How To Socially Network At Music Events
If you consider yourself someone to be involved or interested in the music industry, you will truly understand the importance of networking and social media. Whether you are a performer, writer, innovator or even a buyer; to get to the top or noticed, you need to meet many people along the way. One of the great platforms for meeting people in the music industry is at large events such as performances, conferences and even trade shows. Of course, don’t forget that you do not attend these events purely to socially network – you have to also have a passion for the event and the products itself.
Recently, a well-known music event took place in California called The NAMM Show. This event is a pure example of how socially networking and sharing a passion for products like the Korg Mini can suddenly produce a social media presence for yourself and have you connected to the right people in the music industry.
The NAMM show is one of the biggest EXPOs in America concerning the music industry. The amount of innovative musical gadgets and gizmos is phenomenal; you will definitely struggle to see half the things on offer throughout the day. What is great on a social level is that the show contains a complete mish-mash of people from the music industry, which makes it the ideal place to network and exchange details, branching out your social media profile. With a party at the end of each day, the NAMM show promises four days of live music and events, with big names headlining too. With a vast amount of information and product testing to take in at this event you will leave with pot of information and a list of Twitter handles.
No matter what music event, conference or trade show you attend you should make sure that you network in a correct manner, so here are a few tips on how to network at music events.
The Etiquette of Social Networking
When networking a
t events, there is a certain professional etiquette that you want to abide by. Remember, always be polite and be motivated to seek out new opportunities by conducting yourself in the right manner.
• If you are promoting yourself, first and foremost always carry examples of your own work. This may be in the form of a demo CD if you are a musician or a business card with a link to your website or email address if you are a business professional. Do make sure people become familiar with your name and your USP which is your “unique selling point”. Your unique selling point should be visible on your Twitter profile for example, what your line of work is, role and interests.
• Always be genuine; people can always sense if you have a true passion for what you are talking about. Do not act as a big shot or what you may call a “know it all” as this will put potential networkers off joining a conversation. When engaged in a conversation, show passion for what you are talking about and refer to current social news surrounding the subject; often twitter trends helps drive a conversation into another dimension.
• Be selective with your leads. It’s always best to think of ‘quality not quantity’ when it comes to networking. Have a game plan before you start networking; have an idea of what contacts to approach and how you will go about diverting them into your direction. For example, you may want to use your business theme as bait, by this you could have logos designed on your clothing so your brand stands out amongst the crowd.
• At any event, everyone will have their own agenda; remember that. So if someone brushes you off to run elsewhere – just let it slide and politely move on.
• If the conference has organised drinks afterwards; look at it for a golden opportunity to network rather than drink too much. Create a marketing strategy on how to advertise yourself, how you will convert a proposal into a sale and how you will spread brand awareness. If you are offering discounts on products make it known, if you are an event organiser speak by contests that are help and market how you get people involved. Mentioning campaigns you are involved with show you are socially present.
Pick your Events Wisely
There are so many events and conferences going on in the music industry which appeal to different types of musicians. It’s not necessary to attend them all, for they might not be right for you. For example, if you are a singer there is no point attending the ‘Digital Music Forum East and West’ – for it is a conference which specialises in computer music programming. Here is a quick breakdown of the best events that all kinds of musicians should attend.
Consider the Billboard Media, Entertainment and Money Conference. Attending this event is a hot pot for some of the biggest names in legal musical representation. For any musician, there are probably a lot of people that you should be talking to here.
Have you heard of Pollstar Live!? At Pollstar Live you will meet venue promoters, managers and tour logistics planners from all over the world. This is a great opportunity for musicians looking to gain invaluable information about going on tour.
The Sundance Film Festival, why a film festival you ask? Because you’ll be one of the few musicians there, so talking to big directors about using your music in their future films will be easier than you think.
As you have seen, socially networking at music events has a positive impact on your route to success. Keep up to date with the latest industry news and socially share your findings; keeping your social media profile live and known to people around the world.
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Author: Thank you to Jennifer Beswick and the DV247 Korg team who produced this article for you.
Posted in Social Networking. Tags: music, social media tips, social networking tips
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