Digital Marketing Analysis

Ross CaravatiGeorge Clark

Dan FratoniCarolyn McHugh

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Types of Content

When it comes to online marketing, the type of con-tent we spread plays a key role in determining how consumers engage with the material. Our research indicates that visual tools are the most effective, often receiving more engagement than non-visual links, with music and lyric videos having the highest amount of clicks.

Most Effective Content: Visual• Music Videos• Lyric videos• Video interviews• Live performance videos• Behind the scenes footage• Photos• Lyric photos

Least Effective Content: Non-Visual• Text only artist interviews• Pre-order links• Artist website links• Artist social network page links• Audio sessions

Though stimulating visual content stands out more on cluttered news feeds, incentive based promotion is also effective. If a user has the opportunity to down-load a free song or hear an album before any of their friends, they are also more likely to respond to that content.

Effective Non-Visual Content: • Advanced Album Streams/ Exclusive Premieres• Free Track Downloads• Spotify Emerge contests• Other Contests

Posting photos of your physical materials is a great way to combine the visual and incentive based aspects of effective content. Linking photos of any cool materials we receive is a unique way to promote our releases with a personal touch, and this often leads to higher social media engagement as well, especially if you ask your friends if they want any!

This Magic Man lyric card was an effective visual tool and promted engagement

What to Post...

As College Marketing Representatives, we understand that we are in a valuable position to provide labels insight into our demographic. We are all music lovers that are currently enrolled in colleges throughout the country. Though our locations and musical preferences may differ, our thoughts about effectively marketing to our demographic are quite similar.

For this project we focused on digital marketing, analyzing our current practices and providing ideas about how to form more successful online marketing campaigns in the future. In order to do this we curated our own opinions as well as those of our peers through online surveys and our conclusions are organized in the following report.

Tips for posting links:

Post visual content to accompany smart links

Say something attention grabbing to promote your links (i.e. click bait)

Don’t post smart links if you’re linking a video because it won’t embed in the post

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By combining some of the most attractive properties of current tools we use now, perhaps we can create material that is even more enticing in the future.

Some ideas:• Photos that that when clicked begin to play a portion a track, which is easy to do on Instagram and then linked to other social media outlets• Setting music video stills as your Facebook banner to promote a video with a link in the caption• A simple picture with bold, colorful text to promote contests in a more eye-catching way• Artist official tour diaries and live photos to promote an upcoming tour

Examples of ways to use physical materials online:

Each of these posts recieved over 20 likes on Instagram!

Tips for posting links:

Post visual content to accompany smart links

Say something attention grabbing to promote your links (i.e. click bait)

Don’t post smart links if you’re linking a video because it won’t embed in the post

Types of Links

Though visual content on a post might catch a users attention to create an impression, the main purpose of digital marketing is to facilitate an e-commerce transac-tion, which is usually accomplished through providing links.

We used to use bit.ly links as a department and recently switched to smartURLs. We want people to click these links and not perceive them as spam. We think like marketers and are aware of the types of links to track online efforts, but how does the average online user perceive them?

Findings

Note: 122 people across 16 states were surveyed. Ages ranged 18 to 24 (90.08%), 25 to 34 (8.26%) and 45 to 54 (1.65%). Both males (43.80%) and females (56.20%) participated. In addition to survey results, personal and peer opinions were collected to generate insight.

Overall, people are more inclined to click links that look familiar. The public trusts standard links (YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, etc.) and users would rather click those than ones that have been modified for tracking.

Benefits of standard links:• They typically embed and shorten themselves when posted on social media.• They open or display a preview when dropped in a social plugin.• They are from trusted sources and you know where they will lead (no spam, viruses, etc.)

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Remaining Organic

Since we use our personal social media accounts to spread content, remaining natural and organic with how we post is perhaps more important than the con-tent itself. Peers will see right through detached and corporate sounding messages, especially if they are familiar with what we do. In order to remain organic, we should put more time and effort into how we word the messages that surround our content, rather than just asking users to “check this out” or stating that an artist’s new single is “so good.” Pushing marketing messages in this way can create what market researchers call cognitive ad-avoidance, which refers to a consumer’s subconscious effort to avoid any marketing material being presented before them.

When this happens, our marketing efforts are funda-mentally ineffective.

Analysis of focus group transcripts revealed that other online users are persuaded to engage with content when the individual who is posting is a respected peer and it displays some sort of subjective impression in their written message. The online audience wants to know how the material affects them, and if we present information in this way it will prompt more engage-ment. Being organic involves breathing life into a post with personal statements or insights that a robot would not be able to spout out. While saying “Foster the peoples new album is amazing!” is not a bad mes-sage, it is not a unique one and does little to entice other online users to engage with the content.

How to Post...

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In addition to providing a new insight into an artist, you can also appeal to your audience’s emotions to make our messages more persuasive. Doing this will sound more authentic and activate emotional centers in the brain that often trump higher order cognitive processes, resulting in selective attention being paid to our message.

Though appealing to your peers’ emotions might be easy when you are passionate about what you are promoting, what happens when you aren’t? Seem-ing organic and actually being organic are two very different things. Working with artists you don’t actu-ally like is a huge problem that online marketing pro-fessionals face when posting on their personal accounts. Facebook friends and followers are often people that you know in some way and more likely than not they know something about your personal tastes. Posting fake messages about artists they know you aren’t a fan of dilutes the message when you say something positive about an artist you really do enjoy. The best way to deal with this is to avoid posting these links on personal pages and research the artist and target their fans in more creative ways. You can do this by finding comparable artist fan groups or stick to online realms outside of the social

media world. Think: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”. If you must post on your personal pages, try using declarative state-ments that bring to light something you do find inter-esting about the artist or their content without giving a blatant opinion about them, i.e.: “There are some beautiful shots in this video” or “This band sure knows how to utilize a lot of instruments,” etc. If the content you are given doesn’t appeal to you, find content from the artist that you can better engage with that will still create a valuable impression on your audience.

Though this post isn’t specifically focused on the album we’re promoting, it prompted more engagement than our content and effec-

tively facilitated artist awareness

Tips on remaining organic:• Stay away from trite commands like “check this out” or “listen to this”• Promote engagement by asking questions• Study the material before you post it • Provide a unique insight• Appeal to users emotions, “I feel” vs. “I think”• Don’t post fake messages about artists you don’t like on personal accounts• Don’t say all the information we are given about a release all at once (release date, preorder link, stream link, etc.) seems robotic and users can easily find this information on their own • Utilize other interesting material you find surrounding a release out-side of the content we are given

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Utilizing Press and Lifestyle Accounts

Another great way to promote artists online without risking your personal integrity is to work with local press and lifestyle accounts that have a social media presence. These outlets usually have a larger follow-ing and can promote to a larger audience without you having to do all of the work. Giving local and campus press advance copies of an album means they are more likely to do a write up and spread it on their social media outlets. If one of our artists is going on tour you can incentivize press with free tickets or

photo passes which will hopefully lead to more con-tent about the artist being spread in your market as well. For lifestyle accounts, you can try giving them an advanced copy in exchange for a post about playing it in the store.

These are just some ideas but everyone’s markets are different. The key is to make and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with these sorts of outlets and trendsetters in your market so our content can go beyond your personal scope in the digital world.

Examples of working with lifestyle accounts and press to facilitate online awareness:

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Posting on Blogs/Articles

Though we often share content in the comment sec-tion of online articles, do readers actually view and engage with the comment sections enough for it to be a worthwhile location for online posting?

FindingsNote: 122 people across 16 states were surveyed. Ages ranged 18 to 24 (90.08%), 25 to 34 (8.26%) and 45 to 54 (1.65%). Both males (43.80%) and females (56.20%) participated. In addition to survey results, personal and peer opinions were collected to generate insight.

Overall we found that people do notice links posted alongside a comment, but only 22% of the surveyed individuals actually click these links. There are multiple reasons for the level of engagement of a user.

Reasons people will click links in comment sections: • Link has relevance to the primary article• Curiosity is generated• Opposing viewpoint to primary article• Comment from a credible source• Compelling graphic used• Link does not resemble spam

Those who do not click links (57%) in the comment section do so because:• Link has no relevance to the primary article • No curiosity generated (no new viewpoint)• Lack of credible source• Link resembles spam.• Quality of the link is low (doesn’t add to experience, leads to something less interesting)

21% of people do not read the comment sec-tions on blogs at all

Social Plugins EvaluatedWhile links posted alongside comments generate little engagement, comments themselves seem to draw traffic with 70% of surveyed users reading them. It’s

important to remain organic (see previous), and one can craft effective posts by being aware of the plugins that exist for commenting.

After analyzing many notable music blogs, four types of plugins for comments were present: Disqus, Face-book [social plugin], WordPress and site specific plugins.

[Note: 32 blogs from local to national levels were observed: AltSounds, The Boombox, Boot - Country Music News, The Burning Ear, CAST THE DICE, Consequence of Sound, The Daily Beat, Dancing Astronaut, DJBooth.net, EARMILK.COM, Good Music All Day, GORILLA VS. BEAR, Hillydilly, Hype Machine, Idolator.com, Indie Shuffle, In Flex We Trus, Kick Kick Snare, Loudwire, MTV Buzzworthy, The Music Ninja, The Needle Drop, Neon Gold, Paste Magazine, Pigeons & Planes, Pitchfork, Pop & Hiss, Popjustice, PopMatters, Potholes In My Blog, Pretty Much Amazing, Property of Zack, SPIN, Stereogum, Sunset in the Rearview, Under The Radar]

DisqusPros: • Its intended use focuses on online marketing from a conversational/engagement perspective.• It allows ALL types of links to be posted as well as photo and video• Sites using this plugin make the comment available immediately with no approval needed

Cons:• Username choice is crucial, whether posting from a guest or registered account. A “normal” username is more believable and guest postings lacking an avatar photo seem suspicious. Registered accounts add more legitimacy to posts and enough sites use Disqus that it is worth it to register and add a photo. • Registered users build profiles that when clicked on reveal all comments made from that account. It is therefore critical to change the wording when doing multiple posts.

Where to Post...

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Facebook [social plugin]Pros:• Familiarity and trust since people know Facebook• Ease of use since most users have Facebook and they can link their profile without creating a new account• Users generally seem to comment more when this plugin is present. Its ability to ‘reply’ and ‘like’ provides a simple feature for generating additional discussion.

Cons:• Comments only, no links, photos, videos, etc.• Next to the user’s name, a title typically appears (see below). CMRs are told to list this position on social media profiles and this could either add cred-ibility or make the post seem inorganic

WordPressPros:• It allows all types of links to be posted.

Cons:• Does not allow photos, videos, or additional media.• Most comments await moderation before being posted• Registered accounts allow users to engage (beyond a general comment), but posts by non-registered accounts are more common.

Site SpecificPros:• Users have a choice of whether or not to link social profiles• Source considered legitimate as long as the site seems legitimate

Cons:• Some users pressed to register, which pushes them away. Users want to comment, not sign up.• Links might not be clickable• Comments might have to await moderation

“Awaiting Moderation” CommentsIs posting on a site that requires comment approval effective? While this comment can be screen cap-tured and submitted in a lifeline, how do we know if/when it went live? In this scenario, it may be best to post an organic comment – no link, no spam. It’s a shame, especially if the site does approve and make the link clickable. However, it’s difficult to gauge whether or not this will be the case. Therefore, it makes sense to have a comment instead of nothing, creating a “safe” post that has the greatest chance of being approved.

TakeawayPeople are reading comments. Few individuals go beyond to click a link included with a post. The small potion actually clicking links will only click them if the post was crafted effectively. Plugins were analyzed so that reps know how to approach specific situa-tions and make the most of their efforts. Understand-ing what engages readers will allow reps to generate beneficial online marketing posts.The “College Marketing” tag that appears on

Facebook plugin comments could either help or hinder our efforts to remain organic

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Comparing Social Media PlatformsFacebookProbably the most personal of the platforms, we con-nect with friends, family, colleagues, and coworkers. We generally share our interests and thoughts in a discussion based form. If you want to elaborately express yourself online, this is probably the best place.

Tips for posting:• Aside from your personal page, Facebook groups are more effective than pages because members get a notification when someone posts and page comments are usually not visible unless you click ‘Recent posts by others’, (which no one does lets be honest)• If you don’t necessarily connect with an artist, maybe you know someone that is a fan or might be a fan. Don’t limit to yourself to posting on your page, feel free to share on friends’ profiles to recommend an artist they might like. It’s a great way to be organic about posting and it shows up in everyone’s feeds just the same, usually more so if you have a lot of mutual friends and it promotes conversation.

TwitterFamous for the 140-character limit, it’s safe to say that tweeting is for concise information. Spare users excessive wording and get straight to the point. “At” (@) a username in order to tag, add a picture and/or location if necessary and call it a day. People tweet and check their time-lines a bit more often, and are typically a bit less personal.

Tips for posting:• Use hashtags to promote engagement• @Reply to artists, these posts often get retweeted by the artist for more exposure• Artists don’t always get around to respond-ing to everyone that asks them a question. Look through the people that are engaging with our artists and feel free to reply to them too to answer their questions or make them aware of new releases.

InstagramDon’t feel like explaining much? Rather not chit chat? People probably don’t want to hear it anyway. Insta-gram is becoming increasingly popular and visual messages have been proven more effective. With the direct to user, hashtag, and video options added, there are endless ways to utilize this app for online promotion. We all know that a picture speaks a thou-sand words, so whether you’re sharing news, a personal occurrence, or a short video clip, this might be a better way to reach those people that don’t want their grandparents liking their statuses.

Tips for posting:• Don’t post links in the comments. You can’t click them anyway and it comes off as spam• Take screenshots of what you’re listening to and hashtag #NowPlaying for an organic way to promote our artists that you really enjoy• Be creative! There are tons of apps for editing photos that can help your images stand out more than just posting a promo shot or cover art• Utilize the video feature by creating multi-media posts. PicMusic is a free app that allows you to add music to a still image for more dynamic marketing.

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YouTubeMaybe you’re attention span is so short that words and pictures don’t do it for you anymore. You’re person that needs to see things in motion. While plenty of people get a kick out of making noise in the comment section, you might just like reading them. Regardless of your level of engagement on YouTube, millions of people worldwide actively rely on this platform for music.

Tips for posting:• Feel free to reply to other user’s comments with more information about the artist we’re promoting• Comment comparable artist videos with organic messages that can lead to our artists• Live links can now be posted, but don’t go overboard because they can still seem inorganic (see above)• Stay away from posting on dated videos unless there is still a lot of engagement to ensure your message is received

TumblrThis platform allows every user to curate a gallery to some degree. They form their profiles by posting (and reposting) pictures, videos, music, etc. to display on their pages. Customization by adding themes, music, and other elements makes every user’s presentation unique. Just about anything can be added to this site. After making a profile, you can either manage your own page to promote priorities or share content from thou-sands of others around the world.

Tips for posting:• There are many famous blogs that use tumblr as their platform, and some profiles accept submissions. Though the “awaiting moderation” rule applies here, it might be worth it to submit some of our artists on these profiles and then check back to see if they are posted.• Though you can post many kinds of links on Tumblr, visual content is most effective here, especially for those that only reblog aesthetically pleasing images, which represents a large portion of the active Tumblr commu-nity. This is the place to utilize video stills, lyric cards, and more creative promotional images.

PinterestPinterest is similar to a dream board and like Tumblr, relies heavily on visually stimulating material. Users are predominately female and they curate their profiles by posting pictures, video clips, or even links to things that interest them in different categories on their page. From there, their followers can like or repost the content to their own page. These posts can be shared on other social media platforms.

Tips for posting:• Focus on creative visual material• Link posts to other social media profiles since Pinter-est is not as common as some other platforms

Google+It wouldn’t be Google if they didn’t at least try to be Facebook. Google is taking over all of our lives but their social media platform falls short for most people. Like Facebook lists, you can create “circles” on Google+ to help you determine who see what posts. The good thing is all links are clickable, and almost everyone has at least one Gmail account. You have to own one to comment on YouTube, and just about everything you do on there will be streamlined to your Google+ profile. Surely you’ve noticed “+1” buttons all over the Internet, which allows you to post content to your profile.

Tips for posting:• Use as an additional source for posts but don’t rely on it for the bulk of your posts unless you have a large Google+ following, which let’s be honest, you probably don’t

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SoundcloudWhere music rules, this platform adds a sense of com-munity to the digital streaming experience. You may see comments on songs that simply state that the song was posted on whatever blog the person is affili-ated with. The links are typically clickable, which is great for promotional purposes. Being that this space was created solely for audio consumption, it could defi-nitely be a great way to spread the word on music news if used resourcefully.

Tips for posting:• Post organic comments on tracks that show up while the song is playing. Often people can’t help but reading these pop-ups• Use Soundcloud as a discovery platform to find rare tracks and remixes from our artists. Some of these might be more appealing to share than the original songs• Create playlists that can show up in the feeds of those that follow you on Soundcloud

VineBefore Instagram adopted the video clip feature, this was the one and only app capable of such activity. Now it’s pretty much used for wannabe comedy stars that are too lazy to try to be a YouTube star. The reblog feature does present a different opportunity than Insta-gram, however, even though chances are it will get lost in cluttered feeds that people rarely look at anyway.

Tips for posting:• Try to stick with posting or re-posting viral media in relation to our artists, because that is probably the only way it will get noticed• If you do post, link to other social media outlets for maximum visibility

SnapchatSay what you will about this, “sexting” app, but it is certainly on the rise as a fun way to connect with friends and they keep adding cool options to make it more interesting. Though traditionally not thought of for online marketing purposes, it’s a great way to organi-cally connect with peers, even if the message disap-pears after a few moments.

Tips for posting:• Take videos of you singing and dancing like an idiot to your favorite releases you’re promoting• Take videos at the shows you cover for additional promotion• Utilize the “my story” feature to get your message out to everyone that follows you on snapchat• Take screenshots of particularly interesting snap-chats regarding our artists which you can then post to other forms of social media

LinkedinLinkedIn is essentially Facebook for professionals. The point is to publicize your professional experience and connect with like-minded individuals. You can build your social network based on the industry you work in and engage in communities as well.

Tips for posting:• Not a good idea to post our content here, but it’s a great way to connect with individuals that might facili-tate that process

RedditReddit is essentially an even simpler, more ADD version of Twitter. This platform thrives with click-bait headlines organized into categories. According to the category and how everyone reacts to your post, you either get thumbed up or down. The more thumbs up you get, the more relevant your post will become and remain. If the content doesn’t hold up, your post won’t have much of a lifespan.

Tips for posting:• Post content for popular artists and viral media• Comment organic messages about our artists on posts that are trending• Don’t waste your time posting messages that prob-ably won’t be seen

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Non-Social Media Platforms

Though social media platforms are go-to outlets for online marketing, there are other online features that should be considered as well, mostly focusing on how we discover and acquire music.

SpotifySpotify is an incredibly popular streaming and music discovery service that is contributing to the idea that music should be borrowed, and not necessarily owned. Spotify allows you to create and share playlists with other users and your peers. You can follow playl-ists, as well as other users and artists to get a constant stream of information about new releases and what your peers are listening to.

Tips for online marketing use:• Playlists are a great way to engage with friends. If you enjoy artists you are promoting, add them to a playlist and share on your other social media plat-forms.• Directly share songs with friends on Spotify• Utilize the “now listening” features by listening to our artists and connecting the information to your other profiles • Use the “related artist” feature to find similar artists to the ones we promote so you can better target their fans for online promotion elsewhere

ITunesThough streaming services are on the rise, iTunes is still an important e-commerce platform for digital music sales. You can utilize this in your online promo-tion by rating and reviewing albums, which can then even be shared to your social media profiles.

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Edge rank

Since Facebook is the most prominently used social media outlet, it is essential that we utilize it in a way that maximizes our social media marketing efforts. When we spread content in our “News Feed,” we should con-sider how Facebook organizes feed. EdgeRank is an algorithm created by Facebook used to govern what is displayed and how high up on the news feed posts are displayed. The algorithm can be explained as the sum of edges. Essentially an “Edge” is everything and any-thing that can happen on Facebook such as status updates, shares, comments and likes and much more (these are just the simplest forms). “Edges” consists of three components: Weight, Affinity, and Time Decay.

Weight is a value system created by Facebook to increase/decrease the value of certain actions within Facebook. The more involved an action is deemed the more weight it carries. For example, sharing is consid-ered more involved than a comment or a like and thus carries more “Weight” than an action such as “liking” a specific post. As a general rule of thumb, edges that take more time to accomplish tend to carry the most weight.

Time Decay refers to how long the Edge has been alive; the older the edge is the less valuable it is. Math-ematically this is calculated by 1/(Time Since Action). Time Decay helps keep the news feed fresh without lingering older content. A Facebook engineer stated in an interview, “only about 0.2% of eligible stories make it into a user's newsfeed”. That means that your status update is competing with at least 499 other stories for a single slot in a user's newsfeed. This directly affects the exposure of our marketing efforts and can be detri-mental when trying to raise awareness and drive engagement for our material. By understanding how edgerank works, reps can create their marketing mes-sages in a way that allows for their messages to appear at the top of their friends news feed and thus making it more likely to receive engagement and subsequently more effective.

Affinity concerns your relationship with users. It regards the amount a user has interacted with your page in the past to affect how likely they are to see your posts in the future. The more one interacts with your page and the material you post, the higher their affinity is for you.

Ways to increase your EdgeRank score:• Focus on quality content, remembering to keep posts authentic • Post more visual, self explanatory material, which users are more likely to engage with• Post regularly, especially on weekends. The time decay part of EdgeRank is based on how long it’s been since you posted it, so posting new content on a regu-lar basis is a good way to ensure your new posts replace the older ones as they slip off the News Feed. Make sure that your online marketing posts are inter-mingled with personal posts as well to remain organic

Klout

Klout.com is another platform that uses an algorithm to determine how influential you are on social media, but it is not limited to Facebook. You can join by linking all of your social media outlets and it gives you a Klout score from 1-100 (1 being a baby and 99 being Justin Bieber and Obama) with how influential you are based on your followers, amount of posts, and amount of engagement with those posts in the form of likes, com-ments, re-tweets, reblogs, etc. Though there are some criticisms as to how accurate it is, it’s a great way for online marketing professionals and employers to see if their methods are effective, as it tells you which posts and social media platforms you have the most influ-ence with. It also incentivizes influencers with “perks” from sponsored companies.

When to Post...

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Once you are aware of your Klout you can use the knowledge to improve your reach on social media. It is important to play to your strengths in knowing when and where to post. Klout also allows you to see the scores of others in your network and once you are aware of your peers who are major influencers, you can possibly try to work with them for promo-tions or perhaps just mimic their practices to improve your own influence.

Iconosquare/ Statigram

Iconosquare (Formerly Statigram) is a way for you to see valuable online metrics, specifically about your Instagram posts. After you sign up, it takes a few days for them to compile the info, but it’s worth the wait for online marketing professionals to see how effective their posts are, or if you just want to see how to be more popular on Instagram in general.

It provides you with freakishly intricate statistics about your posting habits including:• How many posts, likes, and comments you have• New followers and lost followers• Follower engagement rate• How much of your content spreads beyond your followers• How often you post each month• Breakdown of what times of day you post in rela-tion to how much engagement you have with those posts• Breakdown of your filter usage in relation to how much engagement you have received after using different filters• Your most used tags compared with the most used tags on all of Instagram

If Instagram is one of your frequently used social media outlets, there are endless ways to exploit this information to have more effective online posts.

An example of a Klout profile

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Examples of Iconosquare profile statistics:

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ConclusionThough the above tips and information should serve as a guideline to improve online marketing practices for the future, only you know the best way to play to your strengths. Posting online relies heavily on common sense. If you have the most followers on Instagram, use that platform more often. If you have 3 friends on Google+, don’t post there. We as a team should consis-tently be coming up with the most effective ways to post our content and should not simply post it in places we know it won’t make an impact. That being said, one should know the differ-ence between posting about artists you are passionate about with the artists you are not and act accordingly. Doing this will allow you to maintain your job as well as your integrity and in the end you will build up a trusted brand in yourself just like the artists and labels we’re promoting. Also, never hesitate to be creative! The scope of the online world is endless and there are con-stantly new apps and website that we can utilize in innovative ways. We should all be consis-tently searching for these to be ahead of the game.