Facebook – Blaise Lucey

5 Ways Your Band Should Be Using Facebook

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Blaise Lucey in For Bands

Facebook for bands is a Rubik’s Cube. If it works, it can really work. But if it doesn’t… it’s embarrassing.

A lot of bands use Facebook on a less-than-monthly basis, but there’s some power to steadily creating a stream of content for fans. In fact, I realized the impact of social media when I was waiting to buy a CD, “The Catalyst Fire” by Dead Letter Circus, for almost three months.

That’s kind of a miracle. The “album” as a concept is dying because singles are selling so much better. Not only that, “anticipation” for a creative product is almost a foreign feeling on the Internet, where we’re entitled to instant downloads and streaming.

But there I was, waiting impatiently for October 29 when I could finally buy an album that had been on YouTube since August and available in Australia for months.

So what happened? Social media. Specifically, Facebook. Dead Letter Circus – and what I suspect is some help from the band’s album label, UNFED – brought social media marketing to some next level craziness and it worked. The album debuted at #2 on the ARIA Album Chart.

Here’s what any band can learn about social media from Dead Letter Circus:

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Art-Shelf: A Platform that Lets Artists Do Art, Not Marketing

Posted on October 21, 2013October 22, 2013 by Blaise Lucey in For Visual Artists

Whether you’re a painter, a sketch artist or a sculptor, the Internet can be an alluring place to market your art.

But a lot of the time, artists get bogged down by the amount of work it takes to maintain a website, promote their work on social media, and constantly offer new pieces to stay relevant in the noise of the online world.

One of the platforms that’s trying to help change that is Art-Shelf, an online retail start-up that offers artists a place to sell their art, without having to spend the rest of the day marketing and advertising.

I recently spoke with founder Josh King about how the business started and what it’s like to market art online today.

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Does Giving Away Your Music for Free Really Get People to Buy It?

Posted on August 20, 2013August 20, 2013 by Blaise Lucey in For Bands

In October 2012, I was inspired to start this website (at least in its current form), because I talked to a musician. Specifically, I talked to Owen Packard, the guitarist for UK-based metal band, Earthtone9.

I was trying to figure out whether eBooks and mp3s could still make authors and musicians some kind of money. And, if so, how could you get discovered in a world full of noise?

Earthtone9 had experienced a surge of fame in the early 2000s, but then, as Owen put it, “imploded.” However, they had a plan to get back together and make a new album.

To do it, they wanted to try combining live shows with some serious online promotion.

Here’s what they did:

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Writers Stink at Social Media (And Why That’s Bad if You’re Self-Publishing)

Posted on February 20, 2013May 17, 2014 by Blaise Lucey in For Writers

I’ve talked about how bad writers can be at Facebook before. It’s pretty obvious if you just take a look around.

There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but in general it seems that us writerly folks tend to not like social media that much, particularly the insta-smile networks of Facebook, Twitter, and their even more photo-oriented ilk.

The reason is simple:

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How One Author Makes Facebook Work

Posted on February 6, 2013May 17, 2014 by Blaise Lucey in For Writers, Marketing

Facebook has been something of a Rubik’s Cube for authors. Even if you take a look at some of the most famous authors’ Facebook Pages, you can tell that the teams pulling the strings have a pretty poor understanding of how it all works.

In my quest for authors who use Facebook effectively, I first came across the Facebook Page of E.L James, the author of Fifty Shades of Grey, and talked about why that Facebook Page worked.

But now, I’ve finally found Inglath Cooper, who has over 18,000 Likes and a really active fan engagement.

What’s her secret?

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Learning Facebook Marketing from 50 Shades of Grey

Posted on December 5, 2012December 13, 2012 by Blaise Lucey in For Writers, Technology

When I set out to grade five author Facebook Pages, I wasn’t quite sure what I would find.

Mostly, I expected a vast treasure trove of disappointment. Mostly, I wasn’t disappointed in discovering that disappointment.

Until I took a look at the Facebook Page of E.L. James, author of 50 Shades of Grey.

Now, I’m not really convinced that Facebook is a useful tool for a self-promoting author who hasn’t published anything. After all, you can’t market hype about something no one has ever heard of before.

But once your book does come out, there are ways you can create an interesting, exciting Facebook Page for it.

Let’s take a look at how the 50 Shades of Grey team does it:

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