Fruits of Your Labor Will be Spoiled if You Are

Various unrelated items that have been accumulating in a notebook (in no particular order):

Instagram has made big time changes that are resulting in significantly decreased engagement.  Take a look at your posts for the last, say, ten days.  Have you seen a noticeable drop off in the number of Likes?  Regardless of what you’re asking them to do, it should go without saying that if less people are seeing your posts, then you’re not going to get as many conversions, sales, etc.  Be conscious of factors like banned hashtags and take action to make sure you’re giving your posts the best chance to be seen.  Time is far too precious to spend putting all kinds of effort into an Instagram post, only to get 50 percent of the return you’d been used to.

Speaking of Instagram, I was quite perplexed recently when a music manager said that – speaking for his client – they “usually don’t share… interviews as an Instagram post.”  Huh?  So, what, those followers for some reason wouldn’t be interested in hearing what the artist talked about, even though it was good enough for the folks on Facebook and Twitter?  I’m not sure that I follow the logic (or, dare I call it, strategy) here.  As I’ve said in this blog and on “Now Hear This Entertainment” before, certain people just have certain platforms that they like to spend time on.  If someone is a fan of an artist but only really looks at Instagram, they’ll never know about all the interviews that could’ve been getting watched, read, and listened to.  Thus, they won’t learn more and more about this person whose music they love.  And thus, they’ll be less rabid, which results in less money that they’ll spend on music, merch, live shows, and so on.

And on the subject of interviews, I was quite taken aback when someone wrote to me this month asking “is everything still on…” (wait for it) in response to an email I’d sent them at the end of December to propose an interview for “Now Hear This Entertainment.”  Make no mistake, there was no email missed on my end.  Clearly this person let the opportunity fall by the wayside and this response not only makes them look disorganized, but, also saying in the same message, “Just checking in on the interview for magazine, etc.” shows that clearly the email that I’d sent wasn’t even reviewed.  Now that I see that there’s not even an awareness of what “Now Hear This Entertainment” is, how motivated am I going to be to write back and want to still execute a guest booking?  Hmm, maybe I’ll reply in five-and-a-half months to make it a full year since my initial correspondence.

On a related note, and this is not meant to be self-serving, interviews are opportunities that you need to be grateful for, almost like you would be a performance booking.  No, they don’t pay, but they get your name out there probably further than a performance does, so there’s definitely value that way.  The host (or journalist) has lots and lots (and lots) of other people they can talk to, so don’t treat them like you’re doing them a favor.  If you reschedule and then you reschedule again, it gives the appearance that it’s not important to you and that you’re disorganized.  People remember those things and it could be that quickly that someone else is given an opportunity for something instead of you because the low priority you put on a past interview is what comes to mind first when your name is brought up.

And since I’ve mentioned potentially losing out on something, when you’re texting with someone and then you just flat out stop texting back, the silence is deafening.  If you decide, “Eh, what can this person do for me,” be forewarned that you won’t ever know if you burn that bridge and don’t keep the conversation and the relationship going.  You might not learn in your first sit-down with someone if and/or how they can help you.  Again, an attitude is now being demonstrated that will not be forgotten.  You’re not too good to respond to a text or a DM.  You never know who might’ve had something you didn’t know about, plus you don’t know who they know (who they can now only say less than flattering things to).

Let’s end on a positive note because this segues out of that last point nicely.

I was happy to hear from a recording artist who said that a company in the music business contacted them on Instagram thanking them for using their product and asking how they were liking it.  See?  Take encouragement that these things are happening out there.  Typically, what goes around comes around.  This performer is a hard worker who gives it their all (doing live shows, posting on social media, etc.) and it should be no surprise that something like this manifested.  Those who demonstrate some of the behaviors described elsewhere in this week’s blog shouldn’t be surprised when they only hear about these occurrences with other people but don’t get the offers themselves.

Get out there and be a pro and generate some success stories of your own.

Weigh in on the above in our Facebook group!