Max Weinstein, Social Media Strategies

Shazam!

Shazam is one of my favorite apps. It runs on iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Windows, Nokia and iPad. It’s magic in your hand. It can detect pretty much any piece of music. Great for parties or when you hear that song and don’t know what it is.

A few weeks ago I saw a Shazam logo in a commercial for the ABC show Grey’s Anatomy. I don’t like Grey’s Anatomy but had never seen Shazam use in a commercial so I paused my TV. Got my iphone and Shazam!

I was brought to a new screen with the option of watching two Shazam exclusive sneak peak videos and the music video for the song featured in the commercial on YouTube. I could also purchase the song and season 7 on itunes.

What would an app like this be without sharing possibilities. You can share your discoveries on Twitter and Facebook directly through the Shazam app. No need to copy or paste anything. Very convenient

The exclusive content and sharing model is key and makes it worth using. Do you Shazam? Have you seen it in other commercials?

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Practical Communication

Over the weekend I saw Roger Daltrey at The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. He performed The Who’s classic album Tommy in its entirety. It was an awesome show and my seats could not have been better!

Ticketmaster and the Prudential Center both have a nice way of communicating before and after events. 5 days before the concert, I received an email reminder from Ticketmaster. 3 days before, I got an email from the Prudential Center, including some event and venue information along with public transit directions. This being my first trip to the Prudential Center it was nice to have basic travel information with links to the New Jersey Transit website. Two days after, I received another email from Ticketmaster asking for me to review the concert. Once reviews are posted, they can be shared across twitter, facebook, myspace, digg and del.icio.us.

This communication and feedback model can be beneficial for everyone. The customer gets to share their experience, getting to the venue can also be part of it. Roger or someone on his team has the option to read fan reviews and decided to change anything. Ticketmaster now has more information that they can use internally and share with the venue to improve future events.

Communicating with customers is key. But listening is even more important. If we don’t listen and react then we are not doing our jobs.

Got a comment? I’d love to hear what you think, so comment below!

OK GO tags on

OK Go rose to popularity in 2007 with their music video for
Here it goes again. It’s the one with the treadmills. They
are constantly thinking out of the box and doing their own
thing. Just watch their videos. They left EMI and formed their own label after EMI blocked embedding of their music videos on YouTube.

Everything they do is innovative. They take the fun spirit of their music videos on the road and it totally shows.
At every OK Go concert a crowshot is taken and posted to their Facebook Fan Page. The band asks everyone who attended to tag themselves. Not only are people tagging themselves, they are also adding to the comments section talking about their concert going experience and continuing the conversation. This is a fun and interactive idea. OK Go is connecting with their fans.

People like to be part of something. We like to participate and OK Go makes it easy. Can a picture on the internet replace a concert t – shirt, a ticket stub or a memory? Probably not, but it sure will last a lot longer.

Picture taken from this blog.

True Fans

In the social media world there is often too much focus on numbers.
I have x number of fans or followers. I’ve reached 5,000 friends on Facebook. Please join my fan page. Social media is not a numbers game. It’s a conversation game.

I think that we have a habit of liking a brand page on Facebook or following someone new on Twitter and then we forget about it,choose to ignore it or are passive. I know I’ve been guilty of this.

Mashable.com reported on a new study this morning based on how consumers interact with Facebook.

77% of consumers said they interact with brands on Facebook primarily through reading posts and updates from the brands.
17% of respondents said they interact with brands by sharing experiences and news stories with others about the brand
13% of respondents said they post updates about brands that they Like.
56% of consumers said they are more likely to recommend a brand to a friend after becoming a fan on Facebook
51% of consumers said they are more likely to buy a product since becoming a fan on Facebook
78% of consumers who “Like” brands on Facebook said they “Like” fewer than ten brands
76% of consumers said they have never “unliked” a brand on Facebook

Don’t focus on numbers. It is about the quality of your fans and followers opposed to the quantity. You want people that are engaged and interested in what you do and what you have to offer. Kevin Kelly says it best in his article 1,000 True Fans

Rock of Ages is a 1980’s themed Broadway jukebox musical. The show has true fans. On a daily basis Rock of Ages interacts and engages with their fans on Facebook, asking questions ranging from 80’s trivia to questions about the show and some other stuff in between. There is not one post that doesn’t get some kind of response. They are tapping into their fans and listening to what they have to say. They are a good example of someone who is doing it right.

In the beginning, it may be challenging to tap into your audience. There may be some experimentation involved and that’s okay. If something doesn’t work, don’t get discouraged. You can always try something new tomorrow.

Text and Get

We all know about text to give, what about text and get.

With text messaging on the rise, venues like Madison Square Garden
are now using it to their advantage. Before concerts and in between periods of sporting events people can send a text message and it will appear on the jumbo screen. People use it to give shout outs to the band, sports teams, and to friends.

We all know about text to give, what about text and get.
During Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers last tour when you texted your email address you received a link to a free download of their new album in your inbox the next day.

According to a 2010 report 91% of Americans have a cell phone. As of 2009 only 21% of Americans were smart phone users. Texting is here to stay. It’s not going away any time soon.