Two days ago, this would have been way down on my list, but while it’s fresh on my mind I thought I’d mention it: you should be on Facebook.
The good news is that you’re probably already on Facebook. Statistically speaking, you’re likely to have been bombarded with invitations from friends and, about a year ago, signed up. Since then, you’ll have been bitten by werewolves, compared, sold, invited and friended so often that you’ve either succumbed to it entirely and it wastes almost as many hours of your life as television used to when you were at high school – or, like me, you’re kind of over it and only go there reluctantly from time to time.
But Facebook is a little different for you now. You’re someone who has fans and customers, so you need something more than just a profile. You’re someone who could make use of Facebook Pages.
I could be (and probably am) way late off the blocks on this one. I have no idea how long these have been around. I feel like I’ve been vaguely aware of them for a time – but I only really explored them yesterday when I set up my own Facebook Page as an experiment to see if I could see any use in them for you.
And I can.
Of course, this is by no means a way to get you off the hook as far as your own website is concerned, but it is a way to connect with fans somewhere they already like to hang out. Facebook, like jungle, is massive.
Best thing is that the Facebook page only need take you 10 minutes to set up. Go to the Create a Page page, and fill in the details. I was even able to shoot and upload a test introductory video while waiting to board my flight to Belfast and the whole thing, from signup to its current state, took about 15 minutes.
Of course, the next thing is to tell people it’s there (“Hey everyone, I have a Facebook Page now!” etc.) and start to engage with social networking in a way that would make Chris Brogan proud.
But remember – this is part of a portfolio for your music, your band or your music business. It’s different to MySpace, Bebo, or any of the other social media platforms you’ll find yourself on. But you’ll need to spend a little time engaging once you’ve built. It’s not ‘instead of’ anything – unless it turns out that the thing you want it to be instead of has genuinely outlived its usefulness.
And we’ll be talking about reducing the number of these sites you have to deal with in due course. But for the moment – I’d be keen to hear what you think of the Facebook Page thing.