Checklists for online music marketers

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… or: Everything you do online is marketing


One of the most important steps you can take in improving your online presence is to consider everything you do online as a marketing function.

What does that mean? Well, it doesn’t mean stop what you’re doing online, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do more online; instead it means Be purposeful in your actions online and employ them in a way that will help increase traffic and conversions.


Here are a few examples:

Facebook Posts

Do each of your posts have a purpose that aids in your ultimate goals of engaging your customers? (Such as announcing a new event, recording, song?)

Is there a reason that the viewer will care about your post? (If not, rethink posting it!)

Is there a clear interaction or action in each post? (It could asking for a response or requesting that the viewer click on a link to watch a video or go to your web site.)

Do you have links, hashtags, and keywords in your posts?

YouTube Videos

How much time do you spend optimizing your videos for search results?

Meaning: Do you write the title of the video as a way to pull in more viewers?

Do you add keyword tags to every video up to allowable 500 character count?

Are your tags and titles keyword optimized?

(Remember: YouTube is the #2 Search Engine after Google...so, if you’re going to take the time to record and upload a video, it’s imperative that you spend a bit of time making sure it gets seen, too.)


So, most likely, both of these are actions that you’re already taking and if you focus your efforts toward a specific result (rather than jus going through the motions), you can get MUCH more in return from these actions.

There are *many, many* more examples of this when it comes to your web presence. Because you’re a busy person in the music community, taking a step backward and really thinking about each online thing that you’re adding, building, or posting, isn’t really something you do, right? But, what’s the point of posting that video if no one is going to see it? Why post something on Facebook that doesn’t give your viewers something to do? Or why would you build yourself an email list but then bury the signup down in the footer of your site ... what’s the point of even having it then?

I’m not trying to chastise anybody here, but I do know that your time is valuable and so I want you to get the most out of that time that you can spend online. We all know that we’re supposed to “do things” to our web sites to grow our business, but instead of just doing a number of things, do a few things in a fully optimized way so as to increase your results.

Check out this list of questions geared toward different roles within the indie music industry. Go through these and see which you do and which you don’t. Be honest, there’s no one who’s going to have done all of these, but this will help shed light on which areas could use more attention. And, as you go through these, don’t hesitate to reach out to me with questions or ways that I could help you … after all, this is what I do. You do music, let me help with the web.

GENERAL / ALL

Do you have a web site?

How often do you update it?

Is it mobile friendly?

Do you respond quickly to comments and contacts from fans and visitors?

How much time do you spend trying to get traffic to your site?

Do you have a way for viewers to get updates from you? Is it easy for them to find? How many people each week take advantage of this?

Is it clear to visitors what you want them to do on the site?

Do you write the page titles and headlines of your site with SEO in mind?

For Festivals

Do you pay an ad agency to run marketing for you?

Can they quantify how many attendees they get you?

How much time do they or you focus on free traffic generation?

Have you ever analyzed your site with real customer data to see how you could improve your checkout rate?

Do you pay for Google ads (yourself or with an agency)? Have you ever had that spend analyzed by an objective third party?

Are you using and optimizing all available channels to entice new visitors and to improve your search results? Are you using YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, et al?

Are you implementing local SEO tactics to bring in audiences from your region?

Do you have a clear and easy eCommerce path for easy check-out? 

(How does your purchase/check-out experience rank on the ease-to-frustration scale … From “As easy as Amazon One Click” to “Why the Hell do I Keep Getting Errors When I Enter My Street Address.”)

Musicians:

What are the top things that you want users to do on your site?

Is it clear and easy how to do these things?

(Remember - just having it as a menu option does not mean it’s clear or easy...)

  • Download an album or song?

  • Sign up for tour date reminders?

  • Look at your tour schedule (go to a show)

  • Listen to your music?

Are your upcoming concert dates right in front of the viewer?

Can I easily see your most recent album and is there a direct link to buy it?

Are you actively collecting contact info (email, etc.) from visitors?

Are you connecting with other musicians and getting links from their sites to yours? (And returning the favor?)


Record Labels:

Do you have a promotional strategy to incentivize multiple or repeat buyers?

How do you utilize content to keep listeners engaged in between releases?

What do you do to introduce new artists or albums?

Do you have a referral program to bring in new listeners?

Do you have a loyalty program to grow sales from current programs?

How strong is your site's organic search ranking in order to drive free traffic?

What is your strategy for collecting names and contact info from your artists' sites and live events?


Music Blogs, Non-profits, and News Orgs:

What are you doing every week to drive traffic?

Are you syndicating your posts and content across all available free and social media platforms?

What’s your backlink strategy? (If you don’t know what this is...shoot me an email)

Do you optimize every content post for SEO?

How easy is it for me to get updates from you?

And here are two more sets of questions on the examples from the top of the article:

YouTube

Are you posting videos on YouTube? (If not, you need to be.)

Do you optimize your video titles and tags with search keywords?

Do you respond to comments in a timely manner?

Do you post on your Community tab?

Do you have a built-out and keyword optimized “About” page?

Are you also posting your videos to Facebook and other social media sites?



SOCIAL MEDIA:

Are you using all available platforms? Or just Facebook?

Do your posts have clear Calls-To Action? (Each post should invoke an action)

Are you using popular keywords within that platform in your posts?

Is your profile page fully built out so as to help you rank in platform searches?

Do you post on the regular?

Do you request/encourage your site visitors and elsewhere to follow you on social media at every possible opportunity?


These lists are not meant to scare you, but instead to help trigger some thoughts about what you’re doing to further your interactions and performance online. To just see these lists in an easy to read PDF … download The Digital Marketing Questions You Should Be Asking Every Day.

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