Whats the best way to promote a gig?

[Pinball]

What is the best way to promote a gig here in the UK at the moment

Bandcamp, Facebook, Lemonrock or old fashioned posters and fliers?

What do people out there do to try and get the audiences in?

[clarkpegasus4001]

I would suggest all that you have listed but especially Facebook. Posters and flyers all help. Get all the band members to push it as well as the venue. Also the local papers if possible, plus anywhere on the net does does gig listing.
Don't fly post illegally or you could get into trouble, and you may lose the gig too.

[Pinball]

[quote name='clarkpegasus4001' timestamp='1469144409' post='3096166']
I would suggest all that you have listed but especially Facebook. Posters and flyers all help. Get all the band members to push it as well as the venue. Also the local papers if possible, plus anywhere on the net does does gig listing.
Don't fly post illegally or you could get into trouble, and you may lose the gig too.
[/quote]
We have done a poster (see below) and FB bit. I'm a bit disappointed with FB as it doesn't seem to work as well as it did-any advice there?
A good point about the local press.

[attachment=224050:Bear Poster.jpg]

Edited July 22, 2016 by Pinball

[SubsonicSimpleton]

Facebook is engineered so that you don't get much coverage unless you pay them to promote your posts.

[Number6]

The trick with Facebook is to tag loads of people into the initial poster / Flyer then be relentless on making build up posts as the gigs draw nearer. If done right all those tagged will get the updates

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='Number6' timestamp='1469175921' post='3096280']
The trick with Facebook is to tag loads of people into the initial poster / Flyer then be relentless on making build up posts as the gigs draw nearer. If done right all those tagged will get the updates
[/quote]

Which is great until the tagged people get so pissed off with your marketing techniques they end up ditching you.

[charic]

[quote name='SubsonicSimpleton' timestamp='1469174793' post='3096270']
Facebook is engineered so that you don't get much coverage unless you pay them to promote your posts.
[/quote]
In essence yes, but there's quite a bit you can do to increase your coverage on facebook too. It's not fool proof but it does help, I'll try to write something in the next week or so.

Also, check out songkick. Very useful tool

[Silvia Bluejay]

Regarding Facebook, one way of extending the reach of the band's posts is to ask people to share them. For instance, ask all the band members to share the band page's posts on their own timelines. As mentioned above, that can also be achieved by tagging band members and friends, but I would be selective rather than indiscriminate, and tag only those friends and fans who aren't irritated by it and like sharing the band's news.

Edited July 22, 2016 by bluejay

[luckydog]

The thread title reminds me of a H&S notice on the walls at work 'Proper Way to Lift Boxes', which set out in numbered steps how to posture and bend. Someone had graffiti'd out step 1, and replaced it with 'Step 1 : Get someone else to lift it' !

I think the same applies to promotion: it's best to pick and use a promoter who covers your area and genre. DIY takes time money and effort and musicians aren't nec even any good at it, so 'get someone else to do it' is my 2p worth. Promoters, where's the love ?!

LD

[Musicman20]

Facebook shares, Instagram, not so much twitter as it is SO busy with junk.

I like old fashioned flyers but I've not seen a band use them, apart from big bands advertising huge gigs, for some time. Miss the days of going 'flyering' at 12am and steering clear of the authorities.

[charic]

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1469183757' post='3096371']
Facebook shares, Instagram, not so much twitter as it is SO busy with junk.

I like old fashioned flyers but I've not seen a band use them, apart from big bands advertising huge gigs, for some time. Miss the days of going 'flyering' at 12am and steering clear of the authorities.
[/quote]

My latest project will be doing this, guitarist is convinced it still gets good results

[Silvia Bluejay]

You can use flyers in a targeted way, saving money and avoiding littering. We spread a handful of Junkyard Dogs flyers on tables when the band gigs a new or new-ish venue. They don't list any gigs, so they never expire, and instead they have all the links to the website, the social media and Lemonrock, and a QR code for reaching the website with your mobile phone at a stroke.

[charic]

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1469184384' post='3096382']
You can use flyers in a targeted way, saving money and avoiding littering. We spread a handful of Junkyard Dogs flyers on tables when the band gigs a new or new-ish venue. They don't list any gigs, so they never expire, and instead they have all the links to the website, the social media and Lemonrock, and a QR code for reaching the website with your mobile phone at a stroke.
[/quote]

From what he's said he's talking more about popping by the venue for the few days beforehand

Although the type of fliers you've mentioned aren't a bad shout at all!

[clarkpegasus4001]

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1469182749' post='3096357']
Regarding Facebook, one way of extending the reach of the band's posts is to ask people to share them. For instance, ask all the band members to share the band page's posts on their own timelines. As mentioned above, that can also be achieved by tagging band members and friends, but I would be selective rather than indiscriminate, and tag only those friends and fans who aren't irritated by it and like sharing the band's news.
[/quote]

Agree with this. and become members of groups and post in those as well. Texting and sending out emails to friends won't harm anything either.

Edited July 22, 2016 by clarkpegasus4001

[Silvia Bluejay]

[quote name='clarkpegasus4001' timestamp='1469197676' post='3096559']
Agree with this. and become members of groups and post in those as well.[/quote]

Especially the venues' own groups, as they will be frequented by many of their regulars. FB doesn't allow pages to post in groups, so an individual - band member or fan - has to do the posting.

[LewisK1975]

What I do with Facebook, is to post on the bands page about the upcoming event, and then share the post to local groups which are specifically about live music. Also share to timelines of friends of the band, usually does the trick..

Edited July 22, 2016 by LewisK1975

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='clarkpegasus4001' timestamp='1469144409' post='3096166']
Don't fly post illegally or you could get into trouble, and you may lose the gig too.
[/quote]

Thanks for that. I once had to call the council into our road when a fly posting campaign started for a new club a couple of years ago. The owner contacted me to ask why I had not approached him about it because he said it was a "good will gesture" on the part of his customers (was supposed to have just opened remember?) and that he had nowt to do with it and he thought I should apologise for nearly shutting him down.

How I larfed.

As for the OP, I would hope that you advertise in the real world anyway but only fly post where there is precedent to do so. If you fly post on let's say - virgin territory - you will get slapped.

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1469136657' post='3096118']
What is the best way to promote a gig here in the UK at the moment

Bandcamp, Facebook, Lemonrock or old fashioned posters and fliers?

What do people out there do to try and get the audiences in?
[/quote]

Depends on the crowd you're trying to attract and the reputation/punters of the venue. if it's a younger crowd and originals then the distribution via Friends of Friends on FB is a good start. Posts on FB and Twitter get many times more views if you have a pic attached so make your poster landscape and reduce it to 900px wide to display as a photo then # it to the venue and any local rags or radio you'd like to cover it.
For older bands with an older crowd posters and flyers are the thing. Older folk don't tend to use the i'net enough to look for things to do or gigs to go to.

[Number6]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1469176183' post='3096282']


Which is great until the tagged people get so pissed off with your marketing techniques they end up ditching you.
[/quote]

Tbf i usually tag people that have shown an interest in live music and are local ish to the gig. Not just everyone on my friends list

[clarkpegasus4001]

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1469203560' post='3096669']
Thanks for that. I once had to call the council into our road when a fly posting campaign started for a new club a couple of years ago. The owner contacted me to ask why I had not approached him about it because he said it was a "good will gesture" on the part of his customers (was supposed to have just opened remember?) and that he had nowt to do with it and he thought I should apologise for nearly shutting him down.

How I larfed.

As for the OP, I would hope that you advertise in the real world anyway but only fly post where there is precedent to do so. If you fly post on let's say - virgin territory - you will get slapped.
[/quote]
The reason I mentioned the fly posting was that.......we were due to play Rock City. I was told under no circumstances to fly post as we would never play there again if we did. The reason was they had been fined heavily in the past for bands fly posting thier events.

[Pinball]

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1469204679' post='3096682']
Depends on the crowd you're trying to attract and the reputation/punters of the venue. if it's a younger crowd and originals then the distribution via Friends of Friends on FB is a good start. Posts on FB and Twitter get many times more views if you have a pic attached so make your poster landscape and reduce it to 900px wide to display as a photo then # it to the venue and any local rags or radio you'd like to cover it.
For older bands with an older crowd posters and flyers are the thing. Older folk don't tend to use the i'net enough to look for things to do or gigs to go to.
[/quote]
That kind of echoes my thinking. It needs to be targeted in terms of area and audience. I reckon there is time to do that with the venue on side

Thanks for all the replies..it helps a lot. I can see it is really easy to waste time and money

Edited July 22, 2016 by Pinball

[charic]

I wonder if business cards would be a way past the fly posting guff?

[Phil Starr]

What sort of music do you play? I would use completely different methods to promote a young band playing originals to the method I would use to promote a covers band.

unfortunately Lemonrock hasn't really hit Bristol in a big way yet. In areas where it is strong its a great resource for cover bands. There are thousands of gigs on there so it has become the go to resource for anyone wanting to go to a pub gig. If you were based in Weston or Burnham it might be worth a punt. Google shows any number of gig sites for Bristol, look for ones with a load of gigs that bands like yours use.

Bristol itself has a great music scene if you are playing originals you'll need to tap into that. Loads of musicians there will go to see each other, there are two universities to tap into if you play to that sort of audience. There's a lot of word of mouth, social media sharing and no shortage of fly posting.

For me I think Facebook is a dead duck when used directly by a band. Have a page and keep it up to date but beyond that sending messages to people who are swamped already isn't going to achieve much.

[Pinball]

Yep we're an originals band with a heavy/prog feel. We are not young band so things are stacked against us I terms of social media competition


[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujZTv4eTfXQ"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujZTv4eTfXQ[/url]


Bristol is a-wash with music. We don' really have away into the Uni scene at the moment. Advertising there is like competing with white noise Weston-Super-Mare different.

[Bajanbass]

Free grass free beer, works here

Peace