MySpace Music - A Place For Musicians
4. Making The Most Of MySpace
MySpace is not just a website, it's an entire community powered by connections and conversation. Presence on MySpace isn't just about numbers of friends you add, but about building your MySpace as your entire communication platform as an artist.
1. Use MySpace as your Official Website
With MySpace as your online home, fans will always know where to go to get the latest news about your band, find your gig schedules, see photos & videos of you in action as well as connecting with a whole bunch of people who also like your music.
Studies show that MySpace users tend to click back at a very high rate when directed out of the MySpace community - give them ways to take actions, absorb information, and show their support before they have to follow a link offsite;
- Instead of "click here to sign up for our newsletter," embed a form into your profile.
- Instead of "click here for more information," provide short blurbs/video/visuals about your band, your music, your gigs etc before providing the link where users can learn more.
- Highlight band members/managers/fans who also have MySpace profiles. Link to their profiles so users can interact with them/ask them questions directly.
- If you do have another website, make sure there's a link on its homepage to your MySpace page so that people already engaged in your music can go & connect with the MySpace community.
2. Use MySpace as your Official Website
MySpace is more than a website to showcase your work - used effectively it is the interactive hub of all of the activity surrounding your music, from presenting yourself to people all over the world, to inviting your fans & friends to your gigs, interacting with them & even enabling them to promote your band themselves. Check out our design section which explains how to add songs & videos to your profile, add banners, edit the background & organise your events.
3. Invite Connect with Friends & Fans
Once you've made your profile suitably impressive, it's time to make some friends:
Use our Address Book Importer to find the people you know who are already on MySpace, & invite the ones who aren't.
For bands who already have a fair following, our new tool FanSync allows you to upload your entire fan database (up to 25,000 records) in one go! Click here for more details.
Check out the Find My Fans section for tips on how to approach people without seeming like spam & alienating them.
4. Grow
Firstly, subscribe to our blog to make sure that you stay updated with all of the latest news from MySpace music! Then, check out the Tips & Tricks section for info on all of the different ways you can use MySpace to boost your fanbase & promote your music.
Be smart about it:
- Refresh the content on your page regularly to keep your fans engaged in what you're up to
- Stay active
- Optimise your page (click here for tips)
- Provide easy ways, like grabable banners, for your fanbase to spread the word about your great band for you!
- Link all your online presence to your MySpace page
- Providing your fans with a place that they can go to listen to the music, find out about the band, communicate with you, & each other
5. Offline
Don't forget to use offline sources to drive people to your MySpace page. Co-brand everything with your MySpace URL to let folks who come across you in other contexts know that you're on MySpace. Shout out your URL at your gigs, so your fans can go & find you online straight away!
Include your URL on posters & produce stickers with your profile image/logo/MySpace URL on. Handing them out at events & plastering them everywhere is a great offline way to drive people online to your profile page!