7 Tips For Tweeting A Live Event

Adweek recently ran a great post about tips for Tweeting a live event. They were thinking more about a business conference than a gig, but many of the tips apply to a live show anyway. Here they are, but with a music spin.

1. Use the right hashtag(s). If you have a following that regularly attends your gigs, start your own hashtag that you can consistently use. Something like #(yourband)live could work. Also find out if the venue has a hashtag and include that as well.

2. Let your followers know. If there's going to be a flurry of activity in a short period of time, let your followers know beforehand. No one likes their feed dominated by one poster, but at least they can tune you out if they're not interested if they know its coming.

3. Be interesting. Try to give a unique perspective that only you can give. What's the venue like? Did you meet anyone interesting (give them a  shoutout)? Is there a meet and greet or something happening preshow or aftershow?

4. Retweet others. If there are others tweeting about the gig, retweet them as well.

5. Take pictures. Tweets are a lot more interesting when a picture is included and the engagement is increased as well.

6. Follow other tweeters. This includes the promoters, venue and other bands on the bill.

7. Use Vine and Periscope. Twitter is more than just text, so don't forget to share a video about meeting a fan, what's happening backstage, from the stage, etc.

Twitter is especially cool for communicating at events, and that's the perfect time to engage your fans. Follow these tips and you'll keep everyone happy.

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Vine Migrates To The Web

Vine, Twitter's answer to Instagram, has released it's latest version complete with some new features that may be of interest to artists, bands and fans. Vine is known for its 6 second videos, which is a lot longer than it seems and can be used in surprisingly creative ways.

Until recently, the network was only available through the Vine mobile app, but the service has now launched a website that allows browsing through a desktop computer. The new website (vine.co) also features enhanced search functions that weren't previously available, allowing the user to browse the entire network for specific videos, all without having to register.

The user can search by not just by video title, but by location, user name or tag. The site has also divided its content into "channels" that are very specific, such as animals, places, people, trending, most popular, and more.

The one thing that you can't do from the site is upload a video, which is still reserved for the mobile app.

Vine can be an interesting tool for an artist or band, enabling brief video snippets of shows, behind-the-scenes, back stage, rehearsals, studio recording, and more. Some find that Instagram has more features, but Vine's proponents say that it's simpler to use.

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MixBit: 16 Second Social Video

There's a new social video service in town and it's name is Mixbit, an app that lets you mash-up videos from as many as 256 sources. Already available for iOS, an Android version is also in the works, and the web version just went live.

The app was developed by old hands at online video, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. If those names sound familiar it's because they were the co-founders of YouTube, which they sold to Google in 2005.

Mixbit is a little like Vine (6 seconds) and Viddy (30 seconds) in that each finished clip is limited in time, with Mixbit being 16 seconds long. People are able to combine either their own source material or use clips that are shared publicly.

16 seconds doesn't sound like much but it's been proven in various studies that people's attention span during videos is shortening all the time, and it's rare that most people will watch one in it's entirety, especially if it's over a minute. 16 seconds may be a magic number where the viewer will commit even if there's a possibility that they might not like it, where that's rare if the video is long enough where he has to wait for a payoff.

For a band, Mixbit is cool in that your fans can make short mashups of your videos or pictures and provide a a sample of your songs. It a bite-sized way for people to get a feel for your music.

All of these social video apps have a ways to go before they're in the same league as YouTube or even some YouTube competitors like Vimeo or DailyMotion, but Hurley and Chen have the experience and presumably the money to jump out in front. Let's check back in 6 months and see what happens.

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Record Twitter Video With Vine

What could be better than a short 140 character message? How about a real short video? Twitter recently launched their answer to video, called Vine, and it lets users share video clips of up to 6 seconds on social networks like Twitter, Facebook and the Vine platform itself.

While 6 seconds doesn't seem like much, professional broadcasters will tell you that it can be a lifetime, especially where every half-second increments count. That's why Vine may be the next big social thing, since it's easy to both create and consume, and just like Twitter, is perfect for our short attention span world.

Want a quick look at some vines? You can start off by going to Vinepeek, an unmoderated real-time stream of Vines from all over the world, but if you want to get started posting vines yourself,  go to the App Store (it's an iOS app) and download the Vine app.

When you first open it, you will be asked to log in either with your Twitter account or email address, then you'll be asked if you want to receive push notifications and to let Vine access your location info.

After you've signed in, you'll be taken to a landing page where you'll be served up an editor's choice of Vine feeds until you start following the people that you choose.

To create a Vine, press the camera icon on the top right of the home page, which will take you to a new page that features a camera view, a status bar and and X to exit. To record, hold your finger on the screen, where you'll see the green status bar indicate how much you've recorded. Remove your finger and Vine will stop recording. You don't have to record all 6 seconds at once. You can record for a few seconds, stop, set up for a new shot, then record again for sort of a stop-motion movie.

After you've finished recording you can preview what you've shot and choose to keep or delete it. Then you're able to share it on Vine, Twitter or Facebook. Remember that if you choose to share on Twitter or Facebook, you also have to share it on Vine as well. If you don't choose to share it, you can save it anyway as a "camera roll," otherwise, all Vines are public. You can also choose to add a caption.

6 seconds can be a lot longer than you think, but it's still short enough that people are much more likely to watch a Vine than a regular movie. Now go get Vining!

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