It’s one of the most feature-packed Twitter clients out there, and it’s geared towards the power-Twitter user.  TweetDeck is the perfect solution for songwriters and bands who need to manage a very large Twitter following, while connecting with lots of new like-minded fans.  TweetDeck is still considered to be in “beta”, but they just released the latest version, TweetDeck 0.25, which brings a handful of cool features on-top of all the gems it already had.

Multiple Twitter Streams with TweetDeck

While the overcrowded lot of Twitter clients out there stick to the traditional single stream of tweets – TweetDeck goes much farther.  You can set up an unlimited amount of streams (columns), each filtered for a specific purpose.  One could be for your favorite twitter followers, one could be for a search term, one could be for your facebook friends (yup, facebook is now integrated… more on this below), and one to view everyone.

Here’s a screen shot of my TweetDeck.  As you can see, I keep about 4-5 columns open most of the day:

I know what you’re probably thinking: “Information overload!  I thought twitter was supposed to be simple!”  Let me make some sense of all this.

Twitter Groupies!

OK, not exactly.  With TweetDeck, you could separate the people you follow on Twitter into groups.  This is perfect for those who follow hundreds or thousands of people and want to be sure they’re keeping track of the ones they’re most interested in.  For example, you might want to create a group for your real-world friends on Twitter, or a group for those who are based in the same region as you.

As of this writing, I’m currently following 871 people on Twitter.  I created a group called “My Favs” which contains roughly 30 of my favorite people on Twitter.  It’s a combination of some real-world friends, folks who I’ve been in frequent @reply conversations with, interesting people in my industries (music and web design), and people that regularly post hilarious or super-interesting tweets.

That’s not to say I’m ignoring the rest the 830 people I follow on Twitter.  My next column contains my entire Twitter network.

“This One Goes to 11″ or Power Twitter Search

As I’ve written about previously in the article, Grow Your Band’s Following with Twitter, Twitter search is the key to expanding your reach on Twitter and creating meaningful relationships with those who matter to you – people who have share the same interests… Those who are most likely to follow you on Twitter, dig your music, and become a fan of your band.

In TweetDeck, you could create a column which feeds you tweets from across the twittersphere based on a search term.  I like to keep one search column open at all times.  This week, my search term is “composing music”.  This allows me to find, follow, and connect with anyone who is tweeting about composing music – something I’m personally very interested in.  Other search terms I often use are “Reason 4.0″, “Pro Tools”, “studio recording”, and of course “The Mets”.

Now with Facebook!

The latest version of TweetDeck nicely incorporates Facebook into the mix.  You could create a column which contains all of your Facebook friends status updates.  It also allows you to choose to send tweets to Twitter, Facebook, or both simultaneously.  Pretty sweet.

I have found this feature has already rejouvenated my interest in Facebook and brought about connections with old friends.

The Rest…

Those are the things that truly set TweetDeck apart from your common Twitter app.  As if that wasn’t enough, here’s a list of the other cool features they packed into this tweeting-beast:

• URL shortening with several shortening services (including the new digg.com shortening service)
• TwitPic integration
• Language translation of tweets
• Ability to “favorite” tweets
• Twitter tag cloud (they call it “TwitScoop”)
• Integration with 12seconds.tv for video tweets (haven’t checked this out yet.  Sounds interesting)
• StockTwits integration (Lets face it.  Musicians don’t care about the stock market)
• Super-easy follow, reply, re-tweet, direct message functionality
• Custom colors

What’s your TweetDeck Set up?

As you can see, TweetDeck is highly customizable with various groups, search, and columns options.  If you’re a TweetDeck user, what’s your set up, and how do you use TweetDeck to enhance your musical / songwriting efforts?

Check out the newly redesigned website for rock star, Chris Cornell.  Aside from being a cool and clean design, it truly embraces social media websites and makes them the centerpiece of his web presence.  Right on the home page, you have an integrated twitter feed (it appears Chris is an active twitterer), headlines from his blog, and links to his myspace, facebook, and youtube pages.  Rock on.

Finding success as a band or a songwriter is all about promotion, promotion, promotion.  Spread your music to as many ears as possible.  Increase your head count at live shows as much as possible.  Expand your audience and fan base as far as you can. The question is, given the new state of the music industry, and the changing scene on the internet, how do we do all of these things?

If you haven’t already, you have to stop sleeping on social media and dive in.  That means really making the effort to work it into your daily routine, even tap into it several times in the day.  These days mobile computing makes this very easy.  The thing about social media is that you really have to get consumed in it for it to take effect.  Just dabbling in it won’t do you any good.

Ok, so you’re ready to get in the mix.  Where do you start?  It seems there is a new social media outlet emerging every single day, adding to the endless list of social sites out there already.  The question is, which of these web hotspots are worth investing time in?

Before I get into the descriptions of the most important social media websites, I want to note an important factor in your social media success.  That is, choose only a few of these sites to focus your time and energy on.  If you try and tap into all of them, you will spread yourself too thin, minimizing the overall impact you bring to these communities.  And of course, the lesser the impact you bring, the less you gain in return.

Here is my list of important social media outlets.  Aside from being the most popular ones out there, these sites have the most potential to help the promotion efforts of working bands and songwriters…

Songwriters on Twitter

By far the most explosive social media phenomenon in recent months has been Twitter. It’s popularity has spread like wildfire. Two previous posts cover all things twitter: Why Songwriters Should Get on Twitter and Twitter Links for Bands & Songwriters. Just about everyone who isn’t familiar with twitter has the same reaction off the bat.  ”I don’t get it”.  All I can say is you must give it some time and eventually you will be hooked.

The best advice I can give you about using Twitter is to be real, and be interesting.  Let your real personality flow into the twittersphere (yup, I finally coined my own tword.  Hey, I just did it again!).  Despite the fact that the homepage of twitter asks the question “What are you doing?”, don’t necessarily tweet about every one of your mundane daily tasks.  You can tweet about what you’re doing, but make it something interesting, unique, funny, witty, or bold.  You could also tweet with a link, promoting a recent blog post, an interesting article you just found, or a link to your latest songs.  Maybe you just posted a youtube video from last night’s gig.  Tweet it.  You have special pre-sale ticket pricing for upcoming tour dates.  Tweet it.  You’re in the studio, crafting your next batch of musical goods.  Tweet about it.  You get the idea.

Facebook Band Pages

Chances are, you’re already on Facebook.  I mean, who isn’t these days?  My parents and aunts and uncles have opened accounts, so that means Facebook has clearly hit the mainstream.  Here’s a previous post about Facebook.  A good idea is to create a dedicated Facebook page for your band.  This will give it some separation from your personal Facebook profile.

The big piece of your social media puzzle that Facebook brings is event promotion.  It has been my experience that most people turn to Facebook to promote parties and gain attendees for special events.  It’s also a great way to get an idea of who’s planning on coming out to your next show.  Somewhat related is the community aspect of Facebook.  Not only can your fans connect with you through Facebook, but they can connect with each other either through your page, your event pages, or a fan group created about you or your band (should you become so popular).

Myspace Music

It’s still important.  Sure, it may be a bit out dated in terms of web 2.0 evolution.  But for songwriters and bands, it’s still key to host your music on Myspace and design an awesome presence on the site.  Many potential fans will look for you on Myspace before trying your band name + .com or googling your band name.  Since Myspace is the online home for so many bands and songwriters, it’s also a prime spot to network with fellow bands and arrange for gig swaps and touring arrangements.

The biggest word of advice when it comes to your Myspace presence is to come up with an awesome design for your myspace page.  Don’t settle for those free Myspace design generators.  You will only end up looking amateurish.  Find a skilled designer who specializes in Myspace design (this is a specific skill, not for just any web designer).  Check out this previous post about design links for bands.

YouTube For Bands

Again, nothing groundbreaking here, but super important for bands and songwriters nonetheless.  Utilize the power of youtube to host videos from your gigs, behind the scenes footage of your rehearsals, studio work, or even funny / interesting footage of you and the band hangin out.  The fans love video.  Web surfers love video.  Get on it.

Beyond hosting videos, YouTube offers a ton of social media features.  Customize the look and feel of your youtube page and connect with as many other tubers as you can.  Link to your YouTube presence on all of your other social profiles and your website.  Embed your YouTube videos in your blog, website, Facebook profile, ect.  Promote new videos in your Twitter feed.  Do you see where this is going?  It’s all connected.

Flickr for Band Photography

For your still photos, create a presence on Flickr.  It has become the most popular photography websites out there with a ton of social media features. Bloggers turn to Flickr when searching for engaging imagery to post in their articles (I do this myself).  Users comment on photos and share them. You can embed your Flickr feed in your website and blog.  Awesome photos are still a super important piece of the big picture for any band and Flickr is the go-to hot spot to promote photography on the web.

FriendFeed

FriendFeed is a somewhat lesser-known social media outlet, but one that is growing in popularity quite fast.  It shouldn’t be totally new ground though, because what it does is connect all of your social media updates into one feed.  I must admit that FriendFeed is somewhat new to my personal social media use.  Here’s an excellent article I found which details how to connect and utilize the power of FriendFeed.

Blogging

This is a pretty general thing, but blogging is becoming a hugely important factor in any promotional strategy.  If you haven’t already, it’s a good idea to seriously consider starting a blog for your band or for you personally.  Take into consideration that if you do start a blog, it requires a large amount of time investment and must be updated regularly in order to reap the promotional benefits.  Here’s a previous post which talks about the importance of blogging in the new music industry: The Music Industry and the Blogosphere: Two Revolutions Unite.

Obviously, blogging is social by nature. Each article is meant to begin a discussion with the comments that follow. Readers pass on links to your articles through twitter and social bookmarking sites like digg.com, stumbleupon.com, and reddit.com.

Over to you…

As always, I turn the conversation over to you.  Which social media sites work best for you?  How do you prioritize them?  Any useful suggestions for how to promote yourself on these sites?  Share your secrets!

Today I came across this post:  5 Community Building Twitter Apps for Bands and Musicians.  Lots of great stuff there.

Want even more valuable Twitter tips and practices?  Check out Darren Rowse’s awesome blog: TwiTip.

And now for my personal Tweeting tip… Be aware of the keywords that you use in your tweets.  Earlier this week, I posted a tweet about Sufjan Stevens (see it here).  In the days that followed, I gained several new followers who must have found me by searching Twitter for “Sufjan Stevens”.  The reason I know this is because their profiles containes lots of references to Sufjan.

Twitter Search is a hugely popular tool to finding like-minded twitterers.  The search functionality is also tied into almost every Twitter App.

For more on using Twitter search in conjunction with the powerful Twitter app, TweetDeck, check out this in-depth article for power-twitter users.

Now that you’ve got a healthy serving of Twitter links to munch on… make sure you follow me @Casjam!

Well, the answer to the title of this post is nicely summed up in the quite awesome song, “You’re No One If You’re Not On Twitter” by Ben Walker

By now the Twitter phenomenon is far enough along that it’s fair to say you have at least heard of Twitter.  If you haven’t, or are not clear on what it is exactly, then let me explain. Or at least try.

Twitter is a “micro-blogging” service where you broadcast simple messages about what you’re doing right now. Most users don’t stick to only this topic though. Many “tweet” about an interesting link they came across, promoting their blog, website, or upcoming event (gigging musicians, that’s where you come in). You can also use it to reply directly to other users, publicly or privately.

Who do you broadcast TO? Good question. And it’s a question that every Twitter newbie continuously asks themself during their beginning days of using the service. Basically, you follow people, and people follow you. When you follow someone, all of their tweets are fed into your constantly updating list on your twitter homepage.

The way you find followers is to first follow many people who interest you. Try searching twitter for people who interest you.  You can also use the advanced search options to find people in your area (good for forming a local network of potential show goers).  Join twitter conversations and use @reply to send messages directly to other users (send me a shout @casjam!).  Promote your recent tweets on your website, blog, facebook, myspace.

I would also suggest using one of the many Twitter clients out there for reading and posting tweets without having to log on to the Twitter website.  The one I use is Twitterrific.

For Musicians

Twitter is yet another online tool for you to use to promote your music and gigs.  As your following (both real and virtual) grows, Twitter can be a great way to continuously interact with your friends and fans.

Use it to promote your gig tonight. Keep it interesting by announcing a tip on which rare cover or old tune will be making it’s way into the setlist.

Use Twitter to promote your music. Keep your people informed and updated on the progress you and the band are making in the studio.  Send out a link for them to download new mp3s, or a see a video of last night’s performance.

Use it to network.  Twitter has become a proven tool for networking with others who share the same interests, or profession.  This can certainly be true for the music world.  Tweet a call for a drummer who digs playing live hip-hop, or an audio engineer in the Chicago area, or a rehearsal space for rent.

It’s a little strange at first, but it quickly becomes both addicting and very useful.  For more stuff than you can possibly handle in one sitting, check out Darren Rowse’s new blog TwiTip.