Social networking has allowed any and everyone to have their own little space on the web.  The incredible growth of these sites come from viral marketing or word of mouth marketing.  Viral marketing is exactly what it sounds like.  It’s the spreading of an idea or something cool you found.  For a band, viral marketing comes from fans telling their friends about your new song or album.

Remember the treadmill song?  It was a band called OK GO and the video they used for their song “Here It Goes Again” is a perfect example of viral marketing.  How many times did someone ask you “Have you seen that video with the dudes on the treadmill?” and then how many times did you ask your friends, better yet share it with them?  The idea behind viral marketing is that we trust our friends and we know what our friends like so we share with them our likes and dislikes and so on and so on.

As for the social networks like Myspace, Facebook, Shoutlife and others, they have grown because the member have invited or told a friend about them.  Of course now they are so big some may have joined because of a story they saw on tv or read online.  In the beginning though these sites were all built on viral marketing.

Using social networking sites can be tricky now that they are so crowded and everyone wants to get maximum exposure so much that it’s hard for bands to ask for friends and not get hit with complaints of spam.  Here are a few of the do’s and don’t when marketing through these sites.

• Offer your friends or fans something for joining your page.. a free ringtone, a free mp3, a free wallpaper… something. I know you’re thinking you won’t make any money giving stuff away. Then I say: “If no one knows who you are, you won’t make any money either”. Building a fan base is much more than building a friends list.

• Don’t use a program or script to load up on fans. I know artists who have done this and have 30,000+ friends. The people who are using those and gaining friends are in it for the numbers. If you have 30,000 friends and you send out a bulletin about your music and you only sell $6 worth of music over 6 months that should tell you that friends don’t equal fans or sales.

• Don’t spam your friends. Your friend list is just that. Would you call your other friends every 10 minutes and ask them to please check you out or buy your stuff? At some point they won’t take your call or will delete you from their list. Save your bulletins and emails for true announcements, your friends will trust you and know you just aren’t saying “hey, help me buy dinner tonight.. please buy my music”.

• Create a page for your fan club or street team and let them go after friends for you.  Like I said before, it’s better when it comes from a trusted source or friend.

• Create press releases to generate some buzz about your band.  Signing with an indie label, announcing your music is available online for purchase, you just finished some new songs and want some feedback, tour dates, or a band contest are all great starts to use as a press release.  Again, don’t “bug” your friends with lame announcements and bulletins.

• The following is last but it is a must.  You must correspond with your fans.  I mean really talk to them, don’t use a bot to post those “thanks for being my friend” pictures.  Actually take the time to thank them and start a conversation.  If they email you, respond.  I realize this can get crazy and you will need to use your own judgment for some of the more “aggressive” fans that write how much they love you 5 times a day.  A simple hello and thanks will go a long way to building a true fan.

It’s hard to gauge the social networking phenomenon.  They are definitely here to stay but one has to ask “what’s next?”.  As they continue to grow, the marketing strategy for one band will be completely different than another.  Keeping with some basic etiquette and rules like the ones above will put you on the right track to building a truly interactive artist community.