photo by Kmeron

Working in the music industry sure has its fun moments, celebrity signtings and big ideas that can reach millions of people emotionally – something that really can impact sales and long-term commitment to a brand. Though they are looked at as rock stars or people that have everything going for them, they have made some pretty big mistakes when it comes to social media. I thought today we could look at some ways that the music industry has mismanaged social media and how you can learn from them.

Ghost Tweeting

This one may sound either ridiculous or brilliant, but for those looking to build authenticity and transparency in their brand, ghost tweeting is a big social media no-no. Essentially ghost tweeting is having someone, possibly an agency or a PR firm send out Tweets on your behalf. This is a misleading practice and something that brands should turn a cold shoulder to.

In the music business we have seen ghost Tweeting from Britney Spears, 50 Cent and Diddy. Your business should look to have a person responsible for Tweeting on behalf of the company. No one knows the ins and outs of the way you do business like, well, you. Why farm this task out? If there are multiple users for one Twitter account, consider leaving a quick note at the end of each Tweet, maybe something like:

just shot a really cool video with a client today, can’t wait to share (kevin)

No matter how you handle the situation, make sure you are leading your customers into an honest situation. They will be much more responsive to the truth than to find out they are Tweeting to a random agency rep.

Ok Go

Over the last few weeks there has been much speculation over videos and revenue from videos on YouTube. The biggest fuss has come from Ok Go, an indie rock band that is best known for their viral treadmill video for “Here It Goes Again.” When the group looked to promote their new video, their label pulled the plug on the embed feature, leaving bloggers and fans without the ability to share the video outside of the YouTube site itself.

Many videos get a large amount of their views via the embed feature, which allows anyone to grab a short piece of HTML code and place a video really anywhere from blogs to Myspace pages to Facebook and forums. The backlash eventually led to the group leaving the label to go out on their own.

In your business you want your customers and clients to get excited about your work. The more they share your videos, or posts or services the more business you bring in. Having your videos on YouTube allows YouTube to pay for the web hosting and gives your fans and clients the opportunity to share your work with millions of others through their network.

When you use social media, be sure to give your followers an opportunity to spread your work, and / or teach them how to share it. It is a great way for your business to grow organically with little to no investment on your part. Hopefully record labels will see this as well.

Turning Twitter Into Myspace

One trend we hope to see much less of is musicians using Twitter in the same vein that helped them ruin Myspace. You know, the comments or bullitins asking random people with no interest in their music to “check out their dope tracks.” This has been happening more and more on the service and is something that businesses can get into as well.

As we start to see an ROI from Twitter, we all get itchy to use the tool as a way to “push” out content ratehr than engage. We need to remember that Twitter best works when we are interacting with others. There is nothing wrong with sharing links or talking about your company, but leave value to others. I love what Chris Brogan said:

“Check your last 10 blog posts, your last 10 tweets. Are they all about you. Are they all about your products, your services, whatever it is you’re pushing? How many are about you versus those that are about others (either directly about them or empowering them)?”

This is a great motto to work by in your business.

As we close out this post, what can you take away from some of the mis-happenings in the music industry? Let’s talk in the comments!

Greg Rollett is a Rock Star Internet Marketer from Orlando, FL. He blogs about Lifestyle Design and Online Marketing.

Tags: music industry, Social Media, Twitter, youtube