Members MarcusTaylor Posted January 4, 2012 Members Share Posted January 4, 2012 Heya guys, What are the general thoughts on Google+ for musicians? On hand I can see that it hasn't got an 'active' user base containing the general public i.e. most active users of G+ are in the tech industry, so it's probably not great at capturing audiences YET. But on the other hand no bands have really used G+ to do anything innovative yet so there's definitely an opportunity to be the first and gain publicity from the techy bloggers. Also, I can see Google+ becoming increasingly important throughout 2012, especially as a part of YouTube which obviously has a huge impact on musician's video marketing. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members beatpoet Posted January 5, 2012 Members Share Posted January 5, 2012 Will it even catch on for real people? I heard a few rumblings that people would shift to it in response to Facebook becoming more and more cack, but it doesn't seem to be capturing the hearts and minds. If it does, then it'll catch on for musos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members richardmac Posted January 6, 2012 Members Share Posted January 6, 2012 Yup. Google can add features all they want, but it turns out that people are happy, despite their complaints, with Facebook. I only know like two people who use Google +. So for right now, it's a big yawn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarcusTaylor Posted January 6, 2012 Author Members Share Posted January 6, 2012 I think people will be forced to adopt G+ over time as it becomes more and more integrated as part of Google Search, Youtube, Adwords, Maps and all the other services Google have monopolised. I ran a competition on TMG this week giving away £30 worth of business cards, stickers, calendars and stuff to someone who circles the site to gauge whether the music industry is using it and interestingly I saw some musicians and music companies with 10,000+ people circled, so some musicians are definitely using it to build their fanbase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members richardmac Posted January 6, 2012 Members Share Posted January 6, 2012 Musicians want to use anything that lets them obnoxiously pimp themselves. SIDE NOTE - It's getting really freaking OLD. I have friends who keep doing that whole 2008 "Let's use social media to build our tribe" crap and I'm really starting to resent them. I don't want to be constantly updated as to what you are doing. If I want to know, I'll go to your website or just call you. Now shut the f*ck up. Ahem. I think the odds of Google + taking the number one slot from Facebook over the next 5 years is unlikely - I give it a 1 in 5 chance. There are a lot of moms and grandmothers on Facebook, and they don't care about what the latest thing is - they want to be where the other moms and grandmothers are. And as long as they don't leave, Facebook stays on top. Google is big but it doesn't mean it can make technologies popular by sheer force of will. Look at Google Wave - it was supposed to replace email and forums, and instead it went nowhere and they killed it. THANK YOU, by the way - this is one of the more interesting conversations to happen in this forum in the past 3 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ThrivingDad Posted January 6, 2012 Members Share Posted January 6, 2012 I don't think there is enough active Google+ members to be worth it. On paper Google+ has like 50 million members, but when I'm on it, I don't see any of my friends doing anything with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members richardmac Posted January 7, 2012 Members Share Posted January 7, 2012 I don't think there is enough active Google+ members to be worth it. On paper Google+ has like 50 million members, but when I'm on it, I don't see any of my friends doing anything with it. Not only that, but everyone I know is on Facebook. And they have to be, because it's where all the moms and grandmothers are. I'm tellin' y'all, that's what's going to keep FB on top. Whether we like it or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members beatpoet Posted January 7, 2012 Members Share Posted January 7, 2012 Musicians want to use anything that lets them obnoxiously pimp themselves. SIDE NOTE - It's getting really freaking OLD. I have friends who keep doing that whole 2008 "Let's use social media to build our tribe" crap and I'm really starting to resent them. I don't want to be constantly updated as to what you are doing. If I want to know, I'll go to your website or just call you. Now shut the f*ck up. It's hard to believe what's happened to MySpace now after it was the biggest thing on the planet in 2006. The arrival of MySpace pretty much spawned and carried that whole "pop/punk/emo/scene" thing. Twitter emerging has seen the arrival of Gaga and Bieber. Facebook hasn't done anything for bands as far as I can tell. I guess the next big Gagas and Biebers will emerge with a new networking site, though I doubt it'll be Google+. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Inazone Posted January 7, 2012 Members Share Posted January 7, 2012 I had numerous invites to Google+ right after it launched, and have yet to even check it out. My band used MySpace with some success, especially for booking purposes, but Facebook hasn't been nearly as useful. Sure, my friends (and my bandmates' friends) can see when we have a gig coming up, but our band profile doesn't get much activity and frankly I can't blame people for not checking it on a regular basis. It's a pity that MySpace turned into such a steaming turd, because while I never liked it for my own personal use, it was great for the band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members richardmac Posted January 8, 2012 Members Share Posted January 8, 2012 I think it was bands that made MySpace turn into a {censored} hole. Once everyone figured out how to spam people in MySpace, they did it constantly. The other problem of course was that MySpace used the world's crappiest software. There was a window in time though when it worked pretty well, you're right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members beatpoet Posted January 8, 2012 Members Share Posted January 8, 2012 The incredibly tacky thing is that there are songs out there with titles like "I Loved You Before You Were A Myspace Whore" by Fall Out Boy, eugghh. I was in a band at the time with two guys who were massive Fall Out Boy fans, which was hard work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members caeman Posted January 11, 2012 Members Share Posted January 11, 2012 Feel free to dismiss your personal use of Google+, but don't underestimate it for advertisement purposes for you and your band. And there are plenty of non-techies on G+. Knitting circles, photographers, and quite a few musicians in my circles. Not that knit, but I love to see the creativity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dcodr Posted January 12, 2012 Members Share Posted January 12, 2012 Like anything else it is a tool. A lot depends on how much time and effort you put into it, and what you are using it for. When i am working with an artist or band on artist development and promotion, i try to get them to focus on that things that are going to get the best results for their time. Google + has some nice features, but its not as popular as FB by a long shot. That can be good (people "done" or over liked on FB) and bad (Not as many people using G+, learning how to use G+, finding people to connect with on G+), so it usually boils down to what you are trying to accomplish. I can say we avoided adding facebook's suggestions / recommendation features when we built Musicpage as we wanted our community to be a tool to help musicians find the types of music pros or businesses they are looking for, when they are looking for them. Additionally, unlike FB & Google +, we let our users browse profiles by location & category (Venues in CA, Promoters in NY, Press in TX, Sound in Chicago, etc) as musicians usually know "what" they are looking for when they are working in a new market - just not the who part. Neigther G+ or FB allow you to browse by category and that's a big reason we more popular then FB of G+ for musicians and music pros when they are looking for music industry contacts. There is also some social networking overkill at play too. People who dont have tons of free time dont want to have multiple profiles they have to maintain. Another lesson we learned when we built musicpage as our profiles dont require constant updates unless you have new info to add to your profile (new phone number, new manager, updated booking agent, etc). Our profiles are more about putting music pros, businesses or bands profiles in a location that makes them easy to find for people looking for their category, ie bands in Colorado, etc. So our profiles are a better promotional tool IF you are looking to promote your self to to the music industry. If your looking to develop a large network of fans, FB is probably easier, but you have to cut through the clutter more to stand out. G+ doesnt have the number of users, so it is easier to stand out. Musicpage profiles are free promotional tool within the people who work music industry, but we wont help you get more fans. So again, it really just depends on what you want to use any of them for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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