Recently, I’ve noticed an explosion of South African bands and artists signing up on Twitter to promote themselves. It’s taken a while for bands to cotton on, and they’re now chomping at the bit to get going.
The question here is, really, “will these bands use Twitter for it’s intended purpose, or purely as a follower-gaining tool?”
So often, I’ve heard bands showing off how many friends they have on Myspace or fans on Facebook. There seems to be a definite perception that the more friends/fans you have on your online profile, the more “popular” your band is. I believe this to be incorrect. So what if you have 30000 friends on Myspace? If you don’t interact with them, they mearly serve the purpose of making your band potentially look attractive to a record label, promoter or other music industry tycoon. This is that classic “one chance” that every band seeks out. That one chance to “break out” and “make it big”. What good will that do your band though?
This brings me back to basic online marketing principles. I believe that applying standard website marketing tools to your band’s online presence will be as effective, if not surely more so, than adding a trillion friends to your profile page.
A few South African bands to converse with on Twitter:
@rudimentals — Afro-ska/reggae band from Cape Town. The first South African band on Twitter (I think).
@watermarkhigh — Acoustic rock band from Pretoria.
@akingband — Popular Cape Town pop rock band.
@jaxpanik — Electro dance fusion rocker.
@goldfishlive — Come on. You all know Goldfish. Jazz/dance/fusion act from Cape Town.
I look forward to seeing more South African bands on Twitter. Does anyone have any other bands to add to the above list.
5 Comments
I’d be intrigued to know what kind of conversions they have received. How many people have gone to a gig or discovered these bands via Twitter. Would be interesting
Thanks for the comment, Saul.
I’ve heard a few awesome conversions from SA bands. It’s a great way for local artists to expand their online footprint.
As I mentioned in the post, the success in using Twitter will come from the conversations and not the numbers, in my opinion. I hope to see it working more and more for South African bands.
Yeah, expect a lot more to come! There are also
@vancokekartel
@DieHeuwels
@catstringtheory
@the3rdworld
Thanks for the bands, Niel. Looks like loads more bands are signing up on Twitter.
Two other SA bands on Twitter are @parlotones and @Freshlygroundsa. And if The Dirty Skirts get onto Twitter, someone had better tell me, okay? #fangirl