CMB 041 : Connect With Your Listeners (2013 Wrap Up Part 3)

The Christian Music Blog Podcast: Christian Music | Songwriting | Worship | Creative Productivity | Music Business

As we wrap up 2013, I want to get highly practical and provide you with some ideas, tips, and tactics that you can take into your new year, to see immediate results.

Taking action and putting one foot in front of the other, is the only way to grow in anything. Even in our walk with Christ, we aren’t merely hearers of the word, but doers.

It’s in our doing that we learn and grow the most.

Action is a huge part of anything in life. No one sits around on their hands to watch things magically happen.

I want to give you a few ways to quickly be on the path towards a GREAT new year. These are 4 things every musician should do in 2014…

CMB 039 : 20 Mile March (daily activity)
CMB 040 : Upgrade Your Tools (become an engineer)
CMB 041 : Connect With Your Listeners (master the internet)
CMB 042 : Harness Inspiration (decode the mystery of creativity)

Connect With Your Listeners

In today’s podcast episode, I give you 6 must-haves for connecting with people online. I believe you’ll see big results in 2014 if you stick to it. It’s exactly what has happened to CMB this year, and I know it can happen for you and your music.

Keep in mind, that the things I mention below are merely scratching the surface when it comes to internet marketing and platform building. This takes a lot of time, hard work, and educating yourself if you want to succeed.

Never forget the “20 Mile March” principle when it comes to this stuff. You’ll get there. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other….

Here are six priorities when it comes to building an online platform for your music….

1) Get Online

Seems obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many musicians only have their personal facebook profiles promoting their stuff. Or maybe you have an older GeoCities website (remember those?) that was designed back at the dawn of the internet, screaming for help.

No matter where you are, make sure that you have at least the following four things:

• Your official website
• Facebook Page
• Twitter
• YouTube Channel

2) Know Your Listener

This should probably the first thing you spend time doing. Knowing who your audience is will help you connect better than any tool, website, or latest tech fad.

Think about more than just the styles of music they may like. Think about what they like to read, how old they are, what they love to eat, their hobbies, interests, political perspectives, and on, and on we could go.

The more you seek to understand and serve your audience, the more they’ll connect with you, your message, and your music.

3) Go To Them

Get off your website! This one is kind of counter intuitive, but when you think about it, it’s a no-brainer. Find out where these people hang out!

Do the following things:

1. Google other blogs in your niche
2. Search for forums to join and contribute value
3. Look for local off-line opportunities to connect with people
4. Join a membership site
5. Invest in online training programs where people with your interest are developing themselves.

4) Search Engine Optimization

People who resonate with your message and music, are probably looking for it. Are you hard to find or easy to find?

Search Engine Optimization is the process of making your website’s content search engine friendly.

This can be quite an animal in many people’s minds, but it doesn’t have to be. Check out this link to get an awesome education on the basics of SEO.

5) Audio and Video (YouTube and Podcasting)

• Understand YouTube (with James Wedmore)
• Podcast Answer Man (weekly show on podcasting)
• Pat Flynn’s free podcasting tutorial (6 videos)

6) Start a mailing list

• Mailchimp
• LeadPages (really helpful opt-in forms and pages)
• Why you should build your e-mail list
• Great article from Wired on why e-newsletters kill twitter