BUILDING THE BAND BRAND: 5 things to do when nothing’s happening

Photo taken from Myspace

You’ve posted to YouTube. You have a MySpace page. It seems like no one is visiting your site. You’re in the dumps about it.

First, are you phrasing it right? An old headline trick I learned long before most readers parents were born – put some drama into it. So instead of saying “Nice sunny day,” rephrase as “Hot sun beats down upon earth.” Same thing, just a little more flair.

Here are five things you can do when nothing is happening:

- Post a Tweet. I like to use Friendfeed. If you’re on Facebook or other sites like Digg it will do the updating. Tried Tweet Deck but did not like.

- Go to MySpace and look up people you can add as friends. I was blown away when Beyonce’s cousin Shanica Knowles contacted me with a friend request. You know Shanica as the ever popular Amber from Hannah Montana. Maybe as Aly and AJ’s co-star in Super Sweet 16 the movie.

Here’s how I do it. I look for people I know and see who they know. Through one artist I found one of the biggest influences on my music – Howlin’ Wolf. An up-and-coming blues band, The Aces, whom I met through LinkedIn, would be wise to go to my page and introduce themselves to Bob Corritore, purveyor of one of the finest blues clubs in the nation, the Rhythm Room.

Same thing with Twitter. Type in the name of someone you want to follow. Can’t find them, then try Ashlee Simpson who will lead you to Papa Joe Simpson who will lead you to Jessica Simpson. See. Easy. You could also go to We Follow if you’re looking for The Real Shaq (why?).

- Post a bulletin on MySpace. Easy and it draws attention. Do it once every other day.

- Check and recheck. Find new places to SELL your MP3s. Fix MySpace. Make those tunes 90 seconds instead of the full song (that’s for YouTube). Are they available to buy at MySpace, Amazon and everywhere?

- Another great networking opportunity. Join LinkedIn and list all the places you’ve listed your MP3s for sale (a sales tool) and ask LinkedIn members if they know of more places to place your MP3s.