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Facebook for businesses October 30, 2009

Posted by onemouthband in : Recommendations, Tech, Web Schtuff , comments closed

The other day my uncle sent me a message to say:

I could use some input on creating a facebook Page (“Public Profile”) to inform a certain demographic about my/our business services. I want to connect and be a resource to more people. Any thoughts?

Facebook changes their setup all the time, so I don’t really know what current technical advice I could give, or if it would even be any good by the time one went to use it. But the best general advice is to find profiles of businesses that are already doing what you want to be doing and figure out what might work for you. To give a better specific answer the question, I would say to create a separate page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php that will serve your needs better than creating a public profile. It is a non-trivial issue to show certain people certain parts of your profile but not other parts, without over-emphasising your public info to the full access group. If you make a page for your business, then people can just become fans without being confused with your personal friends.

For examples of pages like I’m talking about, look at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/One-On-One/103626306975 (my new band One On One)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Abiouness-Wines/152895968361 (my winemaking friend Nicole Abiouness)

Also, I don’t know if you’re up on LinkedIn as well, but many people (like me) use that for their business connections and Facebook for their personal connections. Of course Twitter is great for businesses too, a perfect place to informally share inspiration, laments, and successes with clients, potential clients, or anyone who is interested. I have Twitter hooked up to my Facebook so that updating it (“tweeting”) goes to both, and I think you can do that with LinkedIn as well.

One thing to be aware of as you create business portals with any of these websites is how to get clients to find you. If you have a unique name, hopefully you can use it for all three. But you should probably check/register your name at Facebook, LinkedIn, AND Twitter before deciding on the name to use. Otherwise you can end up with slightly different names at each of these places which will only make it more difficult for people to find you.

Once you have your page on Facebook, and it’s populated with relevant content, then you can begin to actually advertise it using their Ad feature (similar to Google’s AdWords). I have worked with this as well, but I’ll save that for another post.

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Decompressing Sexy Sunday October 9, 2009

Posted by onemouthband in : Music, One On One, Travels , comments closed

One On One is performing twice this Sunday, 3:45PM at Decompression in San Francisco, and then at about 9:30PM at Krickie’s Sexy Sunday Showcase in downtown Fairfax, Ca.

Decompression is a Burning Man after-party, of sorts. After 4-years at Burning Man, this is my first Decompression (I’ve always been out of town doing TaKeTiNa before). One On One is doing a reprise of the show that made them such a hit at the Burning Main Center Camp Main Stage this year, plus some great new material we debuted last week. I think there are several stages, and we’ll be at the 22nd Street Stage (at Indiana) for about 30-minutes. For more info, visit http://www.burningman.com/blackrockcity_yearround/special_events/decompression/decom2009.html. Come in costume if you can, we will!

Sexy Sunday is a female musician’s showcase that happens on the second Sunday of every month. The local as well as traveling talent is hand-picked to provide an eclectic mix of smokin’ & original girl music that’ll knock your sox off, or at least you’ll have a great time. Peri’s Silver Dollar Bar, no cover. One On One is on around 9:30PM or so, but there will be music until at least 1AM by Jesebell, Leila Swan, Stefanie Keys, and a handful of other lady artists, including your lovely hostess Krickie.

Hope to see you there!

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Open Mic Advice October 8, 2009

Posted by onemouthband in : Music, Notes to Self, Recommendations, Travels , comments closed

In the last year or two, I’ve done a lot of open mics all over the world. In that time I’ve learned quite a bit about them, and would like to share some of what I know. Whatever country you’re in, whatever instrument you play, and whatever level you’re at, my advice is pretty much the same. Here’s my top ten:

  1. Call ahead and the get info. Don’t email, dropping in is good if convenient, but the person with the info you need isn’t always there. When does it start? When does it end? How do you get on the list? The name of the host/person to talk to when you get there? What is the format (number of songs/minutes, etc.)?
  2. Show up. You have to show up at the venue or you are not doing that open mic. Get it?
  3. Check in with the host/person to talk to 30-60 minutes before the call time. If you can’t find that person, talk to whoever is behind the soundboard (hint: they’re probably the same person!). If you have any special sound setup (anything beyond a guitar that you can plug in and a mic on a stand), mention it now.
  4. Set up within 5-minutes of arriving. Be ready to play in case something happens and you get called up sooner. If someone cancels or asks you if you want to play now, just go! If you tune right away and it’s cold outside, you may have to retune if it’s a long wait for the stage, but so what? Oh, and don’t lend you ax to someone unless you’re willing to spend time retuning before your slot.
  5. Don’t be cheap. Buy a drink, get some food, put money in the tipjar, etc. Do everything you can to be generous and pay it forward.
  6. Be nice. You want people to listen to you and then clap, right? Then always clap for the other folks who are performing, and don’t talk over top of them. If your promised slot is ignored by the host (this happens a lot!), just very politely check in again. It’s very possible they simply forgot about you when someone cuter started talking to them.
  7. Be confident. Some people are good, some are not. You will very likely be in between, and that’s cool! Love it as it is. Don’t apologize, play!
  8. Song choice is crucial. Never do two downers in a row or people will leave, and if they don’t do it physically they will do it mentally. I always try to do a couple things that don’t sound alike, and that are a bit different than what everyone else is doing (though being a One Mouth Band, this part comes naturally). Originals are generally worth more than covers to this crowd, and they avoid the uncomfortable accident of playing the same song someone else has just played.
  9. Talk to The People. Okay, so you’re nervous, but guess what? Everyone else probably is to. Don’t be scared to stumble or stutter as this just makes you look more human. Try not to ramble more than a minute, but do engage people with: a story behind your song, a funny thing that happened to you today, etc. You can even be confronting, controversial, or a downright jerk, if that suits your music. Pretty much anything that doesn’t fall in the category of TMI* is probably fine. If you ever can’t think of anything, remember that it is never a bad move to thank the host, soundperson, waitress, etc.
  10. Communicate with the soundtech about plugging and unplugging. No one wants the jolt of that loud POP! that makes you look stupid and makes the soundperson testy. You can usually just hold the cord to the light and nod to the soundperson. Only when you get the nod back do you plug/unplug.

Okay, one more extra credit tidbit that became clear after taking my brother to perform at open mics in Portland: Get a stage name. My brother’s name is John Klawitter, no one remembers “Klawitter” and even if they do, they have no idea how to spell it. Instead, he goes by “Johnny Walker”, because he also has a dog walking service. Believe me, in a bar they will remember you if you name yourself after a drink. Playful is good, but avoid going with anything too silly or hard to say or anything you don’t want people to call you if they see you when you’re holding hands with your sweetie in the park a week later. Of course I go by “One Mouth Band”, and while many people do screw it up (One Man Band, One Mouth Man, etc.), it still works better than the anonymous “Sam Rogers” in most cases, and it kind of describes what I do.

So go on then, get out there! If you’re not making your music, who will? If not now, when?

* TMI: Too Much Information. Anything that you’ve been diagnosed with (physically or mentally) or any topic that would require the listener to imagine you naked. Or both.

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My Facebook Friend-Wrangling Formula October 5, 2009

Posted by onemouthband in : Notes to Self, Productivity, Web Schtuff , comments closed


I routinely shoot back emails to people I don’t recognize and don’t have friends in common with saying something like this:

Please jog my memory…

I’m sorry, I know I should probably remember you from someplace, but I seem to have forgotten. It was a late night last night, and I’m still groggy. Would you mind kindly reminding me how we know each other?

While I’m picky about who is my friend on Facebook, I am far less discerning about Myspace (http://www.Myspace.com/OneMouthBand) or Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/OneMouthBand), so please pick whatever works best. Thanks, and sorry again if we had some meaningful conversation that I just can’t connect with your name right now!

All the best any which way,
Sam

I’ve been doing this for about a year and it has worked well enough. But I always said “When my friends list hits 500, then I’ll do something about it”. That’s because I value Facebook too much to let it become another Myspace fiasco. Myspace has been and continues to be a useful way for people to find me, but I spend as little time there as possible because I find it aesthetically repelling and always have. LinkedIn is cool, I guess, but I try and reserve that for my non-music working life and spend as little time there as possible too. And don’t even talk to me about other social networks, I’m not interested. Maybe that will change someday, but for now, I’m a Facebook guy and that’s all there is to it.

So as of today I’m at a Facebook friend count of 502, and after a brief “culling the herd” post last week that simply panicked a few people I didn’t even realize were paying attention to my posts, I have decided to make a formula. First I tried grouping people by where I met them but I had way too many groups to be useful, so now I’m organizing all my Facebook friends into the following groups by how they function in my life.

“Safe” Groups

  1. Current Friends: This is reserved for meaningful relationships that have actively enriched my life within the last 2-years. I wish more of my real friends were on Facebook to be in this group.
  2. Family: If we’re related, you’re in. Keep in mind my family has very wide definitions. So the nephew of my ex-stepfather who I’ve never had much of a conversation with because he’s deaf? Yep, he’s still family.
  3. People that inspire me: For folks I may not have physically met yet, but somehow wound up on my friends list anyway, AND I love the idea that we will meet someday AND in the meantime, I’ll enjoy their posts. This is for the Stever Robbins of my life.
  4. Dormant Friends: There are people that I haven’t necessarily kept in touch with over the years, but I would definitely want to talk to again. This is the largest group, and prone to a little bit of flux.
  5. Schoolmates & Coworkers: For names I instantly recognize but have probably not ever been that close to, still I have an idle curiousity for how they’re doing. If we went to kindergarten together or you know me from my days as a Ferengi from Paramount’s Great America, this is where you go. An ever-increasing bunch.

Cullable Groups

  1. Fellow Musicians & Performers: People I hope to work with in the future OR have worked with before and feel guilty about de-friending just yet.
  2. Fans: People who saw me perform and wanted to be my friend. I’m pushing these very valuable folks to my Myspace or my Facebook Fan Page.
  3. Friends of Friends: Yes, my friend in LA thought we should be in touch, but we only ever got as far as accepting his Facebook friend recommendation. Sure, you were at my brother’s wedding and he hangs out with you from time to time, but I don’t. People here can stay for a bit, but I may discretely de-friend you at some point unless we have some other contact.
  4. Single-Serving Friends: We met on a plane and had a great chat, or we were at the same party and struck up a decent conversation, or we were stuck somewhere together and made the best of it by talking for a short time. I liked you, you liked me, we did the Facebook thing, and other than that we’ll probably never see each other again. After a while, I may de-friend you, but I’ll probably ask you first.
  5. Unknown: If I don’t remember you, this is where you go. But you’re only here until the moment when I’m waiting in line at the grocery store, looking at your name on my iPhone Facebook App, saying “Nahhh…”, and un-friending you.

When it comes down to it, it is always about quality, not quantity of friends. Still, for every time my friend count reaches an increment of 100, I plan to revisit and revise the above, keeping my Facebook friends list to something that is meaningful to me. People who I think know me, comment (intelligently) on what I’m up to, or entertain me with what they’re up to, I will always keep. For everyone else who wants to connect on Facebook, there’s fan pages:

Sam Rogers on Facebook

One On One on Facebook
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