D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) Musicians: Twitter Edition

Twitter is hot, no question. In the midst of the random “I’m going to bed” and “I just ate a bowl of cornflakes” tweets, lies a powerful tool for independent musicians. Let’s be honest, there’s something magical about being able to follow your favorite musician’s every move. Some may call it an obsession with over-sharing, we like to think of it more as creating the ultimate “up-close and personal experience.”

Anybody can create a Twitter page. The art is actually knowing how to use it to your advantage. So, musicians, listen up. Here are a few tidbits to help you transform your random tweets to an effective marketing/publicity tool.

We Want You
The main reason why people want to follow you is to see what YOU have to say. They want to know what you’re doing, who you’re doing it with, what you’re recording, where you’re going, etc. There’s nothing better than being able to experience a day in the life of a musician first hand. Don’t let someone else create your content.

One Equals No Fun
The real power of Twitter is keeping it consistently updated. Nobody wants to go to your page to see that you haven’t tweeted since last month. One tweet a day is meaningless. It’s the accumulation of numerous tweets helps keep followers interested and engaged.

There’s Nothing Wrong with Being a Follower
Contrary to the popular saying “be a leader not a follower”, on Twitter it’s actually okay to be a follower. In fact, its encouraged. Follow people who follow you. Follow people who aren’t following you. If your music sounds like “Rihanna” follow people who are following her. A great way to get new followers is to follow people first. Don’t forget to follow “influential” people as well like music bloggers and writers.

Sharing Means Caring
Share your music. Share pictures. Share links. Share other people’s tweets (re-tweet). Share giveaways. Just share!

To show you what we’re talking about, here are a few musicians who are doing it right:

@petewentz (Pete Wentz), @waledc (Wale), @kidsistermelisa (Kid Sister), @questlove (questlove) and @lilyroseallen (Lily Allen)

Social Chix’s 3 E’s of Twittering: Express, Excite and Engage!

Glitz, Glamour…Grammar??

Landing a star client, eating lunch at the trendiest restaurant and attending a red-carpet event. Sounds like a typical “day in PR”, right? NOT!

Despite popular belief, Public Relations isn’t as glitzy as Samantha Jones on Sex and the City makes it look. Ahh, Samantha Jones had it good didn’t she? Strutting through the streets of NY in her $500 Manolo Blahniks, throwing a-list parties, showing up to star-studded events, all while raking in the cash effortlessly. Unfortunately, as those of us in “real life” PR knows, that isn’t the reality of the business.

It would have been great for HBO to show Samantha sitting behind her desk some days racking her brain to come up with a catchy headline for her press release or spending countless hours updating her media lists to make sure they’re up to date or trying to figure out if a film title is parenthesized or italicized. (PR people, you know what I mean!)

As glamorized as PR has become in the media, there’s a lot of hard work, innovation, long hours, writing, editing, non-stop grammar checks and relationship building that goes into a successful PR campaign, and into being a successful publicist.

Between creating campaigns that will return the highest degree of buzz, there’s also maintaining relationships with media professionals, networking (via Facebook, Twitter or at an event), and working from a long list of do’s and don’ts.

To be truly great in this industry you have to consider yourself a “Life-style Publicist.” Not to say that you have to make your career your life but you have to work like your life depends on it. You have to continuously push yourself to deliver for your clients. So, in short, leave the Samantha Jones-syndrome to HBO and leave “real PR” to those who are willing to work and WRITE hard.