FRUKT on Music

Mark Knight

Recently music blog aggregator Hype Machine blacklisted 40 artists accusing them of creating fake accounts to manipulate its popular song rating in order to inflate the ‘Hype’ around them. This raises several questions. How much difference is there between fake and genuine hype and how can you build not only hype but engagement around music on social networks?

From my experience of sponsorship I know the following scenario only too well. An agency creates a music programme for a brand and sets up the now obligatory MySpace and Facebook page. Within minutes there is an email circulated asking you to befriend the event or join the group, and to add a comment to the wall to enthuse just how good this event really is.

All fake hype of course. You could argue all pretty harmless unless the intended target audience cottons on. Let’s face it in most cases this fake hype is painfully transparent especially when the 50 something finance director rocks up and joins in.

Assuming you decided not to pursue this overtly fake hype route, the very next step may well be to brief the appointed PR agency to – you’ve guessed it, generate some hype. Not to say your event isn’t great, but let’s face it there is certainly a large element of fake hype driving your PR campaign and if the editor buys it to be genuine enough it will probably make it to press.

This is great but “I want genuine fan engagement“ you can hear the brand manager saying. Now the challenge really begins. Once you have waded through your wall comments and removed the ‘Check out my band’ plugs how much positive and meaningful engagement can you really find?

How to building genuine music engagement & hype online:

1. Have a story: communicate why you are involved in music and your role from the start and continue to communicate it.

2. Don’t waste time on fake friends: focus on quality over quantity, avoid creating your own clutter.

3. Work hard: frequently update and refresh content.

4. Provide a reason to engage: what kind of engagement can you expect from an endless stream of factual announcements?

5. Go where the people go: consumers only visit a handful of websites, don’t expect to drive them to a new destination site.

6. Have an off-season plan: ensure you have a plan to continue to engage fans when your activity ends