It’s not rocket science that Twitter was hugely influential to the success of Tinie Tempah’s Pass Out heading to the top of the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in March 2010.

But why is Twitter so important to the marketing campaign of an artist?

Are the artists that are not utilising Twitter to it’s full capacity missing out?

Are they jeopardizing their career also?

I read a blog post recently written by DJ Semtex. He touched on some key points that Musicians and Artists should follow if they are serious about a career in this industry and the post picked up some interesting comments from both sides of the spectrum.

I then decided to investigate into 10 Reasons Why Musicians and Artists Must use Twitter.

We have all heard cliche terms like “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” right?
Well i say “it’s not what you know and who you know, it’s what you do with what you know and who you know.”

With Twitter you actually have the opportunity to understand how a person’s mind thinks, by the way they construct their short messages. You can witness their daily activities and you have the ability to network with them if you can work out what makes them tick. It’s all about knowing how to Influence the Influencer…

As Andrew Davis of The Worst Kept Secret states, “They say a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Well, the way to a DJ’s turntable is through his ego.”

What’s the point of being in this industry if you’re not going to interact with your fan base?

Your fans are your market and will make or break your career. So many artists make basic fundamental errors by failing to engage with their market and thus are disconnected. If you make the effort to be at one with your fans, they will embrace you like you are the most popular person at school.

Since the rise of Social Media over the last few years, the platform for you to go from zero to hero with the expense of minimal finances has been getting bigger and bigger. But it appears, the more resources available, the more complicated people make life for themselves.

Twitter keeps it simple; hashtag # your regular tweets to associate trends and focus on utilising your core followers to retweet for you. Heard about the 80/20 rule?
No. Click here.

140 Characters to write isn’t a lot of effort and with modern technology, we have Twitter and every other networking capability in the palm of our hands.
So use it your advantage. Once you have your target market on your side, the rest is history.

The days of watching the news, listening to radio and reading newspapers for daily updates are long behind us. Twitter is now the forefront of daily gossip and headlines; by following the people who are always up to date on their gossip and by paying attention to the trending topics you will always be on top of your game.

Yes it’s no hidden mystery that Google records all of your tweets. Scary? Slightly.

We know the Internet is one huge archive of your life that will NEVER get deleted. Anything you say on Twitter can be found in Google so be careful if you don’t want your life story brought to you in ten years.

Unfortunately when you use sites like Bit.Ly or Tiny URL for your links; Google can’t find them.

Yeah Twitter is a Social Networking site mainly used for networking and communication; but as a traffic source it can supply a large proportion of the links to any website.

By using tracking sites like Google Analytics linked directly to your home page or self-hosted blog, you can clearly monitor where your traffic is coming from and what keywords work and don’t. Use this to your advantage and tweet hot content, blog posts, videos, links and your homepage regularly.

The Internet is the gateway to personal branding, giving you the ability to qualify yourself to your market as whatever you want them to view you as. Check out this post i wrote with tips on ‘building a personal brand using social media.’

Start by capturing your perfect Twitter Handle (name). If you can’t find your perfect name try this site Tweexchange where you can buy names that are currently taken.

Then work out how to brand your Twitter Page for your followers. Both Twitpaper and Twitterimage can help with that.

Make your bio clear, precise and link to your BEST website, NOT your Facebook page. (Rookie error!)

How can you expect a Record Label or Company to take you and your music seriously, if you don’t?

Check out a post Mashable wrote on Twitter branding for further reference.

Both fundamentals 8 and 9 are about using the very strong Twitter Search Engine http://search.twitter.com. If you don’t use this, get using it. The advanced search options allow you to search for keywords and phrases, all in real time!

Meaning when you post a link, question or topic, you can monitor exactly who is responding and what they are saying. Try it out and type a few words that you want to search for. It is a VERY POWERFUL TOOL!

Remember those days when you would wish you could know what everyone thinks about you?

Well the Twitter Search Engine option gives you that sixth sense. Take the time to search for keywords about you, your brand and your market. Knowledge is power!

Like Google, where asking the right question will give you the right answer, Twitter works very similar, but you have to ask the questions your fan-base want to hear. Give them the option to have the engagement for further conversation and play to their mindset.

You want to get them talking so use your head. If you ask the right questions and give comprehensive answers you will very quickly become a popular trend for interaction.

Also catch me on Twitter.com/iAmLuca and if you like the content you read on my site, you can subscribe via RSS Feed or via Email.

As always this is my personal blog and is meant for light entertainment reading and not be quoted or used in professional practice. See my disclaimer if you have any issues.

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So what do you do then? Is the general question you ask someone after being introduced to a friendly face. Well that’s how they appear until they unleash their rehearsed lines from their invisible sack of bullsh*t that they carry with them. You know who im talking about; the relentless amount of fakers, takers, liars and snakes that continue to bombard us with their name drops of imaginary clients, fictional past projects and future ideas in their quest to jump on a bandwagon or poach on our vision to achieve the dream.

I work in the Entertainment industry, and my day to day life is focused around a selection of self networked projects. Meaning, i met a network and created an opportunity from that network which led to another opportunity and so forth. Hit the Projects page for more information on what exactly i am doing.

My Reality!

I don’t make serious money, i don’t claim to be ‘balling’ or driving a blacked out Range Rover Vogue. I live at home with my mum and make ends meet by assisting people with their projects, in the idea that networks will open, the projects will take off and reputation will do the rest.

But because i work in such a cut throat environment, everyone is out for themselves. I understand how difficult it is to make a dent in this industry. I am very open and welcoming to any new face, as anyone who knows me will say (read the Testimonials page), but if it’s one thing i have found i have as a super power, it’s a sixth sense to read the bullshit coming out of someones mouth (catch me in the new season of Heroes).

A friend once told me, “you can only really trust someone who speaks from valid experience, and when in a business meeting with a new character, they will generally try and qualify themselves to you as you would to them within the first few minutes of engagement”… first impressions are everything right?

The Great Game

So like an interview, but where it is less formal and they know you won’t actually ask for a reference, they feel the need to not only exaggerate on their experience, but implement fictional events into their description like they are reading Lord of the Rings to a class of children.

I tend to call this, ‘talking a good game’. It is basically a sales pitch, where they believe that by being something they are not, they can open doors and create shortcuts through the industry.
They also claim this story to be true so much that they live by it and are actually enthused by their false achievements.

How Can You Recognize ‘A Great Game’?

Name dropping is a perfect tell sign… ever heard the line, “yeah i worked with ….. a little while back on his album/tour/release” or “I’m just about to sign a deal with this company”… oh yeah, we say, as we inquire a little further into the story like we are paying for the entertainment… “but i can’t actually say the name of the company, the date of the meeting or the contact who hooked me up.” So i thought…
You just decided to reel me in like a worm on a fishing rod so that i will introduce you to my very real contact/client list?

Other ways of noticing this hot trend is by excuses the gamer will use. As they cannot prove their experience or find clarity in their name drops, they will stall on meetings they originally agreed to wholeheartedly or will make up another story to back up their original lies ie: “Sorry i can’t bring over this act/client to the meeting as we are in LA working in the studio.” Smell something? Yes that’s the stench of rotting bullsh*t.

While everyone exaggerates in one way or another, whether it’s editing your CV in your favor for a job or trying to impress a hot female (yeah i have done both), i believe that reputation is everything.

Reputation is your brand, and will stick with you through everything that you do. I am all for people doing ‘whatever it takes’ to make it, but if history has taught us anything, it is that the truth always comes out… and when it does, you would kinda wanna save the embarrassment of having to admit your deceit.

While you may have made the money, success and power you dreamed of achieving whilst plotting your game plan; your consumers, customers, friends and networks will only remember the negative feedback and press you WILL receive in the end.

What Are You Saying Then?

To The Gamers:
Be you… Don’t reinvent the wheel to be original, but live your life and achieve your goals in a way that new contacts you network with, will only be able to say, “you know what, use ….. as he’s a good guy and will help you/your company out”. That’s building a network, and word of mouth is still the most popular form of promotion!

But if people start spreading your lies for you and forwarding your stories on because they believe you are for real, you will eventually have to bring some form of clarity, and when you can’t justify yourself, you can only back up your lies with more lies before your reputation is buried.

Sidenote: No bulls were actually used in creating this post and no snakes were killed. This is also not directed at anyone in particular and for any privacy concerns please read through the disclaimer.