Social Media Tips for Worship Consulting Group

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS FOR WORSHIP CONSULTING GROUP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng

http://vimeo.com/10305501

Social media will be very useful for my business, as it will allow my business to have a presence on world wide web for free during the initial phases.  Social media will also give an opportunity to connect with potential clients and other artist managers, promoters and individuals in artist music management industry.  The first three social media platforms that I will invest my efforts are Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. These are three very popular social media platforms that have proven results if used strategically.

Twitter came to the world and really became popular overnight.  Twitter, like some of the other social networks encompass celebrities, businesses, organizations, etc.  Twitter requires a more strategic approach than Facebook and some of the other social media platforms. Jason Snell wrote an article on the “Nine Twitter tips for business”.  All of the tips are very relevant but the three most important tips include:

• Don’t Automate It. Your business’s primary Twitter feed ought to be hand-fed. If you publish a flood of impersonal links, your Twitter account will just seem like a faceless promotion machine. And that’s not any way to engage people on Twitter.

• Follow People Who are Relevant. From your Twitter account, follow everyone on your staff who uses Twitter. Follow colleagues in related companies and in your industry. Follow relevant brands and journalists and pundits in your market, even those who compete with you. It’s polite to follow people. And by following people you are creating an ecosystem—people will see who you are following and consider those as suggestions for users they should follow as well.

• Answer your mentions. You should reply to tweets that mention you, when relevant. This will give your account more personality and will make those people feel engaged directly with the brand.

• http://www.macworld.com/article/140254/2009/05/twitterdos.html

Facebook has taken social media by storm.  Statistics show that as of January 2011, Facebook has more than 600 million users. Facebook draws the attention of “regular people” and celebrities; promotes businesses and allows people to connect with each other on many different levels. Facebook is a social media platform that is free and allows businesses to put information out about the services or products and publicize events.  In an article entitled, “10 Key SEO Strategies Every Facebook Page Owner Should Know, Justin Smith provides some vital tips on creating and maintaining a Facebook page.  The tips that I found the most interesting were the following:

• Choose the best name for your Facebook page and don’t change it.  It’s very important that businesses remain consistent so they can be easily accessible at all times.  To make the most of the Facebook page, you should create a title that is easy to find and remember and stick to it. Justin Smith suggests using the business real name as the name of the Facebook page.

• Use the “Info” tab to include more important keywords, text, and high priority links on your Page. Smith states “It’s important to fill out these fields, because they provide the opportunity to include keywords, prose, and links that will increase the content score of your Facebook Page for many types of Google searches.

• Get more inbound links to your Facebook Page from the web by posting links to your Page on all your websites.  “Just as a variety of inbound links from authoritative websites help boost PageRank for traditional websites, getting more inbound links to your Facebook Page will boost its PageRank as well. You can do this with text links, but Facebook has also created a “Find Us On Facebook” badge which it encourages Page owners to use.” (Smith)

• http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/07/13/seo-facebook-pages-10-key-strategies/

LinkedIn is one of the oldest social media platforms and still is very relevant and useful.  On the website, “Linked Into Business”, they offer many tips and tricks for using LinkedIn.

• Treat your LinkedIn profile like a website

• Utilize the “Experience” description area

• Join strategic groups

Week 1 Media Plan

Upon completion of this program at Full Sail University, I want to start my own business; a full-service management agency geared focusing on music and “Levites”.  Levites include gospel music artists, preachers, musicians, inspirational speakers, songwriters, etc.  In order for this business to flourish, networking with other entrepreneurs and persons in the gospel music industry is very important.  The ability to network and having a circle or venue for networking can make or break our success.  It is very important that as I begin this business with my partners that I network with other colleagues to create that database of entrepreneur connections for future business ventures.  Also a network of colleagues that will allow me to communicate and discuss “best practices” and possible leads on new talent.  Even if the entrepreneurs aren’t in the gospel music sector, just having a network of music and artist management business associates will help me throughout the formation and work of the business. When starting a business, it is always helpful when you have persons that you can “glean” from and get tips and tools from to help as you progress in your business.  It’s always a good thing when you can see the failures and successes of persons in the same line of work as you. 

Three ways a professional in my industry could use digital media are the following:

1.     Social Networking (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter) – social networking has emerged as a very successful digital media tool over the last five years.  MySpace emerged and not only offered a way to connect but allowed music artists to post new music to listen and get to learn an artist.  Facebook and Twitter have become more popular and have allowed people to network across the world.  Twitter has also become a popular means of communication for celebrities with their fans.  The use of social networking is a free avenue to network with other business personalities, publicize your business for free and introduce your product or service to potential clients.

2.     YouTube website has become an ever-increasing way to display talent and introduce talent and skills to the world.  When you look at someone like Justin Bieber, who started with a YouTube video and is now one of the hottest new artists, appearing on Oprah.  In my business industry, YouTube is also a way to see out potential clients to sign who may not have artist management.  YouTube videos can also be linked to social networking pages, and websites.

3.     Finally, a company website is the final form of digital media that I would recommend to use.  A professional website may cost more than the two media avenues mentioned previously, but you can be more creative and design it to your style preferences and include more interactive, informative tools.  A website can incorporate many different tools to help network and get information out about my business.

About Me

Hello,

I am Julia Cunningham.  I reside in Tallahassee, Florida and have been here for 13 years.  I am originally from East Lansing, Michigan.  I am the second youngest of four children; I'm the only girl and have three brothers. My parents still reside in Michigan. I attended and graduated from the #1 HBCU in the nation, Florida A&M University here in Tallahassee with my bachelors degree in Business Administration.  I am currently employed at the Florida Commission on Community Service here in Tallahassee as a Grants Contract Manager. 
I am very active in my church, Love & Faith Community Church.  I assist my pastor and the music department with bookings, and event planning.

In October 2010, I started a business with two other friends, called CHC Worship Consulting Group, LLC.  This business is a full-service artist management agency geared toward the gospel music industry. I have over 10 years of experience in doing booking and management for my pastor and church's music ministry and feel led to broaden to new arenas and talent.

I am an avid music and sports lover.  I come from a family of great jazz musicians.  My great uncles are the late Elvin Jones, Thad Jones and Hank Jones.  I have a deep love for sports, especially basketball.  In my free time, I enjoy watching sports, playing golf, listening to music, attending plays, and just relaxing.  The love of my life is my godson, Cory Irvin, Jr., aka CJ.