Web Marketing for Musicians, Performing Arts Groups, Authors (often travelling)

• By: mruthenberg
• On: 06/08/2009 19:25:19
• In: Industry-specific Topics
• Comments: 0

FoundLocally makes it easy for Musicians, Performing Arts Groups, Authors to register in their “home” community and post events to ANY FoundLocally community. The only communities not supported are in Quebec (“the language laws”) and more remote northern communities in the West.

 Unlike a lot of restaurant sites that only focus on high-profile arts groups, bands, or public speakers, or include only advertisers/members, FoundLocally's database is free for all Musicians, Performing Arts Groups, Authors and is more complete than other restaurant listings.

You can post and update your listing, so you control the message. You can link your FoundLocally listing to your website, and for event ticketing can link to any website, including each venue’s own website, or a site like Facebook, Meetup, and TicketMaster;

 Making the Most of Your PROFILE

Use the Name field for you, your arts group or band name, and you can use the second Name field (which is not displayed but is searchable) to post nicknames, alternate spellings, or booking agency names.

When entering the Address field, Authors might use the office address for their publisher, bands might use the office address for their booking agent.

Use the Products/Brands to mention the names of your albums, plays, or books. This will help people searching for those items on our site, and will give fans checking out your events more details about you.

 Choosing CATEGORIES

For bands & performing arts groups choose the “Entertainment (for venues & groups)” in the CONSUMER SHOPPING – Goods & Services, and the “Artist/Performer” in the Attributes. If you are selling videos or records, also select “Video Sales” or “Music/Entertainment” categories respectively, and select “Retail” in the Attributes.

Authors should choose the “Books/Periodicals” in the CONSUMER SHOPPING – Goods & Services, and the “Artist/Performer” in the Attributes. If self-publishing, select “Manufacturer” in the Attributes, and if selling books from your website, select “Retail” in the Attributes.

Arts Groups that are not-for-profit can also select the appropriate PUBLIC SERVICE categories, being sure to select the type of organization, but also your ”Club/Assocation/Charity Type”, where some categories that might apply include Art and Culture, Dance, Multicultural. Do not choose categories that apply to your audience (ie Family, Senior’s, Community)

 Multiple CONTACTS to Update Listing(s)

Set up multiple contacts per listing using the CONTACTS tab and “Add New”, so different functional roles can login and update their appropriate listings. You can also have both the artist / performer/  author and their agent or office manager update the listings. This way, the site can be updated by someone on the road, posting News and any changes in the Events, and someone in the Office posting the other items

Posting NEWS Announcements

You can use the NEWS tab to post any announcements that get sent out to the other community media. Post announcements about awards, and local charitable and media appearances (you can post theses as News either beforehand or afterwards, or as an Event beforehand, so fans get a “heads up” on where to meet you)

• News postings can dramatically improve your findability by increasing the association of keywords in the news story with your web site and your name.
•  News Announcements stay posted until you take them down. On FoundLocally, news has a long shelf life. FoundLocally news is not thrown out or recycled the next day, like with a newspaper!

Posting EVENTS to build Traffic

You can use the EVENTS tab to post not just your performances or readings, but any special events, like local charitable and media on-air appearances.  The default link for Events is your website, but you can change this for each event item, as necessary.

The default community for each event is the FoundLocally community your listing is in, but you can re-set this in the first field on the Add/Update Events screen to any community’s FoundLocally site. That way the event is included in that community’ calendar, but fans wanting more info about you see your “home listing,” description, and web link.

You probably should not post events for private/closed events that not open to the public, but events where tickets need to be bought should posted and linked to the appropriate ticket-buying website.

 If you have regular or similar events, use the CLONE feature after creating one event with a nice description, links and categories. This way you can quickly add similar events, and you can post as far ahead as you plan!

If you have weekly events, like concerts/performances every weekend, use the "Days of the Week" event type to quickly post up to six months worth of events on a single screen. Each week’s event is set up as a different Event posting, even though you entered several/many weeks from a single screen. If you change venues or other details every week, then you can go in and update the individual week's Event details as you confirm the location.

Making the most of JOBS

You can post job openings as part of your listing. Go to the JOBS tab and click on "Add New" and these items are automatically posted to the FoundLocally Jobs Board, which is where job hunters typically look for opportunities. You can set a variety of job types including full time, part time and contract, as well as the level of desired experience.

• You can post jobs, like events, to any FoundLocally community, so if you need backstage crew or assistance, you can post those openings in the appropriate community. Not-for-profit groups can also post volunteer opportunities, using the Add Jobs screen
• When positions are filled, you can login, go to the JOBS tab and de-activate the posting. You can also go back and re-activate the posting later when another vacancy appears, whether in a month or in a few years.
• De-activated JOBS postings are not deleted unless you choose to. But if it saves you typing, looking up a job description from a file, remembering what you said the last time, and didn't have to pay the local newspaper for another Help Wanted or Careers ad posting, why not use this functionality?

 Using SAVINGS to attract new fans

Many Entertainers offer coupons or discounts, either as part of a "coupon book" or a neighbourhood promotion. You can replicate those using the SAVINGS tab of your FoundLocally listing

• Set appropriate conditions, limitations, and expiry dates for your offers. The SAVINGS form has links to sample text you can use
• Coupons are numbered, so you can track the number of coupons and redemptions

Inviting RATINGS and Reviews

We do not permit owners and staff to write reviews of their own organization (you are most welcome to post review of places where you patronize, though).

• You can invite your fans to post their own ratings and reviews. This way others will discover why you are worth watching.
• Ratings are permitted 1000 characters of description, which is much longer than we permit for a business listing Description, and generally long enough for most reviews (other than the pretentious self-pontificating ones, which on online readers take the time to read, anyway)
• All contacts for your organization get copies of reviews as soon as they are activated.
• FoundLocally will remove reviews that we consider libellous (ie untrue cases of food poisoning).You can notify us using the Feedback button on the page with the offending review.
• We generally don't remove negative reviews, since they are a matter of opinion, not fact. The best response is to get your regulars to balance the opinions by posting favourable reviews.

Tip For Publishers or Agents

You should register as a contact and add your organization first, and then add all of bands, performers or authors you represent. The listings are free. so why not? Be sure to give your clients a Registered Contact login, so they can update and post to their listing, too.

Add Your Organization/Business to the FoundLocally Directory