Photos of your audience on your website
Here’s a way to get people in the audience to sign your mailing list and be part of your club.
At every show you do from now on, bring a camera and a tablet.
About halfway through your show, when everyone is having fun, take pictures of the audience from the stage. Tell them to smile, make a face, hold up their beer, whatever.
Then pass around the tablet and say, “Please type your email address on this tablet. I’ll email you, telling you where you can see your goofy picture on my website.” If you can’t get a cheap tablet, paper will work.
Before you sleep that night, write up a journal of the show. Upload all their pictures onto a page of your website. Dedicate a page of your site to that show — with the diary, photos, and a link that says, “If you were at this show, please introduce yourself!” — so people can contact you.
Email everyone that was there that night. Of course everyone will go look at your site. How could they not? People are infinitely more interested in themselves than they are in you.
Don’t use social media for this. Don’t depend on followers. Get their real contact information into your database, and build your relationship with each one.
This also helps make every show a real event — a big deal — something worth documenting. This will get you out of the habit of thinking of it as “just another gig.” Because for many of your fans, it’s not. It might have been the most fun they’ve had all month.
I've always been surprised by how poorly most bands treat the audience. The gig should be as much a celebration of the gathering of the tribe as the music.
Well...like I said to your last blog I was already doing that journal about the show. (And here I thought I was the first one to think of that.) But taking pictures of the audience has some potential too. I'm gonna have to give that some more thought. Thanks for at least one of those ideas. :P
Interesting. I've got a festival gig on Sunday - I'll take this idea for a test drive and see how it flies. Seems like a good way to drive some web traffic. I think I'll expand on it a bit and ask them to share pix with us too.
Absolutely brilliant advice. This can be applied to more than just bands.
I see you have channeled Dale Carnegie. Once to say people are interested in themselves, and once about focusing on the people, making it worthwhile for them.
Dale reported how the greatest magician of his time would stand in the wings before the show repeating to himself, "I love my audience."
Derek,
I thought that was considerate of you to point out that for some of the fans at your "gig"
(and hey, it can be a metaphor, people)
it can be the most fun they've had all month. A humbling thought.