click here for a Bobby Norris sample.) When I was young, he told me stories of “payola.” Payola is the (illegal) practice of record companies (and I guess artists) paying discjockies to play their songs during the normal daily rotation.
Capitol Records, to his knowledge did not offer payola for him and his records didn’t sell much. However, with the rockabilly resurgence of today (nine years after his death), his music is making its way to loyal fans.
Carl Jacobson’s article Fans on Facebook: What to Do Next to Engage Your Fans, Increase Sales and Grow Relationships provided some ideas that my dad would have benefitted from if such an opportunity existed in the 1950s.
IDEA 1 – Be Ready to Sell Today! Carl’s idea, here, actually transends any art or commerce. Don’t launch your product of art until it is ready. This is one of the biggest errors authors make with their first book. They are so excited about getting their first book out that they fail to hire someone to read it and provide feedback. The result many times is the author blows his or her chance to sell a great story because it is poorly written. Carl suggests Mystore for Facebook to capture fan’s information. But, make sure your product is absolutely perfect. This concept transfers to any business, in that you should not reach out until you have perfected your strategy, product, and service.
IDEA 2 – Engage…Don’t Advertise This works with any business of relationship. People want to be involved; people want to contibute to a goal; people want to feel like they matter. Don’t lauch your music saying “Buy this!” Remember the advent of American Idol? FaceBook allows people to share their opinions, so ask them to.
IDEA 3 – The Virtual High-Five The FaceBook “like” gets a lot of traction these days. Thank and compliment others when the opportunity arises.
IDEA 4 – Reward Fans Then Ask Them to Reward Their Friends Freebees are nothing new in business. Just make sure you limit what you are providing to your fanbase.
IDEA 5 – Advertise Yourself to Fans of Similar Artists In business we call this strategic relationships. You can trade recommendations with other artists using MyStore. This can also work in other business contexts. Use complimentary companies to partner with in promotion. For example, let’s say you own a beauty salon. Women that go into beauty salons are concerned with their appearence. So, you may want to partner with a Yoga or Spinning instructor to advertise and offer combined deals. This way, your customer is enhancing her appearance in different ways.
With the proper use of social media(e.g., MyStore for FaceBook), you can reach your fans with investing just your time. Payola is Gonola.