In the first post of the “Beyond MySpace” series, we talked about your website. Now we’re going to start looking at some mainstream social media networks, the first one being Twitter.
- One quick note before we start diving into these: it’s a good idea to go ahead and grab your username on these sites even if you don’t plan on using them just yet. For example, if your band name is Helter Skelter it might be hard to use that same name everywhere and considering it’s a pretty common phrase, it might already be taken. So grab it before it’s gone! To make it easier, check multiple sites at once using a service like Know ‘Em or Namechk.
Ok, back to Twitter…
"Dirty Bird" from MonkeyWorks Illustration
Setting up your Twitter account
Once you’ve registered an account with Twitter, the first thing you’ll want to do is set up your profile. (Click on ‘Settings’ in the menu at the top of the page to make all of these changes.) Some of these are self-explanatory – real name (your band’s name or your own if you’re a solo artist), URL, time zone, etc. The others are a bit more important:
Bio – In 160 characters or less, enter a description of your band. It could include your tagline, release date of your next or latest CD or single, names of the band members, etc. This is a good place to use some SEO (search engine optimization) techniques and use words or phrases for people to find you. So if you’re a heavy metal band, you might want to include that in your bio so that people who are doing a search on Twitter for the phrase “heavy metal” will end up on your profile.
“More info” URL – This is where you’ll want to send Twitter users who want to get more information about you. Usually this will be a link to your website or your MySpace profile but you can also use the link that will send them to your CD on Amazon or a specific page on your site like your bio page or your events calendar. (If your link is too long or has a lot of numbers and characters in it, use a URL shortener such as bit.ly to make it a short one.)
Location – Get as broad or as specific as you want. If you live in or near a major city, use that as your location to help local people find you and build up your fanbase wherever you’re playing most of your shows. If you do a lot of touring, you can use phrases like “Midwest” or “US” to let Twitter followers know that you’re not limited to a specific area.
Picture – Another no-brainer…add a picture. This is the image that will show up next to your name on all of your status updates, known as “tweets”. It needs to be something that will look good when it’s very small, so your latest show flyer probably isn’t the best image to use. Use your CD cover or a square-ish band photo. Don’t make it anything too small because if someone clicks on the image, they will see it in original size.
Mobile – You can text your tweets by enabling the mobile feature. Once you’ve activated it, you’ll be able to send a text message to a certain number (varies depending on where you’re located) and have it show up on your Twitter status.
Notices - Twitter will send you an email whenever someone new follows you or sends you a direct message if you check these options. If you’ve set up the mobile option, you can also set it up to send you a text message and block it from sending you those texts at certain hours of the day.
Design – Rather than sticking with the generic backgrounds Twitter offers, you can add a background image and change the text and sidebar colors to match, giving your profile a custom design. (If you’re not a graphics person, you can purchase a custom Twitter background through our sister site, Rock Star Blog Design.)
You’re on Twitter… now what?
Setting up your Twitter profile is just the beginning. Now you’ve got to put it in action! In the next post, we’ll go over some tips and techniques to help you get the most out of Twitter including syncing your Twitter account with MySpace and other profiles, using automatic updates, and how to find and connect with followers.
