In this day and age, social networking is one of the primary ways in which an a cappella group can interact with and expand upon its fan base. In this recurring feature, we explore how a group can best use different available technologies to promote itself.
Against all odds, Twitter has emerged as top contender among the most used and most useful social networking tools on the Internet.
Why is Twitter an unlikely success story? The functionality of it is more or less subsumed by Facebook in the form of status updates and photo uploading, and better yet, Facebook doesn’t impose arbitrary 160-character limits.
And yet, those character limits, and that limited functionality may be just what make Twitter such a hit. In the days when technologies like Facebook and MySpace are increasingly convoluted, Twitter users do not need to worry nearly as much about layers of privacy settings or what applications they’re going to apply to their accounts.
Better yet, Twitter has benefited from a ton of celebrity love, and emerged as one of the most popular, direct, and authentic ways for celebrities to interact with their fans. And that’s where your a cappella group comes in.
No, you’re not a celebrity on the level of Shaquille O’Neal, and you won’t have four million-plus followers overnight. But Similar to Shaq, you can use your group’s Twitter account to both build a personal connection with fans and publicize what your group is up to.
The very nature of Twitter is to speak your mind and spread word. Have a show coming up? Tweet it. Working on a new CD? Tweet that. Have an awesome arrangement in the works? Tweet the teaser. Twitter works best when it’s used regularly and purposefully to drive interest and communicate.
In addition to your own tweets, be sure not to ignore the tweets of your followers. Follow them back and respond to their posts to up the chances that they will respond to yours. Like comments on a blog, or questions to a public speaker, starting a dialogue demonstrates active fanship, which is the sort of interest that’s going to get your fans to tell their friends to check you out, too.