I hate facebook. I pulled the plus 6.5 years again and it was one of the best things I ever did. I don't miss it one bit.
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Not everyone is on FaceBook......
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Settle down my man. Its just my opinion and experience. There really isn't anything that you can say that will convince me that FB is a great way to promote. Yeah, you make valid and true points. But I will believe it when I see results. And after following what my band and any of the 10s of 20s of bands we regularly play with on our scene, I have yet to see FB make a remarkable difference in getting people out to our shows. I barely ever makes a dent in REAL promotion for a band that I actually SEE for real. Other than "Likes"..... Not saying it's not a good tool to get your name out there. But its really not that great either and I would not rely on it to do our promoting. If a band actually RELY'S on FB for promoting, well, they will not get very far. In all honesty, most people ignore band posts from what I've seen and heard.
Nothing wrong with a web page, but most people are too lazy to coordinate all of these things. If you want to have a successful Facebook, web page, twitter, youtube, or whatever, you need to keep them all in sync and figure out how you are going to make them all work together. Most people just throw these things against the wall with no plan and then people get confused about where to get their information. I see it in a lot of businesses, not just bands.
Whatever kind of media you decide to do, make sure you have a plan for coordinating everything and keeping everything in sync and up to date.
If your fans aren't going to come....they aren't going to come. But in terms of reaching fans, potential fans and the general population, its one of the best tools for an upcoming band. Of course it's not the only tool, but it's the best in terms of reach and broadcast.
But settle down, my man. It's ok to disagree!
SirMjac28
Patiently Waiting For The Next British Invasion
I appreciate the notion of not using FB, because its easy to get caught up in unnecessary drama and it can be a big time-sucker. However, the reach and relative affordability of advertising is essential to most bands today. There are bands that only do FB for a reason. Honestly, we dump a lot of money into other forms of ads, but see the most success (by far) from FB. I file it under necessary evil and try (fail lol) not to get caught up in ridiculous political arguments.
If your fans aren't going to come....they aren't going to come. But in terms of reaching fans, potential fans and the general population, its one of the best tools for an upcoming band. Of course it's not the only tool, but it's the best in terms of reach and broadcast.
But settle down, my man. It's ok to disagree!
Oh I'm settled. You were they one that seemed to want to tell how it was. And I see your point. I'm just of the mind that FB is not the best, or even a good, tool to use for band promotion. It helps. But it's not that great for it. The way I see it, the last year or maybe two I have seen FB become a place where people share viral videos and give themselves a mouthpiece. FB sorta ruined itself. It's flooded with so much crap nowadays that to me, no, its not a great way to promote your band. Yes, you can, its a tool. Not a great one at that.
- Oct 22, 2015
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Like ... dinosaurs ... here on the 21st century equivalent of a pre-Web BBS. I am two days removed from a long email to my colleagues about precisely why I am not on Facebook with them. Email. Crikey, nobody uses email any more. It's texting and even for some that isn't rapid enough.
Yes, I like to shoot the breeze here between work and bass. Speaking of ... I'm expected to go to work shortly ... LOL
FB traffic tends to expose certain things about human behavior that we'd all like to believe aren't true.
1- Event RSVP numbers vs. actual attendance shows that a relatively small number of people will come to your event compared to those who say they will.
2- Somebody liking your band page doesn't mean they are paying attention to your band. It means they clicked the like button.
3- Somebody liking your post might just mean they saw a post. I've posted a new track, gotten several likes on that post, only to see the number of actual track plays is a small fraction of the likes.
I think it's important to have both a FB page and a website. I think, in present times, you need a YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and GoFundMe page, if you're trying to leverage social media.
If I'm in a national touring act, my goals are also different from a local cover band. The same rules don't apply. So, use the right tool for the job.
As for businesses, like builders, I still find a stand-alone website more comfortable and compelling than a FB page. A FB page can be a good supplement, announcing new stuff in the works, but I still like seeing a page showing a product listing and pricing and contact info.
1- Event RSVP numbers vs. actual attendance shows that a relatively small number of people will come to your event compared to those who say they will.
2- Somebody liking your band page doesn't mean they are paying attention to your band. It means they clicked the like button.
3- Somebody liking your post might just mean they saw a post. I've posted a new track, gotten several likes on that post, only to see the number of actual track plays is a small fraction of the likes.
I think it's important to have both a FB page and a website. I think, in present times, you need a YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and GoFundMe page, if you're trying to leverage social media.
If I'm in a national touring act, my goals are also different from a local cover band. The same rules don't apply. So, use the right tool for the job.
As for businesses, like builders, I still find a stand-alone website more comfortable and compelling than a FB page. A FB page can be a good supplement, announcing new stuff in the works, but I still like seeing a page showing a product listing and pricing and contact info.
I joined Facebook a couple of years back.
I realised after about 3 months that I was spending an inordinate amount of time achieving absolutely bugger-all and wasting hours at a time connecting with a bunch of strangers I'd most likely try to avoid if they looked like they wanted to strike up a conversation in the pub.
Then a blinding flash of realisation hit me; I figured that I stood more chance of only talking to the people I wanted to talk to by using the dual miracles of email and the telephone, and to a lesser extent dedicated forums such as this one. They even make telephones you can walk around with I found out, and they're not the size of a bass rig any more.
I left Facebook, never to return.
I still have two Twitter accounts. One for connecting with other people who support the same football (or "soccer" if you must) club as me and one for music/comedy news. That's the pretty much extent of my Social Media involvement these days.
I do still own my original MySpace account, but only because it'll be a valuable antique one day soon.
What? I'm 62 sonny! Now get off of my bloody lawn!
I realised after about 3 months that I was spending an inordinate amount of time achieving absolutely bugger-all and wasting hours at a time connecting with a bunch of strangers I'd most likely try to avoid if they looked like they wanted to strike up a conversation in the pub.
Then a blinding flash of realisation hit me; I figured that I stood more chance of only talking to the people I wanted to talk to by using the dual miracles of email and the telephone, and to a lesser extent dedicated forums such as this one. They even make telephones you can walk around with I found out, and they're not the size of a bass rig any more.
I left Facebook, never to return.
I still have two Twitter accounts. One for connecting with other people who support the same football (or "soccer" if you must) club as me and one for music/comedy news. That's the pretty much extent of my Social Media involvement these days.
I do still own my original MySpace account, but only because it'll be a valuable antique one day soon.
What? I'm 62 sonny! Now get off of my bloody lawn!
One of the guitarists in our worship band had an interview at facebook for a contract job. He had an interesting story...
The hiring manager forgot and did not show up. So, he was left in the lobby well past the interview start time. Another person showed up, and spent most of the interview time trying to discreetly text on his cell phone underneath the table. Cell phone guy was a west point grad, oddly.
Every interviewer told a different story on why the hiring manager could not make it. He said that one of the interviewers was good, the others were not so good at it.
I told the guitarist that he should have asked if he text while driving, but he said that he didn't want to make a scene.
The hiring manager forgot and did not show up. So, he was left in the lobby well past the interview start time. Another person showed up, and spent most of the interview time trying to discreetly text on his cell phone underneath the table. Cell phone guy was a west point grad, oddly.
Every interviewer told a different story on why the hiring manager could not make it. He said that one of the interviewers was good, the others were not so good at it.
I told the guitarist that he should have asked if he text while driving, but he said that he didn't want to make a scene.
I use e mail all the time....Texting?....I don't even own a cell phone....
No, I'm not a Luddite...I simply have no use for a cell phone....
Ahh gotcha. My apologies.
My opinion is that if you are a cover band, standards band, weekend warrior types - then social media is really all you need nowadays.
If you are a band that is hell bent on making it, then I still think a website is a very useful tool, provided it's kept up to date for touring. Said website must be a professional job though. I've seen many bands with cringe worthy excuses for websites that are seldom updated.
wmhill
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Music is the only reason I'm on Facebook. I fought it for years before creating an account last year. The only stuff on my page is about my music, nothing personal. It has been very handy for promoting and staying in touch with promoters, bands, etc... If it wasn't for the music though, I would never be on it.
great thread! (kinda) - did anyone see the part where this wasn't supposed to be a facebook bashing thread?
i think this is a great topic for us to discuss. where is the happy medium?
1. facebook is a great way to get your stuff out there. getting tougher though - paying to boost posts and whatnot
2. many people don't have facebook...how do you reach them?
3. even if your post reaches 1,000 people, does anyone go to your show? do facebook people leave their houses?
4. facebook is not what it was - it seems most people in the feed are:
a. photographers
b. wine and sip
c. musicians - do people even look at event invites anymore?
d. rodan fields
e. political trolls
just people selling stuff and starting fights....i never thought i'd wish for more cat photos!
5. where do you go to get your band out there? for me, i've found you have to a little of everything....which includes talking to people!
6. i don't have a personal facebook page but my wife does so we do all the promo for our band through our page and then share it through her account - she has 1200+ friends and that's how we get it out there. but if you only have a few friends and a few likes and you don't want to pay to boost your post, it seems hardly worth it.
so....now that the facebook bashing is done.....what do you do or suggest?
i think this is a great topic for us to discuss. where is the happy medium?
1. facebook is a great way to get your stuff out there. getting tougher though - paying to boost posts and whatnot
2. many people don't have facebook...how do you reach them?
3. even if your post reaches 1,000 people, does anyone go to your show? do facebook people leave their houses?
4. facebook is not what it was - it seems most people in the feed are:
a. photographers
b. wine and sip
c. musicians - do people even look at event invites anymore?
d. rodan fields
e. political trolls
just people selling stuff and starting fights....i never thought i'd wish for more cat photos!
5. where do you go to get your band out there? for me, i've found you have to a little of everything....which includes talking to people!
6. i don't have a personal facebook page but my wife does so we do all the promo for our band through our page and then share it through her account - she has 1200+ friends and that's how we get it out there. but if you only have a few friends and a few likes and you don't want to pay to boost your post, it seems hardly worth it.
so....now that the facebook bashing is done.....what do you do or suggest?
