Last week, we discussed the idea of enlisting your fans to help you with all the work that goes into thrusting a band in to the public eye. Today we will give you some ideas of what they can be doing while you have some of these parties with your fans. Follow me to the jump and we will go over some of the things you can get your fans to help out with.
- Recommendations! - As we have discussed many times before one of the best ways to get people to listen to music is from hearing about it from a friend. One of the first things you can ask your fans is whether they have told everyone they know about your band. Have they posted a Facebook note linking your music? A tweet? Can they promote you on Last.FM and Jango? Do they have a blog where they can post your links and videos? If they belong to any Internet message boards this is a great place to promote you and can be amazingly effective if done right. Have everyone bring their laptops (just make sure you have Wi-Fi) and have them get to work.
- Merch! - One of the oldest tricks in the book when you have a bunch of people together to work on band business is to do silk screening. Posters, T-shirts, patches, bags, etc. can all be silk screened and made into viral merch that everyone sees as an advertisement.
- Social Networking - All the stuff we have described in our social network guides can be done by your fans. If you worry about them knowing your password just type it in yourself each time or change it before and after the party.
- Packing Envelopes - If you have CDs there are a million places to send them whether it is radio, lawyers, A&R, friends in the business, magazines, websites etc. If you want to do a full court press of publicity for your music you will never have enough money or hours in the day to get out all the promos you could send out. Have your fans help stuff these envelopes.
- Hit The Airwaves - If you notice a radio station is playing your music you should have everyone you know to request it so it keeps getting played. Even if it is in a far off town having your fans call in to these stations and get you played more can help spread the word. Many radio stations also take requests via the Internet so get those smart phones and laptops going.
- Ideas- Talk to your fans, what sites do they like and are you on them? Do they have ideas of how you can promote your band? Do they know someone who can help you? You would be surprised how much people who have never picked up an instrument sometimes know about what your band can do to promote. Listen do not talk and you can learn a lot.
- Your To Do List - Take a look at what you need to get done and see if anyone has any special talents that can get it done with? Do you need a new Myspace layout, maybe someone knows HTML and graphics? The possibilities are endless if you listen and manage well these parties can be one of the things that helps get your band ahead of the pack.
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