by Ed
When Jacob was looking for guest blogs to cover his absence, whilst traveling in China, I thought it the perfect opportunity to further my recent on-line discourse into the subject of social music.
Now, social music is not something new, its not groundbreaking new territory as far as the social media scene is concerned. LastFM, one of the leading broadcasters of social music, has been plying its trade since 2002, which is decades in social media terms.
There have been a number of new players entering the market recently with Spotify and BlipFM coming on to the scene, but it’s not a scene getting the same fanfares of praise that some of its social media contemporise receive.
It’s a great pity, music is often over looked by individuals and companies alike when trying to plan social media campaigns, and I think campaigns are weaker as a consequence.
Music fills a communication space that is hard to replace with other formats, each piece of music usually means something else to each listener. Music can inspire thoughts of empowerment, it can stir emotion or provide comfort.
Successful social media campaigns, in my eyes, are all about achieving a degree of engagement that either allows you to deliver a brand message or provide a service that encourages brand loyalty.
From a musical perspective, I’ve been very impressed with Beyonce’s brand engagement over the last 6 months. Now, I’m no Beyonce fan, don’t get me wrong the girl can sing, it’s just not to my usual musical tastes.
That said, two of her latest tracks, “If I Were A Boy” and “Single Ladies” have perfectly engaged her audience. Her key audience must be approx. 14-25 year old girls and they must just love the lyrical content of both of these tracks.
I’m not suggesting that we all go out and write bespoke tracks to engage with our audience/client base (although it wouldn’t be the first time its happened). But I am suggesting that spending some time thinking about whether music can add value to your social media campaign is a worthy cause.
You only have to think about hold music when calling call centers to realize the benefits of good music against bad and the value it can add. Sometimes, after coming off hold to speak to an agent, I feel compelled to either praise their music choice or lambast them for their taste!
It may take sometime to think of what tone you want to use with your social music and you may even want to trial varieties for a while, but if you get it right I think the rewards will be clear for all to see.
check out Ed’s blog at Digital Signals
Comments