EMAIL VS SOCIAL NETWORKING

OK GUYS believe it or not. email is still the biggest recourse in marketing. We tend to kind of forget because of Facebook, and twitter, HOWEVER email has 5 times the amount of active users as facebook and twitter combined. EVERY WEB search performed every day only makes up 1/100th of the traffic that email generates. Email is taken much more personally as well. you are just shouting in a crowd with social media. The numbers Dont lie.

EMAIL IS STILL THE KING. So that being said. Lets talk about getting email addys and how not to piss off all your fans by getting all spammy.  So there are many widgets, pages, and etc for collecting email from fans via web. they all work pretty well. just google around til you find one that works for you. Keep in mind though that people are hesitant to give out their email address for no reason, so i recommend offering some sort of incentive. Such as a free song download if they sign your email list etc. The old carrot on a stick works. And give away something good, not some bullshit song that you made with a wack rapper because he let you sleep on his couch on tour.  Appreciate the fans.  Now, i recommend that you immediately start an email list of bloggers, websites, news papers, etc. Be very careful when emailing people though.

YOU do not want to email 2 dope boys five times a month every time you wipe your ass. Keep the blogger emails out of your regular email blasts.  Also i dont know how some of you feel about buying fame, but many rappers, bloggers etc have pretty huge email lists that they will sell you for pretty cheap. I personally have an email list of over 100,000 bloggers, sites and papers, some of which i collected, some of which i purchased.

And finally DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOUSE without a notebook. Every day, every where you go, on tour or not take a notebook with you and collect collect collect. Or just use your iphone if that is easier for you.  Before i leave on tour i usually make up a fancy smancy email list on photoshop with my name. the tour name and some cool graphics etc. and print out a few thousand copies. Or you can just set up your ipad and have people sign that directly. I usually give away a free sticker for those that sign up. And i always tell people my intentions. Why i want the email and what i plan on

using it for.  AND I DO NOT SPAM PEOPLE. keep it short, keep it rare. DO NOT SEND 10 emails a month.  There are many mass email programs out there that allow you to make nice newsletter looking emails and send it to thousands of people at once. I use mac mass mail. or direct mail. Both of which are downloadable software, but they also have websites such as mad mimi that work really well too. you will have to pay a little bit monthly, but its worth it. HAPPY TOURING..