Facebook's decline as a useful band tool...

Runnerman · #1 03-19-2013, 09:33 AM

I'm wondering if you guys are seeing the same thing we are. Facebook is becoming less and less band friendly.

First of all, it is very difficult to send out event pages, there is poor formatting and then you need to select from your friend base. You cannot add all your "like" people to the distribution list.

This was ok for a while since when you posed to the band wall, everybody who liked the page would get an announcement on their newsfeed. But now with the new advanced filtering, only about 25% of your likes will see the event announcement at all.

In my opinion, this makes Facebook almost useless as an effective promotional tool any more. I never thought I'd say it but Twitter is probably better.

We used to send out an email update about once every two months to our fan base email list but now we are going to send out show announcements every month or even sooner if something drops in.

Anybody have any thoughts or want to share how you are promoting in this everchanging social media world?

MatticusMania · #2 03-19-2013, 09:54 AM

We're still doing okay by it.

bearfoot · #3 03-19-2013, 10:04 AM

I hate the filtering , esp on the iOS version.
Seems to be workin ok for bands as well as I can see. I don't currently use it for promotion howeveh

bassbully · #4 03-19-2013, 10:38 AM

I never thought it was so great anyhow.

Musiclogic · #5 03-19-2013, 10:46 AM

Bands screwed themselves when they let myspace go poof and switched to FB. FB has always sucked for band promotion, Myspace was much more friendly for Bands and musicians. C'est la vie

SnowCal · #6 03-19-2013, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Musiclogic

Bands screwed themselves when they let myspace go poof and switched to FB. FB has always sucked for band promotion, Myspace was much more friendly for Bands and musicians. C'est la vie

I don't think bands had a whole lot of choice in that matter.

Facebook wants to make some money on this. I don't know much about it, but serious promo on there seems to be going in the direction of pay-per-view. And there are good things about it. You can target pretty effectively. But yeah, Myspace was a lot better.

Bassbubble11 · #7 03-19-2013, 11:10 AM

We get more people at gigs from our email list.
Facebook has never been our internet go-to for
promoting ourselves. Honestly it sucks.

sleeplessknight · #8 03-19-2013, 12:35 PM

My band only has a facebook page because the younger members (...he says as though he weren't still the 'right' side of 30...) insist on it. I've never seen much traction from it, we've always had MUCH more pull from our email list cultivated 'the old fashioned way' (i.e. harassing audience members between sets)

DwaynieAD · #9 03-19-2013, 01:32 PM

the internet is a fickle thing and facebook even more so. It's a big pile of ADHD and you just gotta pray you are shiny at the time the right person is looking your way and you'll get some kind of traction that may last a day or two.

Facebook is whittling down your reach in hopes you'll shell at money to reach your own fans. The internet savvy figure out a work around, facebook tightens the reins even more. Wash, rinse, repeat ad nauseum.

It's a good time to start looking for the next facebook. And probably a good time to make sure your band's website is up to snuff.

bearfoot · #10 03-19-2013, 01:43 PM

^ a big pile of ADHD : )

I do think FB is on its way out. It just seems to get less innovative, and more imposing and arbitrary, with each update. It's time for some fresh perspective to come in and be the Next Thing.

Ubersheist · #11 03-19-2013, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassbubble11

We get more people at gigs from our email list.
Facebook has never been our internet go-to for
promoting ourselves. Honestly it sucks.

This +1. Email lists have been the most effective promotions tool for us currently and pretty much any band I've been in the last 15 years. For me, Reverb Nation is more powerful when I'm listing gigs since it'll automatically update Facebook, twitter and my website in one shot.

Facebook and twitter are still usefull, and I try (and mostly fail) to keep active on both.

stagebanter · #12 03-19-2013, 01:50 PM

Facebook is only ineffective for people who don't pay for promotional spots on people's newsfeeds etc. It sucks, but if you can come up with a small FB advertising budget, you will notice the results immediately.

Runnerman · #13 03-19-2013, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stagebanter

Facebook is only ineffective for people who don't pay for promotional spots on people's newsfeeds etc. It sucks, but if you can come up with a small FB advertising budget, you will notice the results immediately.

Do you work for Facebook?

Musiclogic · #14 03-19-2013, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnowCal

I don't think bands had a whole lot of choice in that matter.

Bands and musicians jumped ship at the onset of FB's popularity even though it was a complete bust for Band/fan/club networking and pretty much still sucks for that. Myspace was and really still is the more ideal platform for bands to promote their new music and gigs directly to their fanbase. If more bands and musicians stayed on Myspace, it would have become a true Music platform as all the 13 yr olds took their social surfing to FB.

Quote:

Facebook wants to make some money on this. I don't know much about it, but serious promo on there seems to be going in the direction of pay-per-view. And there are good things about it. You can target pretty effectively. But yeah, Myspace was a lot better.

+1

Beersurgeon · #15 03-19-2013, 02:03 PM

I have seen an advertisement for bands here in Denver that specifically stated,"no Facebook links!" I can't remember for what, who or where but Facebook is slowly rotting away.

petrus61 · #16 03-19-2013, 02:07 PM

This is interesting to hear. I was just about to get the ball rolling on a FB page for my band.

The Joe Man · #17 03-19-2013, 02:28 PM

Unfortunately, I just had a club owner offer my band a door deal instead of guarantee because he was concerned with our relatively low number of Facebook "likes". I wanted to strangle him. Attention club owners: Facebook is in no way reflective of a band's audience or potential to draw.

Biggbass · #18 03-19-2013, 02:31 PM

We get much better attendance when we run a $5 FB ad. So much so that the last couple of gigs where we utilized that strategy the venues had to turn people away due to capacity. $5 well spent in our case.

Coolhandjjl · #19 03-19-2013, 02:33 PM

Ummm that's what MySpace was started for.

**Ric5** · #20 03-19-2013, 02:36 PM

Facebook is for posting a political opinions, or a pretty picture, or an ugly picture of a kid, or other useless junk ...