The first thing every artist tells me when I begin the talk about Social Media marketing for them is “I want to get on blogs.” Sometimes I laugh because half the time I don’t even think they know what that even means. They just know blogs are big now and they need to be on them.
Well they got the first part right: YES blogs are now the new big thing, and YES they should be on them. Where artist tends to fall short is the HOW do I get on them part.
Scenario 1 for an artist usually is: 1. start Twitter account, Facebook account, most already have a MySpace page; and, 2. begin to consistently BLAST (promote) bloggers their music all day. We in the office call this the “MySpace” way of thinking.
WRONG! Wrong on so many levels!
Ask yourself:
1. Are you specifically targeting the RIGHT sites? That means if your music is compared to Ice Cube you should NOT be blasting OkayPlayer trying to get a review.
2. Is this your first time you have ever stepped foot on their site?
3. Have you ever commented on ANY of their previous postings?
Ariel Hyatt wrote a great article on the correct way to get your music featured onto sites:
A Step-By-Step Guide For Musicians Looking To Get Reviewed On Blogs (link is to: http://www.arielpublicity.com/sound_advice/how-to-music-blogs.html). I suggest you take a full look through this article. I’ve pulled a few tips right here for you that will show you the correct way to approach blogs.
1. Become An Avid Blog Reader & Comment
Your only best bet and guaranteed way of getting featured on a blog is to create a personal relationship with bloggers.
a. Identify 20 blogs you want to be reviewed on
Please be smart about your blog choices though. I know we all believe we should be on the biggest, best blogs out immediately. It sounds good but its NOT realistic. If you are a small hip hop group from ATL that are trying to get your name out there, choosing the biggest hip hop blog may not be so smart. The last I checked the blog count was at 70 MILLION blogs. Don’t limit yourself to only these biggest, and best blogs when there are millions of smaller ones who are itching at the seams to get artist to want to be on their sites. Think of it as starting a foundation to get to the bigger sites to pay attention. Yes, some of these blogs should be some bigger and more widely read blogs but lets not make the entire list that way.
b. Read and Comment Daily on each blog
The idea here is create a two-way conversation by talking about THEM. Bloggers are tremendously happy to know when they have readers and comments. Even the bigger blogs as well. This is a great way to a. join their community; b. get familiar with the things they post daily; and, c. get in conversation directly with them.
You will see several bloggers are also in the comments sections with their readers.
KEY TIP: Comments should never be self-promotional at first; they should be entirely about the blog and the blogger. Add comments, comment on how you like their blog. Add feedback. Disagree, agree; but participate in the blog. When you are a blogger, it’s all about how many comments you have and how many people you are engaging on your blog. This part is critical!!!
Once you have ingratiated yourself enough into the community (commenting for more than 2 months) than you can approach the blogger about doing something with your music on their site.
To make the process a bit more clear for you, I mapped out for you my daily blog reading list.
As you know my main focus is Social Media in the urban world, for artist, etc. What I’ve done is identified a few sites that are key online players (blogs, websites, etc) in those specific fields that I would love to contribute or be featured on. I have visited each of these sites daily, twittered to them (just about random things, nothing self-promotional), emailed them about posts I loved, started a relationship with each.
Here is my list of sites:
Digipendent
Your urban guide to the Social Music Evolution
Music Think Tank
http://www.musicthinktank.com/
Where the Music Industry thinks Out Loud
Black Web 2.0
Black Web 2.0’s mission is to bring to the forefront the wealth of exceptional innovation, talent, and ambition of Blacks in the technology/internet/interactive industries in an opinionated and authentic voice.
Artist House Music
http://www.artistshousemusic.org/Home
A learning resource for music and the music business.
Just from frequenting these sites I have had several of my articles featured on each of these sites. With each it was less about me creating a pitch of how great I was, and more about creating a relationship with each site.
Cyber PR Urban is Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR’s urban division that handles Hip Hop and R&B as well as urban and urban crossover artists. We connect urban artist to Blogs, Podcasters, Internet Radio Stations, Vlogs, Social Networking sites, and Webzines. Cyber PR Urban’s Urban Plug newsletter is a free bi-monthly e-zine for musicians & entrepreneurs who want marketing, promotion and PR tips for navigating the new music business. Sign Up here:
www.cyberprurban.com. Check out past articles at:www.cyberprurban.com/blog
Christina Duren started her music career as an intern at Island Def Jam where she spent a year in the Radio and Promotions/Publicity department. At IDJ she worked with Mariah Carey, Rihanna and Ne-Yo. From there she took her first real job at Shore Fire Media working campaigns for The Roots, and Heineken Red Star Soul Tour. Christina now acts as PR Director for Cyber PR and co-founder of Cyber PR Urban.