Summary: In episode 46 of DAWCast: Music Entrepreneurship, you will hear David Andrew Wiebe's workshop presentation called I Want You!: How to Build an Online Community to Support Your Music Career. This speech was delivered at a weekend songwriter workshop (May 10 & May 11). Jonathan Ferguson and Toni Vere also led their own respective songwriting workshops over the course of the weekend. Build an Online Community In this workshop, I cover the basics of building an online community as a musician. Everyone attending pitched in a lot of great ideas too (thank you!). This is my first ever speaking engagement, so please go easy on me. Social Media Sites I began this session by discussing a variety of social media sites. Here are the main ones that I had on my list: Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Instagram Flickr Myspace ReverbNation PureVolume SoundCloud YouTube Dubbler Vine Workshop participants also mentioned a variety of other sites in our brainstorming session. Mindset Tips Online communities are for facilitating discussion Logic is the language of the mind; story is the language of the heart Serving your audience should be your goal Never stop learning Engage your audience frequently Clearly define your goals Learn how to re-purpose your content Go out of your way to add value to your audience Manage your expectations Here's the quote by Simon Mainwaring mentioned in point #1: Too many brands treat social media as a one way broadcast channel rather than a two-way dialogue through which emotional storytelling can be transferred. I first heard the phonebook example from John Eldredge at Ransomed Heart. It seemed like a fitting illustration for driving point #2 home. Simon Sinek is just one example of an expert who talks about the importance of emphasizing your 'why' instead of your 'what'. In his TED Talk, How great leaders inspire action, he shows us how to talk to our customers. Activity #1 - Create Your Mind Map I encouraged everyone at the workshop to build a mind map around their own online marketing plan. If you are reading this now, you should also consider creating one. Producer Daniel John Wiewel shared his mind map with the attendees. Great job, Dan! At one point I said Google+ is almost like the old Facebook. I meant the old MySpace. Content Marketing I went on to talk about the various forms of content a musician can create to attract an audience. Music Blog posts Podcast audio Video Other forms of content: infographics, checklists, PDFs, guides, whitepapers, e-books, etc. Tools & Resources Here are the tools I mentioned that you can use to manage and automate your online presence: HootSuite Buffer Jetpack Plugin by WordPress.com Social Media Examiner There is one more tool I would recommend, especially if you use video to market your music. Check out OneLoad. Activity #2 - Develop Your Story I asked the audience to think about their story so that they could discern their purpose as a musician. When you are marketing yourself, you want to sell the benefits. When you are clear on your story, it will serve as the centerpiece to your marketing. Jonathan Ferguson and Goemon Ishikawa (aka Alex) shared their stories. Thanks guys! Here's a great summary of the weekend via Alex (and I'm not just posting this because there's footage of me playing in it): Show Notes: David mentions Chris Brogan David mentions Ariel Hyatt David mentions Bluehost David mentions IX Web Hosting David mentions MF Gig Calendar David mentions oDesk David mentions Elance David mentions 99 Designs Jonathan mentions Kaman Leung David mentions iContact David mentions MailChimp David mentions AWeber David mentions Mozilla Thunderbird David mentions David.DAWCast.com Credits: HOST: David Andrew Wiebe MUSIC: “Dramatic Serenity”, David Andrew Wiebe © 2012 Listeners:
