If you haven’t read the blog about actually setting up your blog, you can do so here. This is for once you’ve got it set up and you need some pointers on getting started and staying consistent.

Lets start with the difference between blogging as a band and as a solo musician. The best way to think about it is in terms of our previous blogs. The Musician is a lot like blogging as an individual, you have a theme (you’re a musician) and you talk about your adventures and feelings as such. The band is like blogging for the business. You’ll be posting more news updates but with a personal touch from the band.

Making editorial decisions:

Some bands use their blog for JUST band news. Other bands use theirs as a way to connect more with their fans or to aggregate their own personal blogs into a more collective idea.

Using this idea, you need to decide who will update your blog. Will one person write it or will everyone? Will you take turns or just write as the mood strikes? Remember that posts made on the band blog will represent the band as a whole.

Topics and not getting stuck

A good/regularly read blog is one that is updated regularly.

Some posting topics/ideas include

• what the band has going on
• friends bands
• shows you went too
• how excited you are about this new tour
• tour photos and updates
• favorite albums
• blog series of favorite things or halloween movies, etc.
• Memes – Some bands will write Memes about themselves as a band. They are usually great for fans to share and get excited about.

Last but not least BE PERSONAL

The age of untouchable rockstars is over. Its all about connecting with your fans outside of venues and where they spend most of their time….on the internet.

Band Blogs we like: 

Fall Out Boy

Tegan and Sara (more of a photo-essay)

10th Avenue North

Paramore

Rockstar DIY: The band that blogs together Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency - Building, marketing and managing iPhone, Android and Blackberry apps, e-commerce campaigns, websites and social media campaigns. Rockstar Digital is based in Los Angeles, CA. http://twitter.com/rockdig http://facebook.com/rockdig

As a musician, you use your songs to connect with your fans all the time but what about when you want to connect with them on more of a day to day basis? Its really hard to get that awesome idea/thought out in only 140 characters. Trust us, we know. So this is where your blog comes in. Blogs are a great way for you to connect with your fans on a personal level as well as get out those thoughts and adventures that may or may not be turned into songs. This is more of a journal that you share with your fans.

 Setting up a blog and learning how to write:

Now, there are a few ways to set up your blog. If your website is set up through WordPress, you can publish your blog straight through your site. If you feel more comfortable publishing on tumblr, you can publish there and import your blogs to your webpage. It is more important that you find something that is comfortable for you. Your blog should not feel like work, mostly because if it does, then you are never going to want to do it and that’s no good.

Once you’ve got everything set up, you can start blogging your thoughts. Here are some tips to help you get organized and stay on top of things.

• Decide how much you want out there and what kind of image you’re trying to put out.
  • Are you a world traveling rockstar?
  • Are you a soulful singer songwriter?
  • Are you a dude that just likes to play music and go to shows?

• This blog is more about the individual. Be personal, don’t be self involved, unless that’s what you’re trying to put out there. (No one wants to hear you wax poetic about your toothbrush)

• Easy ways to get started are photos. Do you have some old tour photos or Instagram photos that have a really cool story behind them? Start there!

• Are you reading a book? Talk about it, just make sure it’s the same kind of image you’re trying to put out.

• As a musician/songwriter, you are a storyteller. This is another outlet for you to tell your stories for those that can’t come to your shows. It’s a way for you to share things as they happen or while they’re still fresh in your mind.

Did you do an interview or release a new video? Talk a bit about behind the scenes. It’s a great way to get views to that new content as well as tell your fans more about you as a person. Write about it as it happens or take notes so you have some ideas for later.

No content is old content…only the way you present it to your readers.

Individual blogs we like:

Butch Walker

Patrick Stump

Andrew McMahon

Sara Bareilles

Rockstar DIY: Blogging for the Musician (not the band) Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency - Building, marketing and managing iPhone, Android and Blackberry apps, e-commerce campaigns, websites and social media campaigns. Rockstar Digital is based in Los Angeles, CA. http://twitter.com/rockdig http://facebook.com/rockdig

Most of the time this should be hosted on your website. But if it isn’t, you can check out our posts on WordPress and Tumblr for a helpful how to.

Here are a few reasons why your business needs one. 

• Traffic: Your blog will feed traffic to all kinds of sources and vice versa. Of course, the more traffic you have, the more likely you are to make a sale. The more links you have in your blog to your social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, the more likely you are to build traffic to both social media sites and your website and therefore build your customer base.

• Expertise: Use your blog to show your expertise in your field before a customer even steps foot in a store. Or before they even talk to you. This is a great way to attract customers who might just be curious about your business or even comparing yours with another. It is also a great way to build credibility within your particular industry.

• Voice: Blogging gives your company and yourself a voice. Its uses are two fold. First, it allows you to manage your reputation. It puts you in the driver seat of what news gets disseminated and how it gets said. Second, it allows you to give your company a more personal approach. Gone are the times of the cold, uncaring company just there to take your money. It allows you to connect with your customers on a personal level that will encourage not only purchasing, but loyalty.

Best Practices

• Posting Regularly: Posting regularly will keep your customers and readers coming back for more news, advice, etc.

• Cross Posting: Post your blog on your social media outlets. Reaching your fans whether on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn will ultimately drive traffic and sales to your business. So don’t be afraid to cross post!

• Encourage Dialogue: Encourage your customers to comment, like and share your updates. In doing so, they will be spreading the word about your business along with how awesome you are.

• Be personal: You are not some evil overlord talking to your underlings. Connect with your client base giving them someone to connect with, not just your product.

Posting Topics

• News:Posting your news is probably the first and foremost thing that businesses use their blogs for. Rolling out a new product or service? Having some production issues that you thing customers should know about? Offering a new deal? Opening a new store? These are the kinds of things your blog should hit when posting news.

• Events: Does your company sponsor or host events? Hosting or sponsoring events are a great way to show your connection to your community. Posting them on your blog is a great way to not only recap these events, but also to show those interested in your company the good will that you are fostering.

• Advice: As with any business, you’re selling a product or service. A great way to generate content and to connect with your customers is to offer advice on your products. (See what we did here?) We at Rockstar Digital could force you to come and pay us for advice, but we post it on our blog. Why? Because we love you!

Great Business Blog Examples:

Chobani

BogoBrush

Stonyfield Farms 

Next Big Sound

Rockstar DIY: Blogging for your Business Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency - Building, marketing and managing iPhone, Android and Blackberry apps, e-commerce campaigns, websites and social media campaigns. Rockstar Digital is based in Los Angeles, CA. http://twitter.com/rockdig http://facebook.com/rockdig

You see everyone doing it: your friends, your coworkers, your mom? It’s something that anyone can do and it can be anything you want. Sharing recipes, life experiences, commenting on the celebrities mishaps…you’re in charge! However, whatever you want to write about the blog does need some organization to create a streamlined process and keep people wanting to come back for more.

Let’s start your Individual Blog!

Ok, so you’ve got your blog page (wordpress, tumblr, whatever you like). It looks really snazzy. And now, you’re at that ultimate moment when it hits you….What do I write about?

1. Decide what you want your blog to be about.

Some bloggers just decide to write about their every day lives and opinions. This is a great way to start but if you’re wanting to turn it into something more profitable and marketable, you may want to see below:

The easiest way to do this is just to write what you know, what you’re interested in.
Do you like fashion? Crafting? Are you a mad scientist in the kitchen coming up with new recipes? Do you like to critique movies? DO IT!

We recommend using the 80/20 rule. Keep it content driven (80%) but keep it personal (20%). If something exciting happens to you that you want the world to know? Post it!

Once you have that decided, you can look at blogs that are like yours and make comparisons. What you like, what you don’t like, what would you want to do different.

2. A helpful list of 4 DO’s and a DON’T for you to keep in mind

Be Personal yet content driven: People will come for your content. They will stay because they’ve fallen in love with YOU.

Be Real: You don’t have to be completely open, but readers love the human element. Are you moving and it’s frustrating but you STILL managed to bang out an awesome recipe for them? Awesome. Are you hanging out with the Kardashians? No? Maybe you shouldn’t post that….why would you even hang out with a Kardashian anyway?

Be Consistent: You don’t have to post every day, but you want to have a somewhat steady influx of content. The more you regularly update, the more people will flock to your blog for new content, opinions, and fall in love with you even more.

If you don’t have time to constantly come up with new content here are a few suggestions:

Re blogging: Find a really cool news story or blog post that you want to tell the world about? Re-blog it. Just make sure to credit the original author and all the proper sources.

Throwback: Have some older blogs that you posted FOREVER ago? Or want to re-tool it? Old content/old pictures can be new again!

Guest Bloggers: Have friends that are interested in the same things? ask them to guest blog! I, for one, enjoy music blogs. It’s always so cool to see one of my favorite artists writing about what they love or their experiences.Guest Bloggers:
Give people a reason to keep coming back. You have a personality, show it! Let it shine through in what you’re writing about.

Be interesting: Give people a reason to keep coming back. You have a personality, show it! Let it shine through in what you’re writing about.

Don’t be afraid to cross post! Certain fans live in certain places and you want to reach them wherever they are. If they live only on FB, then get them on FB. If they live on Twitter, reach them on twitter. If they only live on YouTube, reach them there as well. Tumblr is great for this as you can set it to automatically post to your Facebook and/or Twitter whenever you make a post.

Finally, here are some examples of blogs to get you started.

makeit-loveit.com

peanutbutterandpeppers.com

yourcupofcake.com

1000awesomethings.com

Just reminder to have fun with it…it shouldn’t feel like a chore. It’s just something that should be fun. Why? Because you’re writing about what you love and what YOU want to talk about. Use it as a stress reliever!

Rockstar DIY: Blogging for the Individual Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency - Building, marketing and managing iPhone, Android and Blackberry apps, e-commerce campaigns, websites and social media campaigns. Rockstar Digital is based in Los Angeles, CA. http://twitter.com/rockdig http://facebook.com/rockdig

Admit it, we’ve all made those Pintrest boards with our pictures of the ideal office. You know, the ones with lots of open space, comfy couches, tons of tech, and the best coffee/bar space ever? Well, Cross Campus went and made it a reality. No, seriously! If you’ve been following our Facebook and Twitter, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve been posting a lot about our love of Cross Campus. They’re more than just a workspace, they raise the bar when it comes to company involvement! Check out last week’s Startup Fashion Showcase!

In Cross Campus Co-founder and CEO Ronen Olshansky’s recent article for C-Suite Quarterly, he talked about the evolution of the co-working space, how they came about the idea for Cross Campus and how co-working spaces are shaping the flow of ideas and innovation. We’re pretty stoked to be part of the family.

Check out the article here for Ronen’s insights and some history on the evolution of the office!

Cross Campus: The Ever-Evolving Workspace Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency - Building, marketing and managing iPhone, Android and Blackberry apps, e-commerce campaigns, websites and social media campaigns. Rockstar Digital is based in Los Angeles, CA. http://twitter.com/rockdig http://facebook.com/rockdig

Last week on Rockstar DIY, we talked about getting started with a wordpress.com blog. Today, we’re going to run through getting started with a tumblr.com blog. Tumblr is a great alternative to wordpress for the user that likes to share more content like pictures, videos, and the like on a less professional platform. Tumblr is almost a community unto itself that integrates seemlessly with your Facebook, twitter, and instagram. It even has an app so you can blog on the go!

1. Getting started: Head over to Tumblr.com and sign up. All you need is your email, a password, and your username.

NOTE: Your username will also be your URL that people will use to find your tumblog. You will be able to change this later through the settings menu.

Afterwards, all you’ll need to do is answer a few security questions and verify your email address and we’re off to the races.

2. Customize – Tumblr offers some really cool ways to customize your blog. There are built in themes (free) or you can design your own via CSS coding if you’re good like that.

• Start by changing your avatar. It can be a photo of you, or something that represents you. For these purposes, I’ve chosen the PITOOEY! penguin. Click save, and you’re good to go.

Here is also where you can change your URL if you don’t like the one you chose in the beginning. You can also use a customized domain name such as a .com or .net if you have already purchased it.

Next you’ll want to choose your theme. Just hit Customize and you can choose from any number of free or Premium (paid) layouts. For these purposes, I’ve chosen one called Atonement v2.0 by madebylipsum (links).

Once you’ve chosen your theme, you can edit the title and description of your blog and often times the appearence and color scheme.

3. Start Blogging

Just click on the type of entry you want and you’re ready to go. If you want to share just a picture, or multiple pictures, just upload the photo or copy/paste the links. Same with videos.

You can also blog and re-blog and schedule your posts via the tumblr app on your phone. Its free in the iTunes or Google Play stores.

Don’t forget to #hashtag your posts! Its how people will find your blog within the community and its an easy way to categorize your blogs.

Now, get going!

Rockstar DIY: Getting Started with Tumblr Blogs Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency - Building, marketing and managing iPhone, Android and Blackberry apps, e-commerce campaigns, websites and social media campaigns. Rockstar Digital is based in Los Angeles, CA. http://twitter.com/rockdig http://facebook.com/rockdig

Here’s a handy Infographic to get you started:

Source

Infographic: Facebook and Twitter Interaction by the Numbers Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency - Building, marketing and managing iPhone, Android and Blackberry apps, e-commerce campaigns, websites and social media campaigns. Rockstar Digital is based in Los Angeles, CA. http://twitter.com/rockdig http://facebook.com/rockdig

we talked about the different kinds of blogging platforms and the differences. This week, we’re going to walk through account set up and jump starting your WordPress blog. Remember, WordPress.com is a blogging platform. If you’re looking for a full on website, then head over to wordpress.org.

1. Getting Started – Head over to WordPress.com and sign up.

• The process is pretty painless. You just need an email, username and a password. Easy right?

• You can then choose your URL. This is the web address that you’ll give to everyone as YOUR BLOG

• Choose which type of blog you want. Basic, premium, or business. If you’re using wordpress just for blogging, you can choose basic and upgrade if you need to.

• From here, you’ll get an email asking you to activate your blog. After this, you’re good to go

2. Theme (Style)- After you’ve activated your blog, you can choose the theme. WordPress has a lot of really cool built in, somewhat customizable themes that you can choose from. You can get a free one, purchase one, or create and customize your own (for an extra charge).

For these purposes, I’ve chosen the “vintage camera” theme, it has a lot of customizable options for free so that you can make your theme your own with minimal hassle. The built in customizations are all very easy and don’t require any coding knowledge.

3. Edit your info! – After you’ve signed up and set up your theme, it’s time to edit your personal/account information and give yourself an avatar. Your avatar is the photo that will be associated with your blog. Usually it is a photo of you, your logo, or something that is associated with your blog. WordPress.com uses a service called Gravatar which stands for Globally Recognized Avatar. It follows you from blog to blog whenever you comment or post.

4. Start Blogging!- Once you’ve got the basics set up, you can start blogging.

WordPress.com has a lot of easy ways to do this without any codingknowledge! You can post text (with pictures if you want), photos, video links, quotes, etc. with the push of a button.

5. Advanced – Want to add widgets, facebook and twitter feeds to your site? Check out WordPress.com’s FREE widget suite.

Rockstar DIY: Getting Started with WordPress.com blogs Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency - Building, marketing and managing iPhone, Android and Blackberry apps, e-commerce campaigns, websites and social media campaigns. Rockstar Digital is based in Los Angeles, CA. http://twitter.com/rockdig http://facebook.com/rockdig

Blogs are everywhere, every business, band and soccer mom has one, so why do you need one? Well, for one thing, they’re a great way to share information in more than 140 characters. For another thing, they’re a great addition to any website and can even act as your website at some point.

Today, though, we’re going to have an overview of the two main blogging platforms so that you get a better idea of what is best for you and your brand!

• WordPress (WordPress.org & WordPress.com) (the professional, powerful way)

WordPress is not only a blogging platform, but it can also act as your website. It is open source which means that people all over the world are creating customizations and plugins just for you! “All that community collaboration has made WordPress the simplest, sleekest content management system out there.” Once you have your website set up, you’ll be able to hit the ground running with a minimal amount of training. But be advised, wordpress on any level does require a bit of training as it is not a basic out of the box blog.

There are two levels of wordpress, WordPress.org is fully customizable as your website with a lot of plugins at your disposal. If you can search the web for it, its there. WordPress.com is your blogging platform with built in analytics. You can update and customize your blog, edit your layout, share blogs with followers, follow other blogs. For business blogs, this is what you want. Its sleek, customizable, and google loves the code. It has caching, which means if you blog then mess something up while editing…it is saved! It has definitely saved this blogger’s butt on numerous occasions.

To skip to starting your wordpress blog, head here: Rockstar DIY: Getting Started with WordPress.com blogs

• Tumblr (tumblr.com) (the social way)

Well first of all, what is tumblr…besides a miss spelled version of a cup? Well, according to their website,

“post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos from your browser, phone, desktop, email or wherever you happen to be. You can customize everything, from colors to your theme’s HTML.”

Tumblr is quick and easy to use out of the box with interactive customizable themes and autoformating for when you want to share photos and videos.

Tumblr also has an app so you can post photos, quotes, videos, and full blog posts, right from your phone, and once you make a post, it can cross post to your facebook and twitter. Social media is native to tumblr.  You can also reblog between your blogging. Tumblr is perfect for the social media maven that wants to be connected on all levels with minimal fuss. Tumblr also has very involved communities making it a social network unto itself.

To set up your TUMBLR blog, head here: Rockstar DIY: Getting Started with Tumblr Blogs

Some questions you should ask yourself before deciding which platform to use….

• What content am I posting? (only pictures of cool things? Full blogs? Random stuff?Is it for professional purposes or fun?)

WordPress is definitely more professional and has some great tools for editing and customizing your blog posts which tumblr simply doesn’t have.  Tumblr is more mulitmedia friendly when it comes to posting, so if you’re going to post a lot of photos several times a day, then tumblr is going to be better for you. Tumblr isn’t for hefty, meaty blog posts. If you want to hone your creative writing skills, or give your readers in-depth information, Tumblr may not be your best option.)

• How do I want to communicate with my followers?

WordPress is great for getting comments and being able to respond you can, Tumblr allows followers to reblog or “heart” something and you have to manually allow people to comment.

• How do I want people to find me?

WordPress is great with search engines. You will get more hits to your site via google searches than with Tumblr. Tumblr is more of a social experience than just blog hosting, so searching to find a particular blog is pretty much impossible.

All major blogging platforms are powerful and easy, it really comes down to preference and what feels right for you. Whatever it takes to get you excited and active as a blogger for your business, yourself, or your band – that’s the right platform with which to go.

In the next few weeks, we’ll walk you through signup and customization of each platform so that, when you’re ready for a blog, you’ll have all the tools you need to get up and running.

Related Articles

Blogging for the Individual

Blogging for the Business

Blogging for the Musician

Blogging for the Band

WordPress Vs Tumblr For Your Business Blog - soshable.com

Blog Wars: WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr – Which Platform Rules? - business2community.com

Rockstar DIY: An intro to blogs Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency - Building, marketing and managing iPhone, Android and Blackberry apps, e-commerce campaigns, websites and social media campaigns. Rockstar Digital is based in Los Angeles, CA. http://twitter.com/rockdig http://facebook.com/rockdig

Bandpage by Rootmusic is a great example of this. In a recent roll out, Rootmusic made it possible for your bandpage to stand by itself. Need to get your music and videos out there while you work on a website? No problem! Need a way to connect this webpage with your facebook? Bandpage has you covered.

To start out, you’ll need to set up a bandpage app for your facebook. If you already have this, then skip to step 8 if you don’t, you’ll need to be an admin of the fanpage you want to edit. You’ll also need a soundcloud account. If you don’t have one, you can get one here. http://soundcloud.com

1. Make sure you’re logged into facebook then go to rootmusic.com and login.

2. Select the profile you want to edit.

3. Fill out your bio, contact info (if you want it) different website and social media links, etc. Anything and everything you’d want your fans to know about you.

4. From here you can upload your music via your soundcloud account or youtube.
You can also edit the track information, upload artwork, input purchase links, and create “unlock actions”.
Unlock actions small things that a fan must do in order to access and/or download a track. Such as “Like” you fanpage, tweet about the song, or join the mailing list.

5. If you have any shows, you can input them into the “Shows” section. There are apps such as Bandsintown and Artistdata that feed directly into several apps so you’ll only have to update one thing instead of putting your shows into a million different databases.

6. Upload your favorite photos. Unfortunately, Bandpage isn’t able to autopopulate from your facebook, so this is where you get to be selective and upload only the coolest, most “you” photos….none of those 2 year old gritty crowd shots! You can upload 15+ photos and are able to upload multiple items at once. Snazzy!

7. “Upload” your videos. All you have to do is put the youtube or vimeo link in, and the video shows up on your page. From here, you can edit the page order, delete old photos, etc.

Now that you have your account set up, creating a custom website with bandpage should take you a few minutes at most.

8. Customize your page by uploading a background image, changing the color schemes, even integrating your twitter feed.

9. Bandpage autosaves everything, so no need to “Publish”. Just click “Get link” in the upper right hand corner of the page set up and start sharing! BOOM

Click the images below for some functional bandpage websites:

Did you find this helpful? Email us your bandpage website links and show us what you’ve got.

How to: Bandpage Websites Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency Rockstar Digital - A Digital Management Agency - Building, marketing and managing iPhone, Android and Blackberry apps, e-commerce campaigns, websites and social media campaigns. Rockstar Digital is based in Los Angeles, CA. http://twitter.com/rockdig http://facebook.com/rockdig