The Power Of Twitter
Maybe Randy Phillips should spend more time on the Internet…Â (Love ya Randy, love how you adjusted to the feedback, changing your attitude, welcome to the blogosphere!)
And ain’t that just the point. If you’re living in the old world of phone calls and TV advertising you’re doomed to the scrapheap. All the action now takes place online, in the social media world, where one fan speaks to another. Hell, Consumerist picked up this story and 99 people chose to respond… Good on Live Nation! Obviously someone was following their Twitter feed and responded accordingly.
Print ads are a waste. That’s what promoters tell me. It’s about infiltrating the social media world. In other words, in an era where most people don’t even know the show is happening, how do you get fans of the band to tell other interested customers to come?
That’s what blows my mind. How people know. I went to see Laura Marling last week at the El Rey. The place was full. Sure, the tickets were eventually on Goldstar for $10, but they were only $20 to begin with. I didn’t see any obvious indicators. Maybe I’m just out of touch, maybe she’s getting airplay on NPR, which I avoid like the plague, not wanting to be a member of that club. I found out via e-mail, I had no idea who she was previously, even though this was her second album. And when Laura played with her band, almost entirely acoustic, it was magical, made me want to see her again and only have positive things to say about her.
And then there’s that story by Greg Kot. About the flourishing of club and theatre acts with quotes from Jerry Mickelson.
I got that in e-mail too, but what inspires me is it’s suddenly about the music, going for an intimate experience at a fair, cheap price.
But my main point is anybody railing against social media is missing the boat.
If I hit traffic on the way to the Hollywood Bowl, I search Twitter to find out what’s going on. Not only did I learn others were frustrated too, but that there were other concerts happening in Hollywood that I hadn’t even heard about.
People think Twitter is about self-promotion. No, really it’s about information. It’s where you go to find out what’s going on RIGHT NOW! Traditional journalists can’t move that fast. Hell, a passenger was tweeting about his experience when Sully landed his plane in the drink.
So bookmark this page:
Next time there’s an earthquake or you hear an unexpected noise, search on it. That’s how I found out they were celebrating the Santa Monica Pier’s anniversary with fireworks and my neighborhood wasn’t blowing up.
And I know you iPhone users are up to speed, but there’s a new full-featured Twitter app for your BlackBerry, download it here:
It may not be as fluid or intuitive as you desire, but it’s full-featured and a big leap forward from what was available previously.
And, of course, all newbie Twitter subscribers should download Tweetdeck for their home computer, it’s free, it makes Twitter streams comprehensible:
Just say yes when it ask for permission to download Adobe Air upon which it runs.
Who to follow?
That’s the issue. It’s impossible to be comprehensive, it’s impossible to know everything. But if you’re selling something, if you’ve got any contact with the public, you should have a Twitter feed, that you monitor. Utilize a moniker akin to your real life identity, so people can find you. Don’t only spread the word, but troubleshoot, respond to problems. Because you won’t only make one person happy, the word might spread through the Net, burnishing your image in unforeseeable ways.
