How to take your livestreaming strategy to the next level with real-world marketing techniques for your music career...

The Golden Key to fan relationships online (or anywhere, really): the RETURN PATH!

We want to be able to reach out to people again who have engaged with us somehow in the past.

If they spent some time watching a video, leaving a comment, stopping into a show in real life, or buying something from us, they now have an awareness of us with varying degrees of "warmth."

We want to turn cold audiences (folks who have no awareness of your existence) into warm leads (some awareness), and then those warm leads into customers (supporters).

Not only will we generate revenue from initial customers, but we're much more likely to get a "conversion" (sale) from a previous buyer than someone who has never engaged with us before.

The people who tip you on live streams are your customers!!! Congratulations!

Treat them with respect, and try your best to stay in touch with them and continue to nurture that relationship, you'll want it later.

The easy shareability of these videos on these platforms is doing a lot of typically challenging/expensive heavy-lifting for you: getting you in front of potentially lots of cold traffic for free. Don't blow it! Turn them into warm leads - this isn't just about instant tips.

Why I think asking for Venmo tips (specifically) is kind of a short-game move:

A PRO for using Venmo is that it is easy and fast for people to use (if they already have it).

(A quick side note, before my most recent regular-stream this past Friday (3/13/20) - the weekend everyone rushed to streaming after bar and restaurant closures - almost no one, ever, asked me for my Venmo information during a stream. The ubiquitousness of this for this purpose of livestreaming seems to be new.)

A CON for Venmo is that there is no concrete way to get back in touch with these supporters ever again, except through the comment section of the Venmo app. No email addresses, no pixel tracking, no other information...

I suppose we could all theoretically type out requests for them to join our email lists, or send them other promotional messages by hand (and have them hate us for it), but that sounds like a lot of work for probably no payoff.

Now that everyone has gotten used to this method, I think it will prove challenging to redirect this behavior, but if you can, I would advise it.

PayPal is an easy option (PLEASE create a PayPal.me for yourself and have a link available for them, more on that in a future lesson), but that isn't the only option, and I discuss a few here.

Other Recommendations: 

Try to get mailing list opt-ins however makes sense for you and your stream.

Send your livestream traffic to your website (but pixel* it )!

For both of these instances, make that experience valuable, entertaining, and rewarding.

Will you continue to stream after this emergency?

I advise establishing a recurring Livestream as a reliable way to connect with your fans regularly, even when it's possible once more to perform live in-person.

*something I hope you'll not conflate with statements I make in this mini-course: please note here that, in all other real-world in-person cases, I do not condone musicians participating in free performances (unless it's for a special cause like a fundraiser, etc.). Performing in this format is a different beast and should be regarded as a service opportunity for which people *can* financially support if they wish and have the means to do so.

Here's my free collection opt-in you can view: lexlandmusic.com/free

(if you opt-into it, you'll see my basic email nurture series**)

Here's my request list page: bit.ly/lexreqlist

Here's the tip jar page on my webstore: lexlandmusic.com/love

*by "pixel it," I mean: collect your Facebook Business Pixel and install it on all your online real estate. If this is new information for you, I dig a little deeper into this with more helpful links in the next lesson. A Facebook Pixel is a small "code" that gets something like an identity signal when someone lands on your website or takes a specific action, like opting-in to an email form or placing something in an online store cart. Ever look at something on guitarcenter.com, and then immediately see an ad for that thing somewhere else on the web? That's similar to what the FB Pixel can do for you, except in this case, you are the advertiser, and you can make it work for your benefit.

**when I say "nurture series," I'm referring to a special sequence of automated emails that are specifically crafted for people who take particular actions in my online world. If they opt-in to my mailing list, for instance, they are served a dedicated flow of emails I have pre-written that tells them more about me, engages them to tell me more about them, and provides them some value which deposits some of that "goodwill" into our mutual relationship vault.