|
|
Go to page 1~2 [Next] | ||||||||||
Red Shadow Inner circle 1788 Posts |
I few months ago, I was planning a new Internet series called 'Bar Illusions' and opened a twitter account for the show. The show unfortunately got cancelled due to a a sell-out of the bar. But the account still exists. Even though I have never been there, or filled in any information other than my name and the title.
Since then, I've had several of my children's show clients follow me, even though I have never advertised being on twitter to anyone. I know my surname is unusual, but how do they know it's even me? Anyway, I had another one locate my twitter account recently and it got me thinking about all this online followings with Skype, msn, yahoo messenger, Facebook and twitter. I have had numerous people try to connect to me with yahoo messenger but I ignore them all and don't even log into my Facebook page anymore as I set it up as a student and don't use it because it takes too much of my personal time. But still get friend requests. My question - By ignoring all this, am I losing potential work? Should I be promoting one of these services as a way to keep in touch with my old clients to promote new gigs and repeat business. And if so, which one is the best to go for? Is anyone this forum already using an online account of this type to help promote themselves and if so, do you reckon it's worth the time and effort involved? Steve |
|||||||||
Sam Sandler Inner circle 2487 Posts |
Yes and yes
oh and all of them if you want FB, twitter etc but I find it better to pick one or two and focus my time on that so that it is not draining my time sam
sam sandler- America's only full-time DEAF Illusionist
http://www.samsandler.com http://www.deafinitelymagic.com |
|||||||||
TonyB2009 Inner circle 5006 Posts |
I have heard they are good. A promoter I might do a nice bit of work for contacted me through facebook. I had never heard of him. I think the trick is to log on in the morning for five minutes, and in the evening. Don't get hooked.
It is not a thing I have exploited, but when I begin getting my fiction published, I will probably try twitter. I am not very computer literate; up to two months ago I thought twitter was a mobile phone thing, but apparently it is on computer, not phones. I suppose it will all become clear when I finally take the plunge and try it. Facebook and twitter do seem to be the big two, and I would ignore the others. Having said all that, I was looking at my website activity a few days ago, and a lot of different sites direct people to my site. But no one comes from facebook. Maybe I am not using it right.
Check out Tony's new thriller Dead or Alive http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alive-Varrick-Bo......n+carson
http://www.PartyMagic.ie |
|||||||||
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Social Media is HUGE right now. It does not take much for one to see that social marketing is in the main line culture and advertising every single day. How many times in any given day do you see the Facebook icon or the Twitter icon without even trying to look for them? They are everywhere.
On any given day, countless numbers of people around the world use Facebook or Twitter (and others) to post, communicate, advertise and have fun. It has become as common a habit as eating breakfast in the morning. It has become a part of our culture. With this in mind, it would be foolish for anyone not to tap into the power of social marketing. One does not need to be a genius with it to start to utilize it's power to effectively communicate. First start to look at how it is used by companies all around you? But before you can tap into this marketing tool, you need to develop the content for which you will drive people to. With Facebook, a great thing many are doing is creating facebook Fan Pages. You can do so for free and it works very well. It is not limited to the number of fans that can link to your fan page. If you look at Coke's Fanpage, they have thousands and thousands of fans. The beauty of a Facebook Fan Page is the ability to keep in contact contact with suspects, prospects and clients at all times at no cost to you. It is extremely easy to do and to maintain. In essence it is a means in which to get any of your marketing messages right into the hands of your target audience quickly, efficiently and at no cost. Consumers buy because they have a need they are trying to find a solution for. If this is the case, when I have a need for I first recall the images and advertising that comes to my mind that solves that need. In other words, your goal is to be the first thing that person thinks of when their is a need for an entertainment solution. Now why does Social Marketing work so well? It allows you with ease to keep your name and brand fresh in the fans minds at all times. Anytime you post to your fan page, that information goes out to everyone that liked (joined) your fan page. It does so with a click of a button. What a great way to build relationships with these people over time. It also helps folks to get to know more about you, your services and what you provide? How? Well you not only can post about your shows, but you can also upload photos and videos and have your clients even post reviews etc. Your fans start to see this information and they get to see not only who you are but what you do and what you have done for others. Effective marketing with simplicity and no cost. That is a win-win situation fro you and your business. Now you can't just sit there and create a fan page and expect people flocking to you. You need to get the word out. The easiest way to start is by using the tools Facebook gives you to send out invites to people. It is easy to do and allows invites to go out to other Facebook friends but also to any email you give to it. This makes it so easy for people to go to your link, click a button and they are now a fan connected directly to you. You then start to post your Facebook fan page link to your marketing materials. Everything you give out, has this information on it. You mention it in your show and you can even have a sign or banner made up that can sit on on near your stage. All are easy and effective means in which to get folks to join and want to join. So do not overlook the power of social marketing. Do not think it is just for the "kids" and not for you. The successful entertainer utilizes any and all tools in which to increase his or her business. Great marketing tool at nos cost to reach many people? I call that a winning formula. If you want more information on this stuff, private message me or send me an email at magic4u02@aol.com. if you want an example of a Facebook Fan Page, feel free to look at mine at http://www.facebook.com/kyleandkellymagic Hope this helps. Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
|||||||||
Al Angello Eternal Order Collegeville, Pa. USA 11045 Posts |
It's a billboard, or a tool that you can use to announce up coming events, show potential customers pictures, and videos of you in action, but to think that a small time kids magician has a loyal fan following is just delusional. Even the most famous children's magicians are totally unknown to the general public. It is a smart idea to participate in social media, but it is nothing more than another tool in your bag of tricks.
Al Angello The Comic Juggler/Magician
http://www.juggleral.com http://home.comcast.net/~juggleral/ "Footprints on your ceiling are almost gone" |
|||||||||
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Al: I will have to agree to disagree on the comment of " but to think that a small time kids magician has a loyal fan following is just delusional." I know many that fall in this category that have a fantastic fan page with many fans that is generating amazing business for them. The fans of these folks are very loyal and they not only become repeat customers, they are telling others about the site and about their services.
In just a short week and a half, I have already gained many loyal fans just from 1 single festival I had this past week. Not only did they join freely, but they told their friends about it and even went as far as to post photos of my show etc. These are folks who I may never have had a chance to market to or build a relationship with. Now I get the chance to do both. Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
|||||||||
Red Shadow Inner circle 1788 Posts |
I've heard nothing but bad reports about Facebook myself. Bullying is in abundance on that site, and nowadays people are taken to court on what is written on their Facebook wall. I was told from a past client that she has a Facebook page for her shop. After the birthday party, one of the children from her child's class who was not invited got upset. That child's parents started leaving harassing comments on the shops Facebook page and giving bad reviews about the client, just because their child never went to the other child's party.
I read in the newspapers on school bullying through these accounts and printouts of Facebook pages being used as evidence in court. And then you have people you have never met following you. These people live in different countries and there is no way they will ever book you. What is the point of advertising a public show (and how many of those do you really get) to people many miles away? We have probally all had the sales calls from people going on about Facebook business accounts and all that. There all a con, as we can easily make the page ourselves for free. But I'm still in doubt in whether opening a page on all these sites is worth it. Does it cause more harm than good? Does it take up more time than what you get back and does anybody even bother to read these blogs on all these sites or is it just a way for the artist to waste more time? I know that since it's free, and maximising your advertising area in theory should be good exercise, but we only have so many hours of the day and we can't possible be everywhere at once. There are also other ways to advertise like standing outside a McDonalds with a giant billboard. It might not be fun, but it will bring in local work. I have no plan to do that, but would a Facebook account be any more successful than the sign idea? So let me ask the same question a slightly different way. Does anyone currently using these services get any booking through them specifically? And If they do, does the amount of work put in to logging on each day justify the number of shows in return? |
|||||||||
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
The answer is Yes and Yes. Yes I get bookings through my page and yes the amount of work put into it totally justifies everything. The amount of work is minimal at best. Simply make a post or post one of your photos. It is super easy and takes no time at all.
Keep in mind YOU also have FULL control over who joins and what gets posted to your own Fan Page. You have full control over it all. A person joins that you do not want on your page, you can drop them. If there is a post for whatever reason you do not like, you can delete it. There is no harm in it at all. In fact it is smart marketing made easy. You stay in front of the people YOU want to stay in front of. I literally get up in the morning, check my email, then spend like 2 minutes to check my fan page and make a post (if I want to) and I am done. In fact I have it set up to automatically update my Twitter account at the same time. It just does not get any easier then that. Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
|||||||||
danfreed Inner circle West Chester PA 1354 Posts |
I have just an ultra basic regular page for my act, with no real posts and no subscribers (cause so far I've made no effort), and so far I have gotten one or 2 bookings from it anyway. I guess they did a search for magicians while on facebook, otherwise I don't know how they would have found it. I just started to set up a fan page and I'm going to make the effort to do stuff with it. It makes sense.
Dan Freed
AKA The Amazing Spaghetti https://www.magiciandanfreed.com/birthday-party-magician-for-kids http://thecaricatureartist.com http://danieljayfreed.com |
|||||||||
magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Totally makes sense. They have given us an amazingly free tool. Now we just have to utilize it and learn how to put forth the action to seek the results we are after.
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
|||||||||
Andy Wonder Special user Auckland, New Zealand 747 Posts |
I don't get it. I have been predicting Facebook is a fad whose bubble is about to burst for a few years now but it just gets bigger & bigger. I noticed just in today's newspaper Mark Zuckerberg was judged one of the 10 most powerful men in the world! He is powerful because of the information we have all given him. Facebook is set up to abuse your privacy, that is their business model. It is only a bunch of php do-dads & they spy on your for free.
I read recently about the 'service' Facebook have that logs your browsing history & notifies your followers including certain porn sites you may have visited. With all that data they collect the people at Facebook are able to accurately predict which people will end up as couples in advance. They are also able to identify people who are homosexual but not yet 'out' by modelling their online behaviour. Don't think for a moment that there any government departments that don't have easy access to all of this information. The Police, Immigration department, CIA, FBI, Homeland Security & the IRS all have complete access to this information and they will never delete it. There is a lot of evidence that the CIA support these kind of services to use them an intelligence tool. We are living in Orwell's 1984 , only we don't need Telescreens in our homes listening in, we have Facebook. There was a man in the UK recently who was shocked after requesting a copy of the information Facebook kept on him. He got sent back a 1,222 page dossier. Once you give this information to Facebook it becomes their property, including the rights to your photographs. They keep chat history logs even after you delete them. One couple here in New Zealand were shocked recently to discover one of their holiday snap shots was being using on a billboard campaign in India. Facebook have the right to sell your photographs for commercial usage and no obligation to even inform you. Check their terms & conditions. While you are doing the reading I recommend anyone considering jumping on the Facebook bandwagon to go back & read George Orwell's 1984. The future is here & Big Brother is watching. Am I missing something? Why do we need to make ourselves fresh in everyone's mind all the time and share our personal thoughts & activities with strangers. Are we all so ego mad that we want some fame to justify our self worth? We are spending all this time conducting our social lives on computers & no one even knows their neighbours any more. I know we all get business from word of mouth but isn't just doing a great show enough any more? Why do we need to constantly remind everyone about our daily thoughts & activities. Personally I think all we need is a really good up to date promo video online (not too long) and a simple but elegant website that sells. We can spread our name around a bit to make the web site easy to find but everything else is just fluff.
Andy Wonder, Auckland, New Zealand
|
|||||||||
Red Shadow Inner circle 1788 Posts |
There was once a time that just having a good show was enough, and word of mouth was king.
Then came the yellow pages and the telephone book. And so word of mouth took a back step to the books power in getting the work. The came radio advertising, tv adverts and newspapers. In the nineties, I saw many entertainers listing their details in the papers and some even made their own tv commercial. But then the medium took off as so did the prices. It's rare to see this medium being used for our business any more. Then came the parenting magazines and school bulletins. To some, these are still in use today but because most of them decided to expand their target audience to schools too far from your working area, they became less successful. Then we got the Internet. Online directories are the current king, and yellow pages saw that and created yell which was a dire failure. But the problem with the limited success some sites had, was a thousands clones that came after. Anyone who could build a database did, and now we have more online directories for entertainers than I can count. Adwords became a possibility, as did advertising on eBay. But I personally saw these as more ways to throw away your money. Yes, I know lots of you use adwords and swear by it. But here's what I've learnt. The clients only really want weekend afternoons between 2-4pm. That's it. You might be able to persuade them to take a morning or evening slot, but almost all want the afternoon slot. I have no problem selling that slot with word-of-mouth alone. So all my advertising efforts are doing is getting people ringing me, and me wasting my time telling them the session they want is already booked. For the one or two I'm able to move to the morning slot, it might be worth it. But I have to turn an awful lot away before I can sell it. So, Facebook and twitter. You can create fan clubs through them and client lists. Is it actually going to help though? I get it, you can keep in touch with old clients and email them periodically to remind them to book you the next year. The problem I have with this is the weekend afternoon slot again. Just because they remembered your name, they still want that lucrative afternoon slot which was booked out by someone else months ago. You can create a fan club with the children, but why? Children can't book you, and they can ask their parents for you, sure. But if your booked up then all you've really done is disappointed a child. I'm not saying you can't get work from it, because obviously you can. But the clients they bring in still want the afternoon slots, and so are not really that helpful. For the one or two of these followers who tries to book you again, and your able to move to an after-school party or something... Was it worth all the time spent on these online media places? Or would your time be better sent standing outside a Mcdonalds with a sign, getting new customers to discover you? You can advertise your public show? I'm sorry, I maybe getting old but a don't check Facebook ever for show details. Okay, somebody in the world might. But is it really worth all the effort to get that one person down to your show? And then you find out that one person lives in Africa and you don't even know them. There just another name that want to be your friend on Facebook because they think that's what friend are. My friends I meet up each week for coffee and magic conversations. These people who spend their lives on Facebook and consider having 10,000 friends a qualification sadden me. And would they ever turn up to one of my public show, I sincerserly doubt it. in the end, it it worth spending five minutes of my life every morning updating my status for these people? Steve P.s. Thank you Kyle. |
|||||||||
Al Angello Eternal Order Collegeville, Pa. USA 11045 Posts |
Andy
You live in a very small country, facebook can only have a limited benefit to you.
Al Angello The Comic Juggler/Magician
http://www.juggleral.com http://home.comcast.net/~juggleral/ "Footprints on your ceiling are almost gone" |
|||||||||
magicgeorge Inner circle Belfast 4299 Posts |
Ha ha ha, oh Al, love you dude, but you're the most random man I know. It's not that small maybe you got confused cos of all the hobbits. Also facebook only makes a difference to your bookings with your local fans. Noone is going to drive 1000 miles (the length of NZ) to see your show so (in this case) I'm not sure size matters.
Wow, good to see Andy back. Yeah, that all sounds pretty scary. I have found facebook handy for certain things. Public shows etc. I haven't put the effort in to my Magic George Facebook stuff yet. I just threw a page up so I've only got about 500 on my fan page. However that's still been handy for letting them know I'm doing a public show and quite a few clients have got in touch via fb. George |
|||||||||
Al Angello Eternal Order Collegeville, Pa. USA 11045 Posts |
George my old friend
The population of New Zealand is 4.4 million. The majority of them live on the north island, primarily around the cities of Auckland, and Hamilton. You can contact the majority of them with an add in local news papers, and having facebook fans all over the world is a bit of an over kill, but since it is a free add I guess it is cool for Andy to go for it. I wish others at the little darlings could disagree by having a friendly discussion like you and I do.
Al Angello The Comic Juggler/Magician
http://www.juggleral.com http://home.comcast.net/~juggleral/ "Footprints on your ceiling are almost gone" |
|||||||||
magicgeorge Inner circle Belfast 4299 Posts |
Well that's kind of my point I suppose, Al. All advertising is only really applicable to local people (unless you've got the kind of act worth flying around the world) so it doesn't really matter if you live in the middle of a big country or a small one. So yes, having facebook fans all over the world is kind of pointless for everyone.
I've always found I get most of my business via word of mouth. Facebook being a social site means clients can recommend you via word of mouth without leaving the house. Mrs Brown has me for her party. Then mentions it on facebook then all Mrs Browns friends see the post and go to my page etc etc. Where else can someone recommend you to all there friends in one fell swoop? G |
|||||||||
Al Angello Eternal Order Collegeville, Pa. USA 11045 Posts |
George
My experience with word of mouth is a little different. Women come up to me at a gig, and say "are you on facebook". People don't ask me as much any more if I have a web site, so my facebook fan page is there for them, and for facebook entertainment surfers. I also have a solid core of loyal fans, but they are my grand children, and they love their poppy.
Al Angello The Comic Juggler/Magician
http://www.juggleral.com http://home.comcast.net/~juggleral/ "Footprints on your ceiling are almost gone" |
|||||||||
Potty the Pirate Inner circle 4632 Posts |
New Zealand is a strange country. A tiny population in a space the size of the UK. I can well understand that social media in NZ may be far less effective than in other places. Not to mention that NZ always seems to be 20 years in the past. Now, that's not any kind of criticism, just an observation. It's a wonderful country, but the majority of folks are - shall we say - "parochial". Most endearing...but not great for those who want to build a business.
As for the trend towards Social Media....well, I think we have to accept that it's an essential part of our modern life. To ignore it is at one's peril. I have a Facebook "page"....and it continues to be useful. Not just for attracting new business, but to allow folks to post testimonials which are evidently genuine. Kyle, I have a question: how do you get the link to your FB page? I know I'm being very naive here, but I've gone to my page, copied and pasted the URL, but when other folks click on the link, they are taken to their own FB, not to my page. Perhaps others could confirm this by visiting: http://www.pottythepirate.com/ and clicking on the Facebook logo. I think, though I'm not sure, that you won't be immediately taken to Potty the Pirate's FB page. Or are you? I think there is something very simple I'm getting wrong! Thanks, Doug PS....makes me realise I need to post more on my FB page.....just added something! |
|||||||||
danfreed Inner circle West Chester PA 1354 Posts |
Potty,
Your facebook link worked perfectly. By the way, when you set up a Facebook Fan site, you can choose what countries you want fans from.
Dan Freed
AKA The Amazing Spaghetti https://www.magiciandanfreed.com/birthday-party-magician-for-kids http://thecaricatureartist.com http://danieljayfreed.com |
|||||||||
Potty the Pirate Inner circle 4632 Posts |
Thanks Dan, after posting, I asked some friends to check it out, and it does seem to be working! Sometimes, I get very confused with all the cyber technology, I don't know what I'm doing.....nobody does.....because it all keeps changing! But thanks for taking the time to check it out for me. Now I must be sure to keep my Twitter and FB up to date.
I have tried hard to keep on to of the latest trends - even though I'm not naturally disposed to Tweeting every few minutes. This is certainly the way to stay ahead of the game. Newbies will no doubt start to put their oar in in these matters, so those with experience must learn to do likewise. Yet another reason why entertainers should build their own websites. Before long, if you don't build and maintain your own website, Twitter, FB, et al, you will be consigned to the dusty room of ancient relics which no one ever visits. No matter how much of a genius you may be. I wonder if all this will meet a counteraction of some kind? Will the great tradesmen of the World revolt, and find a way to tell everyone that despite their lack of computer skills, they remain the best in their fields? Sadly, I doubt this. More likely, the computer revolution will polarise things: with no experience, and no computer skills, the rewards will be zero; plenty of experience but no computer skills, the rewards will be limited; no experience, but good computer skills, the rewards will be good; plenty of experience, and good computer skills, the rewards will be fantastic. So, for those of us who are already established as full-time performers, I honestly believe that failing to keep up with computers and technology will prove to be disastrous. Potty |
|||||||||
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » The little darlings » » Clients following you on Twitter & Facebook (0 Likes) | ||||||||||
Go to page 1~2 [Next] |
[ Top of Page ] |
All content & postings Copyright © 2001-2024 Steve Brooks. All Rights Reserved. This page was created in 0.11 seconds requiring 5 database queries. |
The views and comments expressed on The Magic Café are not necessarily those of The Magic Café, Steve Brooks, or Steve Brooks Magic. > Privacy Statement < |