• 09/28/2008 - My Lovely Wife Lou is Pregnant
• 12/14/2007 - ArtistServer News and a new site: FreeMusicLicensing.com
• 09/18/2007 - AritstServer and ToneThis Serve Up Indie Ringtones
• 09/11/2007 - Running LightTPD and PHP on Windows
• 09/06/2007 - Compete.com -vs- Alexa.com - Comparing Website Rank
• 08/29/2007 - HostMySite.com Limits ColdFusion, Does Not Tell Customers
• 08/14/2007 - New Song: Chocolate Rain - Sonic Remix
• 08/03/2007 - If You Use Open Source, Leave the License and Credit
• 07/31/2007 - Add Links to Profiles on MySpace, Facebook, and More
• 07/23/2007 - SocialNetwork.in API Promotes Cross Site Networking

Powerful Marketing With User Generated Content: Part 2 of 2

Be sure to read part 1.

Fan Blogging / Group Blogging Workflow

The following is similar to the scenario described in my previous blog post, but only covers the steps involved.

1. Setup: Member sends settings to the system which will turn on the service for their account. This includes a standard title and tags to be applied to all photos and video, in addition to the default status setting. Advanced features will allow the member to offer a song or ringtone in exchange for adding the person to their contact/mailing list.

2. Announce: While at the event, the member would need to announce to the audience that they can publish their mobile phone photos and videos on their website live from the event. All one needs to do is provide the audience with their "MobPub" address [BandName@MobPub.com].

3. Event: Once the member's MobPub settings are turned on, those in attendance can simply snap a photo or video, and send it to the band's MobPub address.

4. Publishing: The email/MMS with the photo would then be sent to the member's site, and based on the settings, it would give the image a title, attach a photo number, and apply the tags (keywords) the member entered into the system. If the member set the status setting to pre-approve, the photos and video would then show up on the band's website. If the member selected to approve items after the event, they could login to the site, preview, and approve what they wish to display.

5. Networking: This next step would be available if the band selected to setup the advanced options. These options allow the band to setup a "Thank You" email and select either a song or ringtone to offer as a thanks for posting the photo or video to the band's site.
   

6. Buy In: Here the fan accepts the offer for the ringtone by replying to the message.

7. Connecting: The final link to the media is sent to the fan. Fans will always have the option of removing themselves from the mailing list. In this case, the term mailing list refers to sending out text messages and/or emails.

Powerful Marketing With User Generated Content

Most people I've explained this to start smiling right away and consider it a 'fun' thing – it's obviously about bringing the fans, the audience into the experience more. While this is true, I think it provides many more opportunities that are more significant to those who use this. For example, fans want to be a part of their favorite band, they want to own a bit of them – and that happens through the albums, t-shirts, things they create themselves, bumper stickers and more. With the Web becoming a larger part of the picture, fans now participate in all kinds of band-centric activities – from using the band as chat avatars, to posting on forums. If we can leverage that fan energy in more ways behind the bands, we should be able to improve the fan experience AND propel the band to new heights.

With that said, I think Fan Blogging is a very powerful tool for everyone involved.

• It provides a stronger bridge between fans and bands

• It provides more points of entry for the band.

• It allows the fans to participate and take ownership in the band.

• It documents events from the perspective of those who experienced it.

• It provides an opportunity to bands to increase the traffic on their site.

• It has potential to generate revenue through fans visiting their media, and shopping on the site.

• It generates a contact/mailing list with little effort.

• It's fun

Below is a diagram showing the same workflow which is listed above. If you'd like to see a larger version – click on the image or follow this link: http://www.artistserver.com/files/FanBlogging.png

If you have any questions about this idea, feel free to get a hold of me or post here in the blog. I'm currently building out the photo managing tools and should have mobile publishing done this summer, which means I'll have Fan Blogging online shortly after that.

I've picked up the following domain names for this service:

• FanBlogging.com
• GroupBlogging.com
• MobPub.com
• MobileBands.com

While at the Emerging Technology Conference earlier this week, I handed out 20 folders containing information about ArtistServer.com. I've been sitting on a few of my plans and haven't posted anything online about them, and since this information was in those folders, I feel it's time to start talking about one or two of those plans/ideas here on my blog so they are published publicly under my name.

Yes... we're talking “TOP SECRET” stuff here! Are you ready?

• Concept: Fan Blogging or Group Blogging - Initially, the service is for artists and bands who perform, but can and will be extended to provide the service for any type of event or location.
  

• Summary: To provide the means for an audience and/or participants of an event or location gathering to self document using photos and video from mobile devices. In addition, this system provides a greater opportunity for follow up sales and marketing through the Website which displays the user generated content. Lastly, depending on the settings, a contact list can also be generated which helps one grow their network.

Before I go through the flow of the process, I'll give you a scenario using this system.

Scenario:

Ok, we have this band, and they've joined ArtistServer.com, and they're going on tour across Europe or the U.S. A few of the guys in the band have mobile phones, one possibly has a laptop. Since they're using ArtistServer and have an upgraded account, they'll have access to the Fan Blogging tools. The first show is in their home town, so before the gig, they login to the site, and create a new Fan Blogging Event. After entering the start and end times, a title, some tags and the status setting (which sets if the published content needs band approval first), they publish the Event to ArtistServer. Before heading to the gig, they print out a bunch of flyers with the band's Fan Blogging address: BandName@mobpub.com – this way they can get the word out to the fans at the show on how they can participate.

The band is now at the club/venue, the flyers are placed around at the tables and just before the show starts, the singer announces, “Good evening everyone... All of you that have mobile phones that can snap photos or video, and can also email them to people, we have something for you to do tonight. If you take any photos, or video here at the show, send it to our Fan Blogging address – it's printed on the flyers, which is: BandName@mobpub.com. When you do this, your photo or video will be posed on our band's Website! Plus, if you do this, you'll be sent a message back to your phone asking you if you want a free ringtone! It's our new song, This Is Our New Song, and it rocks. If you are confused, just take a photo and send it to that address – you'll see. After the show, you can always check out the photos from this gig by visiting our site. Check it out at: ArtistServer.com/BandName."

The band launches into their first song and right away, a few people pull out their phones, run up to the band and start snapping photos and video. While back at their seats, they select the photo they like the most, tap in the address, and off it goes. A minute later, these people receive a text message from ArtistServer.com which they probably won't hear it while inside the club, so it stays valid for a day. If they do hear or feel their phone, they can then accept that they wish to be added to the contact list for the band and be sent another message with a link to the free ringtone.

The fans start having fun with it now, and realize that they should start taking photos of each other and themselves at the show to post on the band's site. As the night carries on, the band gets into photos with fans, takes photos from the stage themselves, and posing for group photos. All the while, the photos and video are generating a real-time Website for the event – even text messages getting posted alongside the media.

It's now the next evening, the band is about to head out to the next gig but decide to pull over to a WiFi hotspot to look at last night's show. To their surprise, there's dozens of photos and video, not to mention another 15 new signups on their contact list. Not bad for only filling out a form on a site, passing out a few flyers and making one announcement at the show. The band is now even more motivated for tonight's gig, and head out the door in a rush.

Due to the quick exit, they forgot to setup a Fan Blogging Event for tonight's gig. But that's not a problem, since several of them have mobile phones. One of them flips his mobile open and sets the event up either using a J2ME application on the phone, or by sending a simple text message to their account with the settings inside. ArtistServer.com pings them back with a text message so they know the Event was added, and they're ready to go.

This is only part 1 - be sure to view part 2.

Unless you've been a Web slinger for a few years, you might have missed out on the term "Spider Bait."  Spider Bait can happen a few ways, but the main function is to fill Web pages up with keywords and get search engine 'spiders' to index them.  A spider is a program that browses the Web and follows links based on rules and criteria. While crawling, it stores your Web pages and information about your Web pages in the search engine's database for use in the search engine.

When this first started happening, back in hmm... 96/97, I had some clients that wanted me to do this.  I tried to talk them out of it, but the client wanted it done. Even worse, they wanted me to do it the sneaky way - by setting the text color to the color of the background, and filling the bottom of the site with around 500+ keywords and phrases.  Fortunately, the client requested it to be removed after a few months - which was a good move, because the search engines were catching on.

Spider Bait was getting out of hand to the point that some seach engines stated that they would stop indexing your site if it was filled with keywords, while some evolved their spiders to ignore such clusters of words.  Once these methods were put in place, the effectiveness of Spider Bait began to diminish - and, in some cases, it caused sites to vanish from the search engines. It was an end to the Spider Bait problem, or so it seemed.

Just last week, while researching for a new site I'm launching, I was searching Google using the words "music hosting." Since I'm curious about the top listed sites, I visit each one to see if there's anything I can learn from them - why they are at the top - who links to them, etc. The fifth listing, Sectionz.com is what this posting is all about.

If you click on the link, you'll be taken to a modern day Spider Bait page. WTF?!?

Yes, it's true, Spider Bait will take you to the top of Google, today, in 2005.

What makes that page Spider Bait? take a look, or, look at this screenshot:

1. The page is filled with keywords that relate to the site.

2. Each keyword is linked to a page where the file is the same name as the link.

3. None of these links go anywhere except to other Spider Bait pages.

4. Every Spider Bait page is the same, even the header text, they simply swap the keywords.

I'm surpised on a few fronts. First, because this can still work. Second, that it's working on GOOGLE! and Thirdly, I'm surprised that Sectionz.com would be doing this. Actions like this are not good for artists or music fans.

If you want to be the best, then be the best, shortcuts will always cut again.
 

Just a quick note... My last blog posting was about eMusic.com and how it is unclear as to when a member's account will 'refresh' - and how they neglected to respond to my support question.

You were probably expecting to read that eMusic did reply, but alas, that is not the case.  The only bit of news I do have, is that my account refreshed at 5pm PST.  I live in PST, so I'm not sure if this time is based on the server's location, or when I actually signed up, etc.  Which means we still do not know when a member's account will refresh.  What "I" now know, is when my account refreshes - the mystery is partially over.

If anyone else out there has an eMusic.com account, try to find out when your account actually refreshes - and if you can, share the info - or maybe eMusic.com could just tell us?

I use the eMusic.com service, it's a good price, the site works very well, and the music selection has a lot of rare items. For the most part, I really enjoy what eMusic is doing. Not only do I promote them on ArtistServer (through an affiliate program), but you can even hear me telling others about the service. It's great, I pay a small fee, and each month, I'm allowed to download "X" amount of songs from their site. Ah, and there's no DRM on the files. You tend to forget about such things when they aren't a part of your lifestyle.

While eMusic rates high in my mind, there's an issues that comes up each month that serves as a powerful thorn. I'll share this with you because I see this as a lesson in customer service. Before I start, I'll have to add that I'm definately not you 'average' user, and that while eMusic is indeed well established, it's still important for them to have 'sneezers' out in the field. For those unfamiliar with the term, a sneezer could be compared to a 'passionate football fan.' A sneezer will sell for you, do your marketing, connect you to micro networks you'd never be able to touch, and they can be powerful alies. But, as you can imagine, doing a sneezer wrong isn't good, it could even be volatile these days.

Each member's account at eMusic has it's own "Anniversay date" - which is when your allowed downloads will refresh. This date is based on when you sign up.

Ok - no problem there.

Today is the date my account is to refresh, October 24, 2005. I just logged into their site, and I see today's date listed, yet, my allowed downloads has not refreshed yet. Why? Because 'today' has either not happened yet because of the location of the server, or, the date also includes a time which may not have passed, or possibly some reason due to when they process their charges. I just logged into my bank account, and I don't see a charge from eMusic yet, so it would appear that my account has not been refreshed because the transaction hasn't happened. This is just a guess, though, as there is no information on the eMusic site which explains when your account refreshes.

Here is the only bit of information they provide about your account refreshing:

Q: When will my downloads refresh?
A: Your billing cycle will refresh every thirty days. This means that your downloads may refresh on a different day of the month each month. You can find out when your downloads will refresh by going to the Your Account page and checking the Download Summary area.

I found this issue two months ago, and sent an email to them using their support form. I explained basically what I just wrote above, that it was unclear as to when an account would refresh, and that if it was associated to a time, that they should share that with the users so we can know what to expect.

No reply.

This is an important issue, because a part of what eMusic is selling, is the experience. If you have a product or a service, then you are in the "Experience Business." Anyone can see that eMusic failed in terms of customer support, but what we need to focus on here, is how much of a role the experience plays in Web commerce and that something as simple as a lack of clarity in how things work can easily destroy the whole experience and loose a customer. Even worse, you could frustrate a sneezer and cause negative marketing waves to ripple about the blogosphere.

After a few months of belonging to a service like eMusic, you begin to see shopping for music as a different thing. It's not going out to buy your favorite music any longer, it's more like one of those 'sweepstake shopping sprees' where you get to run around the store and fill your cart like a maniac. When the date comes closer, you start to visit the site, you check out what is new on the site, add a few albums to your 'save for later' list, it's all a part of the experience.

Then, the day arrives... it's time to go wild - it's going to be an evening of all new music! So, you hit the site, sign in, then BAM, there it is at the top of the site...

So you click on the zero... and yes, there it is, today's date:

Current subscription: eMusic Plus Upgrade
Your downloads will refresh on Oct 24, 2005

It's now been more than two months since I sent them a support question and gave them feedback on their site. I still haven't heard back from them.

Will I keep using their service? Yes, for a few months more or until it seems that I'm no longer finding good music there. I'm sure they can fix this issue - it's not driving me away, and it's certainly something I can deal with. What's amusing, is that I'm traditionally not much of a consumer, yet I feel like I was sucked into this one... I was feeling the 'experience' that they were selling to me, and I was in turn selling it to other people. That's perfect from a marketing perspective, what more could you want than your customers replicating your marketing efforts? Unfortunately for them, the signal was broken, I snapped out of it, and now I'm only paying for the music.

I'll have to watch out though, the connections have been made, they're still fresh. I could sign into their site one day and BAM! They could start selling me that experience once again.

You might be thinking... "hey, couldn't they just cut this 'experience' out, bring costs down even more and cut a bigger profit?" Most likely, no. It's cheaper to keep selling to your current customers than it is to buy new customers. Plus, word-of-mouth or 'buzz' marketing is becoming a more powerful tool as we all become more connected to each other and disconnected from the TV. Investing your marketing dollars into a better experience for your users could possibly be the best thing you could do right now. Your marketing team may not like their budget going this direction, but the thing to do here, is make them a part of the experience too. I also suggest getting outside perspectives, especially new and seasoned users, which you can then use to find some of your power users who often turn into your sneezers.