Well, friends, I asked for it. Yesterday I put up a post about Facebook’s new SMS fan feature. This lets RRE fans (or whomever) text “fan RailroadEarth” to FBOOK and they’re automatically added to our fan roster on Facebook. This sounds like an extremely convenient way to sign up new fans at a show or whenever the feeling hits them, yet there are a few hurtles from an effective marketing perspective that I wanted some feedback on. For instance, the best way to get the word out would probably be to make an announcement from the stage during the show, but RRE isn’t going to be doing that. Whatever the vibe is that we’re trying to project from stage, it ain’t the one where we stop in the middle of a set and put in a plug for our Facebook page.
Other alternatives are placing info at the merch booth, the ubiquitous (and potentially ineffective) email blast, but obviously a coordinated effort on all fronts would be the most effective means of getting those numbers up. A coordinated effort is what Allan came up with. I’d love to hog this as proprietary information given to us, and only us, by a seasoned marketing vet for the purpose of blowing Railroad Earth up just a little bit more. However, that would be against the stated mission of ignoredByDinosaurs. What I present here is either something that he’d been working on for months and waiting for the right opportunity to fire off or a 30 minute rough draft of a brainstorm. You never know with that guy. Either way, he’s an impassioned student of the biz and this is good stuff. If you promote bands you should read this.
The funny part is, I was just kidding when I asked him to make me a diagram.