Radio is Dead

Radio is dead to me since I discovered the podcast. I know I'm late to the party and that people have been listening to podcasts for years. Hek, Fanscape was doing podcasts 4 years ago - ironically I never listened to those. Poor Shane in my office spent hours upon hours putting those together and sadly he gave up after he realized that the amount of people who listened didn't equate to the amount of effort he put into making the podcast. And do you blame him when his own boss wasn't even listening???

My epiphany moment happened when KLSX 97.1 in Los Angeles went off the air. Or rather, when it switched formats from talk to disco/pop/top40/hiphop/sameas3otherstationsinLA. My commute during the past year had gone from 7 minutes to 27 minutes and I was too lazy to change out the discs in my 6 CD changer in my car. Then I discovered 97.1 and I became a talk radio junkie. My morning commute was suddenly made heavenly by listening to Adam Corolla. My drive home was made bearable by Tom Leykis. Every day was different which is something I need. I LOVE music, don't get me wrong, but I can't listen to the same CD over and over. I need new. I've always needed new. And thank god for Adam Corolla, he gave me new every single day.

Adam took over when Howard Stern went to satellite. I thought about getting satellite for my car but (refer back to the laziness comment) I could never get off my ass to get XM or Sirius installed. I've been a fan of Adam for many years, from his days as the guest character "Mr. Birchum" on LA's KROQ morning show, to his cable program with Jimmy Kimmel, "The Man Show" to his co-hosting of sextalk radio show, "Love Line." Adam has always made me laugh, probably because I've always identified with him because we both grew up around the same time here in LA. His references to life in LA's San Fernando Valley in the 70's and 80's hits home on so many levels.

Then, about 2 or 3 months ago I went on a business trip to New York and when I came back Adam and his crew were talking about their last show. "Wha Happened?" I cried! Then I heard Tom Leykis talking about the same thing that afternoon. I soon found out, CBS Radio, owners of KLSX had decided to dump the talk radio format and switch to pop music. And I was crushed. The first Monday after they went off the air I got in my car and searched the dial. I tried KROQ again, and suddenly Kevin and Bean, the morning show hosts weren't as funny as I remember them being. They once held a special place in my heart, but they just didn't make me laugh any more. Much like Mark & Brian on KLOS had made my childhood (ages 10 - 15) so enjoyable but then they seemed boring after I discovered Kevin and Bean. So I tried NPR. I caught up on world events, heard a few good tunes on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" show, but overall I was bored. So I started listening to CDs again. But after about 3 weeks I found myself tuning out radio and music all together and drifting in and out of daydreams as I drove.

Every day I'd say to myself, as soon as I get in the office, I'm going to look up Adam's website. I know he said he'd do podcasts, but not sure if he has. Then I'd get into the office, look at my emails, get distracted, and forget to look him up. As I'd get in my car to go home, I'd curse myself for forgetting to look for Adam's podcasts.

Finally, one day, after yet another painful commute, I found Adam's website and saw that he'd been doing podcasts for weeks and he'd been interviewing people like Seth McFarlane. I listened on my computer and was astonished. It was Adam. 100% Adam. No commercials. No sidekicks. No censorship. Just Adam, sitting in his house, talking to one person but mostly doing all the talking. And it was glorious.

Then I fired up my iTunes and low and behold, Adam was in the Top 10 podcast list. Turns out in just the span of a few weeks, he'd become one of the most downloaded podcasts on the Internet. I believe that Seth McFarlane interview alone has been downloaded over 1 million times.

I connected my iPhone to my computer, hit "download all" on the Adam Carolla podcast button on iTunes and within a few minutes I had over 30 Adam Carolla podcasts sitting on my iPhone. I couldn't wait to drive home and test it out.

Needless to say, for the past 3 weeks, I've been listening to Adam in all his glory on my way to work and on my way home. I even listen to him as I hike through the neighborhood with my son every morning.

If you are a radio station, how can you compete with this? It's free. Much like a record store has trouble competing with music that is free, radio is in trouble.

Oh, there is time. Radio's death isn't going to happen today or tomorrow. They probably have a couple more years. Recorded music was the first victim of the digital age, newspaper/magazine publishing is next, radio will follow and then film/television/video games after that. The latter will hopefully learn from the mistakes of the others and figure out a solution.

For the moment I'm being selfish. I hate driving. Can't stand it. But the Adam Carolla podcast has made that feat bearable - actually enjoyable.

Hooray for the Podcast!

Why MySpace Should Buy Twitter

A week ago I was asked to contribute to an article in iMedia Connection titled "5 Companies that Should Buy Twitter." It was assigned to 5 different people and each wrote about why their chosen company should buy Twitter. The 5 companies discussed were: Microsoft, Google, MySpace, Facebook, and Yahoo!.

I didn't even hesitate, I grabbed MySpace. It was one of those moments where I saw it clearly. If anyone needed Twitter right now, it was MySpace. But specifically, I pointed to MySpace Music because that is the only thing MySpace has going for it right now. Every musician in the world has a MySpace page and in theory, you can stream any song via MySpace (it doesn't work like that right now, but for the sake of the article, I pretended it did). Adding a music component to Twitter would be a logical step and MySpace is best positioned of all the companies mentioned to pull that off.

Ironically, within a day of being assigned this task, word leaked that Google was going to buy Twitter. So I wondered if the article would even see the light of day since it might quickly become a moot issue. But alas, that hasn't happened. Meanwhile a bigger twist of irony hit yesterday when the founders of MySpace were bounced. (Actually Chris DeWolfe is out, but Tom Anderson will stay on in what I believe is a figure head role - because after all, he's Tom!) Whatever the case, the article is purely hypothetical so a MySpace / Twitter merger will most likely never happen any way.

The article appeared today and you can read the full post HERE, and I recommend you do so that you can get all the different perspectives, but I'm just going to re-post my MySpace segment in this here blog...

5 companies that should buy Twitter

MySpace, by Larry Weintraub

What happened to MySpace? We used to love MySpace. But we got bored because it was too cluttered and the shine wore off. Facebook became our new favorite, and now we say the words MySpace with the same "what happened to them?" tone that used to apply to Friendster.

MySpace still has one thing going for it: music. More than 5 million musicians have a MySpace page. If you are a band, you host the majority of your content on MySpace. You have your van to haul your gear, your T-shirts to sell at shows, your manager to handle your business, your agent to book your tour, and your MySpace page to display your music, videos, tour dates, and talk to your fans.

MySpace knows its last foothold is in music. That's why it hired MTV's digital guru Courtney Holt to run the division. That's why it gave all the record labels a piece of the pie. MySpace hopes to be the destination for you to get your music. Because music is free. The music industry may not accept that yet, but every kid in America knows that music is free, and MySpace has free music.

Music is the soundtrack to our lives, right? What are you doing right now? What is the song playing in the background or in your head? That's the status you want to convey. Imagine using 140 characters to not only say what you're doing but to relay what song is playing while you do it.

If anyone should have Twitter, it should be MySpace. In a MySpace/Twitter world, you can now embed a song in your tweet. The user can choose to listen or not. And if they love what they hear, the song title links back to that song on MySpace Music.

The_Real_Shaq: I'm n baton rouge with feed the children, lotta happy families. Listening to Lil Wayne's "Hot Revolver."

Lardog2000: In Burbank airport on way to Portland. Hard to keep track of 1 year old that just learned to walk. Go B go! Bowie's "Heroes" on the brain

Wouldn't all tweets be so much sweeter with a song? Wouldn't everyone like to accent their status with a tune? We'd not only know what you are doing, but what you are feeling, too!

MySpace's traffic would go through the roof. Millions of people would go to the MySpace music page you pointed to and listen to that song.

Music would be cool again. We'd all be listening to music. MySpace would single-handedly save the music business because people would be listening to so much music. Sure, there are renegades out there doing this now like Blip.fm, but they are linking to music mined from who-knows-where on the web. Only MySpace has deals in place that can make your Twitter tunes legit.

And what a boon to MySpace's revenue. Because of the heightened traffic, advertisers would be falling over themselves to serve up ads on MySpace, or strike a deal to personify their brand with music. What about the data -- the data that MySpace can now add to its arsenal for targeted advertising?

So what price should MySpace pay for Twitter? A year ago, $1 billion would have sounded good. That's almost double what News Corp. paid for MySpace. But competition is fierce. Google and Microsoft will battle it out for Twitter's search capabilities. Facebook will want Twitter just to stop a competitor from getting in its way. But MySpace just plain needs Twitter to survive, to stop the decline, and put it back in the limelight.

TomMySpace: We just bought Twitter. How awesome is that? We're "Dancing in the Streets!"

Trent Reznor on DiggNation

You have to watch Trent Reznor interviewed by Kevin Rose, the creator of Digg.com. Let me tell you why:

A. Trent is incredibly smart
B. Trent is incredibly articulate
C. Trent answers extremely intelligent questions from fans - not the same old questions he gets asked by radio DJs
D. If you are a band and wondering what to do with your career - listen to Trent

If you are a band or a manager and you are trying to navigate releasing your music in this f'd up music business world, then this is yet another source of knowledge for you to absorb. Add this to the Josh Freese post I did on Monday and the Kevin Kelly article I reference all the time - 1,000 True Fans.

During the past year, as major bands have their contracts expire with major labels, many are trying new things. Some, like Radiohead, are testing out new models of pricing and delivery, and others like Nine Inch Nails are going for the Free (check out the Chris Anderson "Free!" article in Wired) model where they give away the music with the hopes of increasing ticket and t-shirt sales. And it's working.

This is leading the way for artists everywhere. A typical artist contract with a major label lasts for 7 albums. Historically if you are successful, the label will try to re-negotiate before your contract expires and lock you down for many more albums. If your first album stiffs or if you have a successful first album and your second stiffs, then your label will drop you way before your seven albums are completed. This is one of the main downsides of having a major label contract, they can drop you any time, but you can't leave if you want.

So what is happening (very slowly), is the downfall of the traditional music business and a shift of power from label to artist. What does a label provide? 1. Cash 2. Marketing Power. Like most artists you are probably starving and would jump at the chance to have someone underwrite the recording of your album. You also believe that a record label can get you played on the radio, get your record into Wal-mart and iTunes, and ultimately make you a star.

And for that, you will give up the rights to your recordings - your art! And these days, in exchange for that chunk of change and supposed marketing power, you'll also give up part of your t-shirt sales, your concert ticket revenue, your publishing, and your presence on the Internet.

As you will see Trent say in this interview, certain kinds of music need the power of a major label and if you make that kind of music, you have to be with a major label. But you probably are not a career-oriented artist, you make pop music that needs to be played on the radio.

But for everyone else who slogs away writing their own songs and playing parties, bars, and street corners, you fall into the category of someone who does not need a record label. Technology has changed the landscape. People don't buy music. Therefore record stores have disappeared and Wal-Mart doesn't carry much music. iTunes is the largest music retailer in the country. And guess what? You don't need a record label to get your music on iTunes.

And the other good news is that artists like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails are paving the road for you. There are many more coming. Rumor has it that Metallica is done with their record deal at Warner Brothers and they are looking at options for their future releases. Hooray!

If you are that artist I've referenced, or you manage that artist, or you are just plain wondering what is next in the music business, watch and listen closely. A change is a comin'.

http://revision3.com/diggdialogg/trentreznor/

Creative Marketing from Josh Freese

I'm always on the lookout for creative marketing. Especially in the music business. A few months back a friend of mine named Josh Freese did a very clever marketing stunt. He was putting out a solo album and he came up with a slew of value-adds to anyone that bought his record and was willing to pony up a little extra cash.

Josh is literally one of the top 3 drummers in the world. He is the go-to studio drummer and has played with everyone from Nine Inch Nails to Guns N Roses to Devo. He's also one of the funniest guys you'll ever meet too. The last time I saw Josh was several years ago, he was drumming for one of my idols - Paul Westerberg as well as playing in GNR. I've lost touch with him and I didn't even know he had a new album coming out until I saw an article in Mashable. Now, for a drummer, even of Josh's caliber, to put out a solo album and get attention would be next to impossible these days. But Josh took a page out of the Nine Inch Nails handbook (putting out a limited edition high-priced version of an otherwise free album) and the Kevin Kelly "1,000 True Fans" mantra and decided to release his album with his own twist on exclusive artist access.

Here is what Josh offered if you bought his album, Since 1972, and were willing to spend a few extra bucks:

$7

* Digital download of Since 1972, including 3 videos

$15

* CD/DVD double-disc set
* Digital download

$50

* CD/DVD double-disc set
* T-shirt
* “Thank you” phone call from Josh for buying Since 1972. You can tell him what you like about the record that you purchased, or what you thought sucked. Ask whatever you want, like “Is Maynard really THAT weird?” or “Which one of Sting’s mansions has the comfiest beds?” or “Are Devo really suburban robots that monitor reality or just a bunch of dads from Ohio?” or “Why don’t the Vandals play more stuff off the first record?” It’s your 5 minutes to yack it up. Talk about whatever you want.

$250 (limited edition of 25)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* Signed drum head and drumsticks
* Go on a lunch date with Josh to PF Changs or The Cheesecake Factory (whatever you’re into)

$500 (limited edition of 15)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* Signed cymbal and sticks
* Meet Josh in Venice, Calif., and go floating together in a sensory-deprivation tank (to be filmed and posted on YouTube)
* Dinner at Sizzler (get your $8.99 steak and “all you can eat” shrimp on)

$1,000 (limited edition of 10)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* Signed cymbal, drum head and drumsticks
* Josh washes your car OR does your laundry … or you can wash his car
* Have dinner with Josh aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Calif.
* Get drunk and cut each other’s hair in the parking lot of the Long Beach courthouse (filmed and posted on YouTube, of course)

$2,500 (limited edition of 5)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* Get a private drum lesson with Josh, or for all you non-drummers, have him give you a back and foot massage (couples welcome)
* Pick any 1 member of the Vandals or Devo (subject to availability) to accompany you and Josh to either the Hollywood Wax Museum or the lunch buffet at the Spearmint Rhino
* Signed DW snare drum
* Take 3 items of your choice out of his closet (first come, first serve)
* Change diapers and make bottles with him for an afternoon (after hitting the strip club)

$5,000 (limited edition of 3)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* Josh writes a song about you and makes it available on iTunes
* Co-direct a video with him for the song about you and throw it up on the YouTubes
* Josh gives you and a friend a private tour of Disneyland
* Get drunk together. If you don’t drink, we can go to my dad’s place and hang out under the “Tuba tree”
* Stone Gossard from Pearl Jam will send you a letter telling you about his favorite song on Since 1972

$10,000 (limited edition of 1)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* Signed DW snare drum from A Perfect Circle’s 2003 tour
* Josh gives you a private drum lesson OR his and hers foot/back massage (couples welcome, discreet parking)
* Twiggy from Marilyn Manson’s band and Josh take you and a guest to Roscoe’s Chicken ‘n’ Waffles in Long Beach for dinner
* Josh takes you and a guest to Club 33 (the super-duper exclusive and private restaurant at Disneyland located above Pirates of the Caribbean) and then hit a couple rides afterward (preferably the Tiki Room, the Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror)
* At the end of the day at Disneyland, drive away in Josh’s Volvo station wagon. It’s all yours … take it. Just drop him off on your way home, though, please.

$20,000 (limited edition of 1)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* A signed drum from the 2008 Nine Inch Nails tour
* Maynard James Keenan, Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo and Josh take you miniature golfing and then drop you off on the side of the freeway (all filmed and posted on YouTube)
* Josh gives you a tour of Long Beach. See his first apartment, the coffee shop on 2nd Street where his buddy paid Dave Grohl $40 to rip up tile just weeks before joining Nirvana. See the old Vandals rehearsal spot, the liquor store he got busted at using a Fake ID when he was 17 (it was Dave from the Vandals’ old ID). Go check out Snoop Dogg’s high school. For an extra 50 bucks see where Tom and Adrian from No Doubt live. For another $25 he’ll show ya where Eric from NOFX and Brooks from Bad Religion get their hair cut.
* Spend the night aboard the Queen Mary and take the “Ghosts and Legends” tour. (Separate rooms … no spooning.)
* Josh writes 2 songs about you and both are made available on iTunes and appear on his next record (you can sing back up on ‘em, clap, play the drums, triangle, whatever)
* Drum lesson OR foot and back massage (once again … couples welcome and discreet parking available)
* Pick any 3 items out of Josh’s closet

$75,000 (limited edition of 1)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* Go on tour with Josh for a few days
* Have Josh write, record and release a 5-song EP about you and your life story
* Take home any of his drum sets (only one, but you can choose which one)
* Take shrooms and cruise Hollywood in Danny from Tool’s Lamborghini OR play quarters and then hop on the Ouija board for a while
* Josh will join your band for a month … play shows, record, party with groupies, etc.
* If you don’t have a band he’ll be your personal assistant for a month (4-day work weeks, 10 am to 4 pm)
* Take a limo down to Tijuana and he’ll show you how it’s done (what that means exactly we can’t legally get into here)
* If you don’t live in Southern California (but are a U.S. resident) he’ll come to you and be your personal assistant/cabana boy for 2 weeks
* Take a flying trapeze lesson with Josh and Robin from NIN, go back to Robins place afterwards and his wife will make you raw lasagna

What's even more amazing, is the results. Josh wrote a note to Bob Lefsetz the other day and explained how things have gone since his album was released:

From: Josh Freese
Subject: Checking in with an update.

Hi there Bob. How are ya?

So, I wanted to check in and give you an update on what's been going on just after the first week or so of my records release. My label, "Outerscope Records" (that's me, my girlfriend and our nanny when the kids are asleep) is proud to report that I've sold about 150 of the $50 of the packages and all 25 of the $250 packages (those went in the first 24 hours.) In less than a week I have sold 4 of the $500, 2 of the $2,500, 2 of the $5,000, and the big old $20,000 package! No one has bought the $75,000 package yet but I've had someone fairly serious inquiries about it (still only "talk" at this point though.)

Any-hoo, I just started my "lunches" with people and I've been on the phone nonstop for the past few weeks with people who have bought the record (and a phone call option). It's actually been completely hectic and I've just finally got my head above water for a minute. My friends were joking the other day that I may be the only person in the music business that considers himself to be selling TOO MANY RECORDS right now! These phone calls and lunches are a lot to keep up with and I've hardly just begun. I still stay "BRING IT!" though. I made my bed and now I gotta' sleep in it.

I'm still waiting for some numbers regarding how many downloads or just regular CD's I've sold but my expectations aren't very high. But if it all stopped right now I can walk away feeling successful about the whole thing and I am pleasantly surprised at how many of the "packages" have sold. I truly did not expect them to sell so well. And sure it's been great to make some money doing it, but the most rewarding part has been getting feedback from people about how much they liked what I'd come up with. Or how much they laughed while reading the stuff at their desk or in the studio with their friends huddled around the computer. Getting the nod from smart, creative people always feels good. I've received emails and phone calls ranging from guys in Pearl Jam, to Tony Hawk to Trent Reznor to Billy Gibbons to Devo to top producers and label people all loving it and giving me big props on the whole thing. I had the head of marketing at a very prestigious and famous company (who shall remain nameless) tell me that she "hung her head in shame for a week after seeing my marketing plan." It was like, here she was doing this for a living and some dumb-ass rock drummer came along and smoked her at her own game... or something along those lines (sorry, I think I just pulled a muscle from patting myself on the back.) We had a laugh about it and I thanked her for the compliment. Point being, it's been nice receiving so many accolades from people I admire and from professionals who deal in this world every day. I also love the fact that this has nothing to do with drumming and writing music but EVERYTHING to do with being creative and unique.

I've got 6 of my 25 lunches under my belt now and it feels pretty good (and weird.) I've got one tomorrow and I'm doing 2 back to back on Saturday. I schedule all lunches from 11 AM to Noon so I can continue on with my "normal life" of showing up and doing sessions. So far people seem surprised and appreciative when I call them at home in Texas or Iowa or Greece or Australia (called all those places and another 100 cities so far.) The guy from Florida that bought the $20,000 package and I have been joined at the hip since Sunday and I won't even go into all the stuff that we've done in the past 4 days but I've already gone above and beyond for him and we're continuing to have a blast. I'll start posting stuff soon on my website and on youtube but just to give you a quick idea...mini-golf with Maynard James Keenan, pizza at Mark Mothersbaugh's house, sensory deprivation tank sessions, a signed snare drum I used on a Nine Inch Nails tour, slumber party at the Queen Mary, going to gigs of mine with me, pulling items out of my closet, etc, etc......He's a great kid and a friend for life. We're having him check out of his hotel and stay at our house tomorrow night. It's a LONG, LONG story that I'll write about later. You can laugh when I say this but it's true when I tell you that he came into my life for a reason other than just the $$. I actually feel bad about taking the $$ because at this point I'm not hanging out with him or pretending to be his friend for the cash. He got all of his stuff (and a bunch more that wasn't on the original menu) a while ago. He's a sweet 19 year old kid who's had a really rough last couple years (like REALLY fucking rough.) Like....this money he spent to come out here is part of a inheritance he received (you can fill in the blanks there.) I feel like his big brother and I'm trying to make this one of the best weeks of his life. OK, we're getting a little too heavy here SO...for now here's a shot of me and my first lunch date last week at the ol' Cheesecake Factory. His name's Andrew, he's a photographer for the OC Weekly and a super guy! Bob....if you want I'll throw ya a free $500 package and we can go floating in Venice and then whip over to Sizzler sometime. I'm telling ya man....you'd dig it! Trust me...I'm a drummer.

Josh F-

And guess what? The album is REALLY good. You can hear it all on Josh's site; it's blasting as I write this post!

Nice work Josh. I can't wait to see what you do when it comes to marketing your tour dates.

5 Ways to Connect with Your Existing Social Media Fans

I wrote an article for iMedia that appeared in yesterday's edition. Here is what it said...

5 Ways to Connect with Your Existing Social Media Fans

Article Highlights:

• Here's how to find your fans and ensure they find you
• Learn why it pays to ask your fans questions
• Check out these strategies for deputizing some of your super fans

Ask yourself this question: Do I have fans or do I simply have a group of virtual acquaintances? You want fans. It doesn't matter if you are an athlete, a major brand, a politician, a musician, or just a regular person; it is great to have fans. Fans are excited about you; hey want to hear what you have to say; they want to brag that they know something about you that others don't. Fans make you feel special, and after all, we all want to feel special.

With fans comes responsibility. You have to engage them and make them feel important. Otherwise they'll leave you and become someone else's fans. And if you disrespect them, they will turn on you. Trust me: You don't want an angry fan!

Now, how do you turn that one fan into hundreds? You treat each fan like they are your only one by following these rules:

1. Tell a story
The first thing you have to do is put yourself in the place of your fans. Why would they want to listen to you or follow you? Because you are interesting. Because you tell the truth. Because you share your life, how you have lived, how you have failed, how you are human... how you are just like them. Because you impart knowledge that can make your fans better as a result of listening to you. Because you'll even share some personal scandalous stories that will make them blush.

Tony Hsieh at Zappos.com is doing a brilliant job of this. He has a great product, people trust his company, and they love listening to him. More than 300,000 fans follow him on Twitter, where he doesn't just speak about shoes but lets us inside his life, his travels, and his business.

2. Find your fans, and let them find you
If you are new to the world of social media, then you're probably wondering where to start. Should I write a blog? Should I have a Facebook page? Should I be on Twitter? Should I post videos on YouTube? The answer is yes to all. But you can't be everywhere... at first. The right mix is to be where your fans are and where you feel most comfortable.

If you are a musician, then you need a MySpace page because that's where bands have profiles. If you are an athlete who has little time to upload photos and write long blogs, then tweet like Shaq does. Are you a brand? Then you need to blog because people want to engage with you. You will also need a Facebook page because your fans are on Facebook -- everyone is. But don't stop there. Find the places where everyone is not, the places where only the few people that really care about you are online. If you are a race car driver, get on Infield Parking (it's like MySpace and Facebook, but only for people that love racing).

Once you are in one place, then you can be in a few others fairly easily. For example, I write a blog. When I write a new post, it sends a tweet to my Twitter followers and syndicates to my Facebook, LinkedIn, and Plaxo pages.

3. Interact with your fans; communication works both ways
Way back in the old days (pre-2008) the dialogue between you and your fans was a one-way conversation. You spoke, and your fans listened. Fans interacted with each other, but you rarely participated. This was especially true for brands. Brands advertised and extolled their products' virtues, but didn't communicate with their customers (their fans). Not only were they ignoring their fans, they were missing a golden opportunity to get free market research.

Ask questions. Throw out a topic and let your fans discuss them. Ask for opinions about you and your product. Do they like it? Would they make any changes? Embrace criticism. Address issues. Explain that you will fix problems or at least explain why you can't.

Engage your fans. Have a conversation. Ask, listen, respond, and repeat. This is social media, now be social!

4. Understand you need help
In a perfect world you would respond to every one of your fans individually -- but how can you reasonably interact with that many people? In a blog post titled "1,000 True Fans," Kevin Kelly says if you have 1,000 fans pay $100 per year for your product, you'll have a healthy business. What if you are so good at engaging your fans that you end up with more than 1,000? Then you need help.

You need to deputize some of those super fans and make them authorized voices on your behalf -- brand evangelists! Help foster breakout groups of fans who want to talk about you by lending your support and your voice to their efforts. Help them create Yahoo or Google groups and build pages on social networks like Facebook or MySpace. Give them photos, videos, contest prizes, or exclusive news so they can set up branded extensions of you through platforms like Ning.com.

One of the best examples of this is the phenomenon behind the "Twilight" book series. When Stephenie Meyer was trying to gain awareness for her vampire novel, she started a blog. Eventually the size of her following grew so large that several fans started their own blogs and social networks to talk about "Twilight." To lend authenticity and support to these fans, Meyer embraced these new branches to her brand's tree and provided them with exclusive information directly from her. I think we know how this turned out!

5. Reward your fans
Your fans donate their time to follow and support you. Reward them. Give them props and tell them their ideas are great. Give them free stuff. Literally send them things you have laying around the house. If you are a brand, send them coupons for deep discounts on your product. If you are a musician, give them free music or write a song just for them. When you can't give rewards to everyone, create contests, sweepstakes, and promotions that allow your fans the opportunity to win something from you. Thank your fans for following you.

Your fans love you, but that love is conditional. That love is fleeting and needs to be nurtured. The world of digital social media makes it possible to nurture your fans and keep them close. Take care of your fans, and they will take care of you.