matt carpenter music

Matt Carpenter of the Saint Louis Cardinals uses the Turnpike Troubadours song Long Hot Summer Day as his walk up tune as he goes to the plate.

Carpenter

The Turnpike Troubadours play this song and it is one of the favorites of fans everywhere. It was featured in The World Series in 2013 when the Cardinals went. The song being played by Carpenter has help grow The Troubadours fan base in the Midwest.

Long Hot Summer Day was put on the album Diamonds and Gasoline. It was their second album and was released in 2010.

Turnpike Troubadours

Here is the complete story from Saving Country Music

Let's hope that new music with roots gets discovered all the time.

Cody Jinks, Band of Heathens Join Turnpike Troubadours in Matt Carpenter Walk Up Rotation https://t.co/FHMe4lvPoa

— Saving Country Music (@KyleCoroneos) April 11, 2019

10 types of content

I came across an article from The Social MS. It's about the 10 types of content for your blog or posts to social media platforms.

Good content helps with search engines. Use content in your email newsletters. Content can help build a relationship with your audience.

10 types of content:

• • Interviews
  • Webinars
  • List Posts
  • How-To-Guides
  • Product Guides
  • Infographics
  • Resource Collections
  • Podcasts and Videos
  • Guest Posts
  • Report
  
  
  
  
  
  

margo: singing to middle america and beyond

I found an article from the Washington Post about Margo Price. She started singing to middle America as a youngster, influenced by Tom Petty. Petty's music was a favorite of hers. She got into country music to get here foot in the door and ventured away for a time to voice her views on social issues. Country radio doesn't usually go for artists who share their views about the social scene. That didn't stop her.

Spotify's Margo Price billboard in Nashville

Price has found fans all over the United States. She has played at several outlaw country festivals where her following has grown. She has several folks in her corner. Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, and Kris Kristofferson, to name just three.

Price's tune All-American Made tells the story of people struggling through everyday life. It strikes a chord of hope and improvement with me. It told me not to give up. Keep going. Do what you do with care and determination. That's what Margo does.

She is nominated for best new artist at the Grammys tonight. I have this feeling she'll get it.

influencing pop or being influenced?

Gary Allan is chiming in about the prop influence of country.

Gary Allan on Country Music's Mainstream: “We Used to Influence Pop. Now We’re Being Influenced by Pop.” https://t.co/56IgWsOylJ

— Saving Country Music (@KyleCoroneos) December 17, 2018

This is not the first time Gary has been outspoken on this topic. In 2016 Allan had a restart in his career.

be dependable: be yourself

If you spend your life trying to be someone else, then who can we depend on to be you? - Faydra D. Fields https://t.co/4HfrVpSueW See more axioms free at https://t.co/oIwr4MeTUW #maxaxioms pic.twitter.com/KM67bYG7pn

— Faydra Deon (@faydra_deon) January 19, 2018

blogging

If you're new to blogging, there's much to keep up with.

There are many reasons to blog. Blogging and business go hand-in-hand, now that Social Media is prominent on the Internet. Business blogging gets more leads and garners more links.

Which Social Media platforms to use depends on the topic you blog about and the business your in.  Find and join groups and publish your posts regularly. This gets you more engagement.You must be active on Social Media. Contribute. Comment.

Go searching for Social Media platforms.

Social Media is your outlet to the world. Don't neglect it.

Start learning. There are plenty of references to help you (like this blog). This process is time-consuming and will test your research, writing, and patience. But hang in there.

Get started on the learning process by reading this post: 25 Blogging Tips For Newbies

Running a blog and adding content is rewarding and gratifying. You'll find this out.

be visible to engage

Engagement via Social Media requires patience and commitment. The combination of social media, social business, and sales networking can help drive visibility and engagement.

Create and curate content that appeals to your audience. Promote your content.

Custom, created content is where you'll get good mileage for your brand. Make content personal to add value. Give your audience and followers a reason to tune in. The reason to tune in is you.

Need help with content? I can help.

the lens of transformation

Advertising agencies are changing the scope of their business. They are seeking solutions across commerce, digital content, and media distribution. This shift has been slow. Quite frankly, they've been wrapped too tight in their own traditions. However, to their credit, they've moved with much precision.

The shift has changed the face of marketing. TV marketing is waning, giving way to social media, digital media, user experience or open source. A new wave of innovators is poised to bring their expertise to this new ecosystem.

Accenture, IBM, PwC, and Deloitte are engaged in the acquisition of agencies that have capabilities in user experiences, digital marketing, design, Web, and mobile. These organizations have services traditional agencies can't match.

Digital marketing must fit into the overall business strategy.

Jon Hamm as Don Draper in Mad Men

Client-agency relationships will be revolutionized. A new breed of ad agency will be born. This means that agencies will create websites, app, and video games. Digital initiatives for brands will be created. A variety of platforms will be created for content and production.

Newsrooms will bring a bigger power to brands. The customer experience will be transformed to deliver goods and services with the customer's journey in mind.

The customer will be a major part of a brand, acting as the salesman for the product they buy.

Creation and distribution are key. Many elements will be transformed that will give the entire spectrum of media a new meaning, a new way of doing things.

Source: forbes.com (November 2016) My 'Next-Big-Thing' List: Who Will Transform The Post-TV Ad World In 2017

Related topic: B2B and Social Media

blog marketing

Content marketing with a blog helps get better rankings on the search engines. We need to concentrate on more, like engagement and authority. We have to attract an audience and keep it. We also have to lead this audience to do something, like subscribe to a newsletter, share something, or buy something.

We need content that engages our audience. Your content must tell a story and offer to solve a problem.

Each blog post must have an image that accompanies it. This is important since people are more likely to check out your content if they see an image they're drawn to. This is particularly true with Twitter.

The best images are colorful. Images should be simple with a strong focal point. Remember, simplicity helps find pictures with strong focal points. Strong images are good for mobile. Be sure your images are relevant to your content.

Images are a valuable tool in anyone’s content marketing arsenal

Source: website-designs.com (July 2015), Blogs, Content Marketing, and Images

facebook live

Facebook has some neat, new features.

 

You've probably seen the little icon for Facebook Live. This gives you the opportunity to do live streaming video onto your Facebook page or timeline. 

To start Live, open up the status bar as though you were going to write a new post and click the little camera to the left. It reads "Live". If you have a page click "Post". When that opens up, look toward the bottom for "Go Live". Click that to make a video!

This will push you into a cue to start live streaming. 

You will be prompted to name your video feed and choose your audience. You can live stream to everyone or selected followers. 

Click the bottom to go Live and you're broadcasting! You can save the video if you want to share it later.

Tips:

• Ideal video length: 5 to 20 minutes
• Use a short title. If you need a longer description, do it in the comments.
• After the live event be sure to add a narrative and change up the thumbnail. 1 to 10 images
• Tags help people discover your video.
• You can only tag people under "edit video". You can't edit on mobile... only on a desktop.

Hope these tips help you. If you're in need of direction with your video, contact me to discuss your project.

twitter content

Social media content marketing is becoming more powerful.

Digital marketing is an ever-expanding field that is constantly becoming more and more rich with traffic and consumer mileage. Because social media is so powerful in this day and age, it’s becoming more and more important to stay extremely relevant on social media.

This means keeping your content current based on feature stories and industry news relevant at the time. When you respond to a trending topic with a source, you increase your chances of being found via Twitter searches. 

This kind of thinking should be applied to all your strategies in marketing, but especially those that deal with Twitter.

 

Twitter moves like lightning. As soon as someone finds out new information, they’ve got to comment on it. This kind of relevance is hard to achieve, but doable as long as you implement a strategy that keeps you on your Twitter toes. 

Look to your content. The content you post and share on Twitter should be focused on topics both relevant to you and your chosen audience. When you find your audience niche, it’s easy to post quality content that they care about.

blogging and influence

Blogging influences customers. Here's how:

• They buy from blogs
• They are inspired by blogs
• They get assurance from buying from blogs
• They discover new products and services
• They get support and answers from blogs
• They refine their choices from blogs

Every time you publish a blog post you get the opportunity to influence your readers.
Blogging is a good benefit.

blogging

Blogging allows you to connect with your audience, the people who want to follow you. You’ll be able to convert readers of your blog into followers.

Continue to engage them via your blog.

A blog will attract the search engines and will be featured highly in the search results. 

Blog regularly, ideally three or more times per week. Consider blogging as online marketing. Once you start to use a blog and make it part of your marketing campaign, you'll find that you won't need some of the other expensive advertising mediums. By being a regular blogger you’ll become an authority figure that others look to for advice within your niche.

You can tailor your blogging activities to meet the needs of your audience. 

task of data

We are entering an age of disruption. Disruptors win big using data and analytics to create winning business strategies. This business strategy needs to come in four forms:

1. A Unified Company Approach
2. Customer Experience
3. Connected Digital Ecosystem
4. New Business Models

To excel at any one of these, a data-centric viewpoint is needed.

Intuition or experienced-based decisions aren't enough. This leads to more failures. In the data-driven era, company leaders need:

1. Trustworthy data
2. Timely data
3. Contextually relevant data

These three items help find a strategic window.

This allows the unthinkable.

Marvin Ellison, new CEO of JC Penney, has taken on the "task of data". He is proving the primacy of customer experience, and more importantly, the primacy of data in driving great customer experience.

Ellison said, "Pure intuition without any data gets you in trouble." 

With data, Ellison was able to change JC Penney's chances of surviving and increase sales by 3.9% during the 2015 holidays. This data-driven influence helped with customer loyalty. Data helped place clothing in the stores' floor plans. He learned women do 80% of the buying in the stores, so clothing was arranged so women could easily shop for men's' apparel. There was also data for appliance shopping.

These decisions were made from data.

be engaging

Tell a story. Paint a verbal picture. This brings your audience into the story. Marketers have created engaging ways to "talk" to potential customers. Infographics, videos, and even webinars allow curators to break down relevant statistics. Creative visuals encourage audience engagement.

Audiences embrace content that is the most relevant to them. This establishes a community of like-minded followers.

A good marketer will use content to tell engaging stories. 

 

the open network

The OPEN mindset is how we grow our personal networks.

OPEN 

(Ordinary Person | Extraordinary Network)

 

Today quality content is in focus. This means quality contributions and quality connections. Those successful in Social Media have developed OPEN Circles.

How do you do that?

ASK:

• What do I have in common with that person?
• Will this person see value in what I am sharing?
• Will I learn anything from them?
• Is this person a potential partner, collaborator or friend?
• Do they have the capacity to refer me to others in their network?
• Can I do the same for them? 

Grow your personal brand. Be OPEN.

music and the internet

The music industry's use of the Internet has come a long way. Let's face it, the Internet was killing music. Digital rights were a problem. Device compatibility was too. Streaming services came next. Big Data and analytics have played a big part in the positive evolution.

What's been moving the evolution?

Recommendation engines designed to make the perfect playlist is redefining the dynamics of the music industry. The relationship is creative between listeners and music. This relationship has built a new horizon for the music and the listener.

In the past, the record industry had limited ways to learn who was buying LPs, cassettes, or CDs. Downloading allowed record labels to begin tracking listening habits and making recommendations like Amazon does for books.

The current streaming model opened the floodgates.

All the listening is up for grabs. The industry wants to gain a deeper understanding of its customers and the music.

Raw music is unstructured data because it is easily digitized. It can be quantified and analyzed. Since 1999, the Musical Genome Project has been structurng music data by manual classification as well as automated algorithms. Up to 450 data points are used. 30 million songs are in the database.

The Musical Genome Project was developed by Pandora.

The Internet of Things could be finding its place in music. The streaming model is popular. Look for crowdfunding platforms to spring up. Live streams translate into revenue streams.

Data Analytics is the driving force.

the press

Working with the press can be very beneficial to you business. Have the "press friendly" attitude. Keep in mind that one day in the future you'll need the press for earned media, generally in the form of press releases.

Relationships

Working with the press will give you opportunities to create relationships that will help promote your business and brand. Reach out when you can help members of the press. Relationships with the press are two-way.

Resource

Be one where a press reporter can go to to get information. A resource. You'll be valuable. Keep up your reading on a variety of subjects. Write about them. Do your homework. Reach out to members of the press when you see a story that's on a topic you know about. The reporter may need another source for a follow-up article. If they received help from you, they'll turn to you when they need your help.

When you're there for the press, they'll be there for you. Working with the press is smart business.

a post on website-design.com was the source for this post

what to do

I came across a website on LinkedIn that gave 10 items to do to become a millionaire. I liked it because there is one item on it that I feel is important and I wished to pass it on.

Rule of 500

Simply put, if you wish to become a millionaire, make contact and reach out to 500 people a month. I post this mainly for a reminder to myself, to reach out to "the 500". This makes sense if we're wanting to make money. But I'm not looking at the money angle so much. I want to make contact with a lot of people. But wait..... "the 500" a month does not mean a different set of 500 people per month. It can be the same people.

Now.... the article states to reach out by phone or email. I originally thought of social media when I saw the heading. I'm spinning my head to begin an email campaign. I'm going to have to glean my social media contacts to get a list of 500. I'll do that. I'm starting tomorrow morning. If you're interested to hear from me on a regular basis, email me to follow this blog. The submit area is at the bottom of the right-hand column of this blog.

I'll most likely send them blog post info and other items of interest. That's where my work comes in, to find the right "500".  I'm not going to be a pest. I wish to be of help. That's more for me to do.

I urge you to do the same thing. Remember...... email or phone. I suggest email first.

The article tells us that to expect at first a 5% conversion rate when reaching out. That's OK. Remember to concentrate on building relationships. That's where to start.

I tend to think email as a social media channel. To me, Facebook Messenger is glorified email. Same with Twitter. That's me though...... to make email a bit more social.

sonic highways

Rock musicians, as a rule, have a terrible time explaining why certain bands or artists influenced them and why they wrote a particular song. It's not their fault because so much trial and error goes into their creativity. Inspiration comes from both without and within.

Dave Grohl is, at least, somewhat of an exception. He explains the process of why he recorded a particular song, and where his lyrics came from. When I mention "where" in this post, I mean "where", as in location.

Grohl's new HBO series Sonic Highways is partly an extension of Sound City, a tribute to where he recorded Nevermind with Nirvana.

He wanted to make a new Foo Fighters album in a new way. So much so, he forced himself to find the "new" way. Each episode of Sonic Highways follows the progress of a new song. Unique for sure.

Grohl put it this way, "You have to know your past in order to know your future." Sonic Highways gets personal and that is what makes it special.

The series begins in Chicago and episode #2 is in Washington, D.C., an integration of Dave and his growing up in suburban Virginia.

Sonic Highways debuts Friday, October 17th at 11 PM Eastern on HBO.