Every Self-Promoting Musician Should Read Now Is Gone

BOOK REVIEW:

 

Now Is Gone: A Primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs by Geoff Livingston and Brian Solis & How It Relates To PR & Marketing In The “New” Music Business

 

“The PR revolution will be socialized. Engage or die.”

 

“Communications have evolved more in the last 10 years, than in the previous 100.”
- Now is Gone

 

Now Is Gone addresses the issues that the marketing and PR world are currently facing in the new world of online social networks, transparent communication and the rise of the customer as the critic. This book struck a nerve that is so close to my own experience as a recovering traditional publicist and I have to share it’s message with you. If you are handling your own PR and marketing this book should be at the top of your required reading list.

 

Incredulous musicians consistently ask why I gave up handling traditional PR (my firm handles online PR only). Over the years I have placed thousands of articles, calendar listings, TV bookings and radio interviews and I was good at it, but the truth is, I began to loathe it. Two things contributed to this:
1. The PR game never changed – it was the same grind every day and creatively I felt stifled.
2.It was getting harder and harder to manifest results for my artists (and creating lackluster results was no fun).

 

Now Is Gone addresses why these 2 things became so real for me. The highlights follow and I have put them into perspective so that they apply directly to the music business and musicians throughout, I have quoted from this wonderful book heavily.

 

Engaging Directly Is No Longer Unprofessional
“Social media is exposing PR’s weaknesses and calling for reform…this is our chance, not only to work with traditional journalists, but engage directly with a new set of accidental influencers, also know as enthusiasts or citizen journalists. We can talk with customers now also content producers directly.” As a musician this puts you at an interesting advantage. It used to be somewhat unprofessional to approach the media without a publicist. The opposite can be the case today if you choose the wrong publicist to represent you online.

 

Participation Is Not Optional
The good news is it has never been easier to create a community around your brand. There are no more gatekeepers; there are now self-appointed gatekeepers who contribute to their communities in a real way. You must participate and this book argues that: “If you want to survive in this economy, you can’t just sit on the sidelines, those who participate genuinely, will succeed. Everyone else will either have to catch up or miss the game…. Participating here is not optional, how effectively you participate (online) will determine the success or failure of your company in the long-term.”

 

An NYU study that came out this past February proved concisely that if a CD is reviewed or mentioned 30 times before its release on blogs, it will sell 3 to 4 times better than if its not mentioned. This is a powerful and direct argument to begin participating online and get directly engaged with bloggers. One key piece of advice to keep in mind: “Once you send your pitch, let it go. That means do not follow-up or harass the blogger/content creator at all. Pressure equals bad write ups about your organization.” So if you get no response after your try to reach a blogger move on. There are 80 million more to choose from.

 

Observe Before You Dive In
“If a marketer is bent on exploiting anything, it will likely bite him in the ass,”
says Todd Defren, principal at SHIFT Media. This was always the case of course, but
in the social media world, the difference is that you’ll be found out more quickly,
and the punishment can be harsher and more long lasting. My advice is to start any
social media campaign by listening and quietly participating as a user, not a
marketer.”

 

Press Releases Don’t Work Anymore
“…As a society, we’ve gone from the era of mass production, mass merchandising, and mass marketing to one where customization is key . . . as far as most reporters and editors are concerned, [press releases are] over-produced, they lack differentiation, they generally aren’t relevant, and they vast majority are not worth coverage.”
- Sally Saville Hodge

 

Publicists were trained to do PR in a certain way: write a press release that tells the story and send it around to the media. Journalists will then pick up on the story the release and Voila! (This, of course is a way simplified summary).

 

In the last few years journalists have been receiving too many useless press releases that contained information that was not useful to their readers. “The online environment changed into a truly socially interactive world, where content users or readers have just as much impact as content makers. In this new era, social media networks with Wikipedia, Facebook, YouTube, and the asset of blogs are constantly evolving and changing the way people perceive communications.”

 

The Commodity Online is Time
And now the bad news: This takes WORK. Social communities take time to build up. People will not trust you and follow you overnight. This is where many artists have deep frustration with social networking. Stick with it. It may take months and even years in some cases.

 

“In order to reach people, we have to figure out who they are and where they go for information. You’ll quickly discover that a magic net doesn’t exist.“ This is an amazing point. It takes trial an error to discover how to connect and who to connect to.

 

“Content creators must diligently engage the community with appealing content for the life of the new media initiative, not just for the first few months.” So stick with it. Regular and consistent contribution is key.

 

Part of participating in a social network is investing the necessary time
to create valuable information for the network.

 

Let It Go
“You must be prepared to give up control of your message, know the community you intend to participate in, commit resources base business transparency in full.” Musicians tend to like to be in control of their art which makes sense – BUT be warned Social networking is not your art or your music – let it go and let people have it, comment on it, use it and it’s OK.

 

“Companies risk brand reputation by not participating, but at the same time they risk brand perception if they approach new media with a mindset of message and brand control without regard for two-way conversations.”

 

It’s NOT About You … It’s About THEM
“Inspire your community with real exciting information. Don’t waste their
time with product details.” I learned a HUGE lesson when I launched Cyber PR – I was spending a LOT of my time explaining the way the site worked and how it worked to both artists and journalists and then I realized: Nobody cared…. They wanted to know what was in it for them and that’s what everyone wants to know at every moment when engaging online. So, answer the question: What’s in it for them?

 

“Part of participating in a social network is investing the necessary time
to create valuable information for the network.” and I realized all I needed to do was consistently deliver value.

 

“One of the biggest sources of corporate failures in new media is treating the media form as a propaganda mechanism.” This is why your Hey check me out messages that you are blasting on MySpace are falling on deaf ears. You must say something about THEM first to engage. Get your self-hype out of your head and be a contribution.

 

New media destroys the idea of targeting your audience. Why? Because there is no more audience. The single notion that one message inspires everyone is absolutely ludicrous in the new world of community marketing.

 

“Blogging mostly has indirect effects. You are building an online resume
for yourself that is going to reward you in ways you really can’t predict. Honor
your readers’ time, give them great stuff to think about.”

 

“Customers today expect to be understood and they expect to be listened to.” So make it a two way street. Make SURE that people can comment back and let their voices be heard.

 

Goals & Measurement Are Key
“It is important to know what the team is trying to accomplish, and that means creating measurement goals for the content; knowing how many readers you want, how many views you need, what image you hope to convey.” If you are working alone that’s OK begin to set goals for yourself so you can achieve benchmarks to help motivate you and keep you in momentum.

 

To Sum Up
Social Networking and building relevant communities are critical in this brave new online world. Those who participate will benefit deeply. Those who don’t will get left in the lurch scratching their heads wondering what happened. Get in the game but do it with some strategy. To blindly dive in is not the best advice. Follow the new rules and reap the benefits.

 

Buy Now Is Gone
Amazon Link

Read The Ongoing Conversation by The Authors

Buzz Bin
http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/

 
PR 2.0
http://www.briansolis.com/