The US Army has a 50 page slide deck on social media and I wanted to share a few concepts that we have been strong advocates for.

Campaigns, corporations, and universities are all abundant with content. Content is any piece of information produced as either text, audio, video, or picture. The challenge is to decentralize your process of creating and distributing content:

Mobile is the superior way to share content – there is no time like the present! Don’t wait for your content to be stale, don’t add more work to your plate by having to hook up cameras and equipment to your computer after the content is captured. The iPhone has the best mobile camera for videos and pictures- get an iPhone and start capturing content.

Your social media accounts may represent an entity – organization, campaign, business etc… but you DON’T have to speak like one. Here’s a tip – when communicating with humans, be human! It’s okay to have a sense of humor and relate with people. Asking questions is a great way to engage and draw your audience in to your brand.

Here is the entire US Army presentation for you to chew on:

After lots of planning, thinking, and dreaming we are ready to launch some new videos soon for a client.

Here is a little preview of what we have brewing. It’s great to be working with talented, passionate people that have a strong creative vision.

Just read this article from Click Z and thought I would share it as it’s entirely applicable to bands, churches, and campaigns. Brands are not just for corporations.

Here are a few of my favorite from this list of 12:

1) Give them product. Sharing existing or new products with a devoted fan is a surefire way to get (usually) positive product, company, or brand comments.

We have empowered campaign regional captains with their own networks of volunteers. Giving them a social platform will help them self-organize and progress on their own.

3) Showcase them. Highlight and feature users’ personal stories/photos/videos/testimonials.

Take pictures of your volunteers and spread them online and offline – post on Facebook, put their photo up in your campaign office. With Scott Brown, volunteers could earn a limited edition Brown Brigade pin that they could only earn by accomplishing an X amount of phone calls.

4) Validate and empower them. Consider making an elite group of fans your semi-official spokespeople

Make a team, develop a logo and create comradery among your core group. Give them a private website where they can log in and communicate – conduct special conference calls with them to give them access.

Banjo is a iPhone/Android app that allows you to see who is near you.

Consider your campaign office as a point of reference.  Campaigns looking to reach out to recruit people can use Banjo to see who is on Foursquare, Facebook, and Twitter and begin to reach out to them.

Having an event? Your advance staff can alert people that are within only a few miles inviting them to the event.

@Username – hey, I see you are only a mile away from our event, come meet @CandidateName at 2:00 – 32 Main Street.

Even just following active users on Twitter that are in your district can be helpful for your campaign and Banjo allows you to locate these people in proximity to your iPhone.

I had the opportunity to interview Brett Detar, former guitarist for Zao, frontman for The Juliana Theory, and now rocking solo on his own.  Brett has a unique approach to marketing as an artist and is utilizing some of the great free apps that are available to anyone.

Was “Bird in the tangle” the first album you offered online for free?

Brett Detar: Yes sir. I just decided that releasing the album for free online would be the best way to reach an audience with the songs.

Are you able to replace the profits from album sales with something else?

Brett Detar: Well, right now I am just taking the drug dealer approach with the record. My thoughts are that I give you the first hit for free and then you’ll come back later after you are hopefully hooked. I’m looking at it like any other business person. They say it’s common knowledge that very few businesses will turn a profit in their first couple years in existence and that’s how i’ve been looking at this all. I’ve definitely sold copies on iTunes and a good amount of vinyls and cd’s from my website (http://www.brettdetar.com) but right now it’s all about just getting the music out there.

In 2008, radiohead offered there new cd to its fans for a price of whatever the fans for whatever they could afford, being able to pay anywhere from $.01 to $20 bucks. Have you considered this model?

Brett Detar: Good thinking and this is what I do at my shows with the CD’s!

In the mid-90s’ I would have to rely on hard copies of HM magazine to see about show dates from Starflyer 59, Zao, Everdown and other acts… it’s a heck of a lot easier to get information with networks like Twitter, Myspace, and Facebook which have paved the way for independent artists to gain recognition without having to spend endless amounts of money marketing. From a fans perspective, there has been a revolution of information (HM magazine subscription to being a Facebook fan). How has this revolution impacted you from the side of the artist?

Brett Detar: To be honest I am not entirely sure how this has affected me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly affected greatly by all the changes in the way we share things with others these days but it’s hard to say just how big that impact is. If I had to imagine i’d assume the impact is pretty gigantic. I know that nowadays musicians can depend on themselves a bit more than they did in the past to get tourdates and things like that out into the public. We can use our own followings on social networks to get the word out about the things we care about. We don’t have to rely on others to spread the word for us – to a degree anyway. At the same time, the airwaves are much more clogged up these days – so to speak. There’s a lot more static in the air – a lot more artists doing the same thing.

I see you are using instagram, what do you make of the app so far?

Brett Detar: I think I really enjoy it so far. It’s become a nice tour diary of sorts. I can just snap pictures of things from out on the road that I enjoy like odd roadside cowboys and whatnot and end up with a nice collection when I get home. I like it for that reason.

You made the 7Up inspired zao website back in the late 90’s and you are doing great work online now with “Bird in the tangle” – it seems like you have always looked to the web as a resource for artists, right?

Brett Detar: Wow! Your memory is incredible. Absolutely. I believe anything that can be used to put the power in the hands of the creators is always a good thing and internet publishing and all of that has certainly put me power in the hands of the artist!

What advice would you give to a musician just starting to put them self out on the market? Do’s a Dont’s?

Brett Detar: Honestly, I tell every young musician who is serious about this career to expect heartache and lots of it. I tell everyone who asks me only to choose music as a career if you believe 100% with all of your heart that there is nothing else on earth you could possibly be happy doing as your livelihood. I’m not being negative – just honest. Then after I get the doom and gloom done with I just tell them to write great songs.

To check out Brett Detar’s latest art, click here.

YouTube now allows you to be more like ‘instagram’ with your videos and adds shake reduction.

Facebook enabled “View Shares” link beneath news feed stories by friends and the subscribers to allow you to see who has reposted that story and additional comments they wrote about it.  This is a great way to say thank you to the hardcore supporters that are the echo in your echo chamber.

Google Docs has gone through some interface changes.   The default interface is “Comfortable” but by clicking on “Narrow By” you can choose a Cozy or a Compact interface.  Considering the Fall is about to arrive here in New England, I’m going Cozy.  You?

GetResponse has an integration tool that sucks out all of your inbound emails and folds them into your GetResponse email system.  Pretty cool.  To the right are all of the email sources that GetResponse can pull emails from.

This is a handy tool for a small business that wants to kick-start their email marketing campaign.

Step 1 – low barrier to entry by only asking for zip and email.  The zip is the second most useful piece of data next to the email as you can localize and tailor future emails based by region.

Step 2 – email this list and ask for a first name and a last name to build a wider perspective of your existing data, a bit higher barrier as you are asking for 3 completed fields but still pretty low.

It’s important for campaigns to start early in the digital age as it takes incremental baby steps to expand your database to ensure you are ready for game day.

If you have a politician channel on YouTube, don’t forget about the mobile capabilities that YouTube gives you. Hit the “Mobile Options” button once you’re logged in, and you will see an option for “Mobile Promotional Text” which allows you to greet your mobile customers.

For Senator Scott Brown, we chose to advertise our SMS keyword for the obvious reason that they are already on their phone at that moment.

It is incredibly difficult for a new band to break into the music industry. There are thousands of bands aiming for the same goal; to get themselves heard and finally have their time in the spotlight. Clearly, it is imperative that bands should carry certain tools with them along their journey to stardom. For example, a band demo, band press kit, and how about a phenomenal band name? However, bands need a promotional outline that will make their journey to fame much easier and more organized.

Start a website! There are various online resources that help bands create their own website. Specifically, Bandzoogle.com allows bands to create a unique layout for their website and tailor it to their own personal style. The effective design options provided will be sure to set the band apart from the rest. On Bandzoogle.com, artists also have the option to sell their music and receive detailed fan data. For example, if a band wants to track bumps in fan traffic for the previous weeks, they can do so and even see a graph for that data. The fan club feature is another great addition to this website because it gives bands the option to create polls, forums and guestbooks for their fans.

Interact and react! Bands should always use at least one form of social media to market themselves in today’s competitive music industry. Using sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter allows bands to interact with fans, recieve feedback, and post upcoming shows, gigs, and new music. Bands should use iLike.com because on this site, artists can create a profile page with links to all their social media profiles. This is a great way for bands to promote themselves through the use of social media.

Get yourself heard! Fans listening to your music online is a perfect way to promote your music. But, what if fans love the music so much that they want to buy it? This is what elisteningpost.com is all about. Bands can upload new music along with a pricetag of anywhere between .79 and $1.19 per track. Not only can these bands showcase their music, but they get paid for it as well and elisteningpost.com doesn’t even take a cut of the profit. For bands who want to get heard and make some money, elisteningpost.com is a perfect resource.

Blog and track! Technorati.com is the largest blogging engine in the world. If bands want to communicate wtih fans on a blog, they should use Technorati.com because the site allows users to track blog reactions. Bands are able to post ideas for their next show or album and fans can blog back their ideas and the website will track that blog traffic. Using this blog site is extremely beneficial for bands because they can tailor themselves to become a better band based on what their fans say in the blog posts about them.

Compete! Promoting your band online is very effective. However, if bands are interested in showcasing themselves and competeing against other bands, Ourstage.com is where they should go. A partner with MTV, Ourstage.com is a unique website that offers online music competitions for up and coming artists. Bands can upload an original song of their choice. Then, fans will judge the song and possibly vote it into the Top 20. If your song makes that Top 20, Ourstage.com will choose the winner, who will be awarded a cash prize and much more. Ourstage.com does not only offer cash prizes, but the possible career of a lifetime.

There are various promotional techniques bands can use to take themselves to the next level. But, I believe that these five strategies are key because they are the perfect combination of usage of social media, competing in the industry, and marketing the band using digital resources.