Global Communication, Messaging, and Marketing Online
Lapses in communication are detrimental to any business, irrespective of industry.
Creating a web community for artists and brands is an active and evolving process. It is exceptionally important when it comes to matters such as effectiveness of communication, direction and purpose. Your message can also be highly targeted, but if you are doing targeted messaging it requires strategic vision, tangible objectives, goals, and metrics. We can increase our exposure organically through developing content with search engine optimization in mind.
Effective messages have an element of timing. Some messages seek immediate attention, while others may serve a longer term purpose. Experts are not born over night; but there are naturals. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover; read it. The power of a focused stroke of brilliance or epiphany can improve rankings over time, and aside from rankings it will improve your growing presentation. If you do want to have a voice, do your self a favor and put effort in your communications. Dedicate the time to the process, and pull on your resources to come up with the solutions. You will get what you give. Judge what can wait, and what can’t. Build content that is worth having on the ever growing web. Find solutions and opportunities you and others around you are able to benefit, and figure out what that means with others.
Websites like Wikipedia, Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter tend to have high search engine relevance because of the amount of traffic they get each day. But in today’s over populated web world, relying on the social networks will just get you lost in the crowd. In the past, search engines used to return results based only on how often keywords appear in a website or meta tags of a website. Google has evolved and become more predictive, not to mention the number of user-interfaces for content engagements is expanding rapidly. Advanced search technology involves a series of simultaneous mathematical calculations that occur under a half second and without human intervention. This technology is driven by hypertext-matching analysis and Google’s PageRank technology.
META tags are inserted into HTML of a website within the header. This are important when using keywords and entering relevant title and description information for your website(s) because this is what Google recognizes with its search technology. Google also uses backlinks as a way to measure how important a webpage is and rank within its search results.
As the global landscape expands, artist and brands will push harder for work overseas to escape the competitive pressures of their own markets. Whether an artist is more domestic or international, they want their voices to be heard. Artist looking to grow new markets benefit from targeted messaging and the development of a track record over time. It’s all about making an effort to introduce, engage, and entertain. Artists looking for ways to engage new audiences should look at their messaging and how they communicate around the planning and booking of live performances, routing of tours, and split between home & foreign market pushes.
Anticipating potential communication issues, such as language barriers, before they become issues gives you time to implement a solution. Increase your effectiveness and see if it improves your traffic. Try it out with analytics, such as view counts, page impressions, interactions, or other forms of gauging relevances.
Today, most artist/brand sites are written in English. Though this has worked rather efficiently in select markets, artists looking to break into non-English markets would be well advised to make some effort to accommodate. Yes your translations may be clumsy at some times, but the accommodation is usually appreciated by users, if not mandatory. Don’t forget that some of your most engaged fans may not even speak the same language if you are touring. By making translations more accessible in your web community, it puts you in a better position to develop your relevance in the markets you choose.
When the user connects and interfaces, they control where they interface. Driving traffic to content you want people to see is a strategic exercise. Some platforms, such as Facebook, provide opportunities for engaging people both organically and for a cost. Different engagement points and platforms are more or less controlled and monetized, depending on a variety of factors. Public market involvement through large cap internet pioneers such as Google, Yahoo!, America Online, Citigroup, Meryl Lynch…its a long list…public market investment quickly shaped that market. Every Fortune 500 company spends something on their online presence. It’s safe to say they spend more than their domain fees and the preliminary buildout costs of time and money. Advertising can be purchased on search engines, social networks, online market places, online news outlets and other information networks. Content can be developed & produced. Promotions can be executed. In any form or fashion, it is a process that can be greatly influenced by active management and dedication of resources.
OBSERVATION: Search inquiries originate at different entry points. They also originate in different languages. Not making you web community accommodating to foreign language speakers makes you less targeted and relevant at surface level. It also leaves room for further development of your presentation and user experience. Also, from a SEO standpoint users connect in the language they wish to connect by default. When they type a search inquiry on a search engine, they are most likely starting their search in their native or primary language.
Developing an active social network marketing strategy is a great way for artists and brands to spread build awareness and connect with people. Connectivity takes effort and willingness to connect. Not all social networks are open, and some are invitation only. This is true universally. For artists in the North American market, there are many relevant points of potential engagement, including Social Networks, Video Content Outlets, and Search Engines. For tips on social networking, check out this recommended reading from the Mango Archive:
