David Meerman Scott Steps Into The Spotlight! With Guest Post

It’s great to have David back with another guest post! The Second Edition of David Meerman Scott’s now classic book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, a BusinessWeek bestseller published in 24 languages (WOW!) is released this month. (We’ll be giving away 3 copies of David’s book later this month so watch for that announcement soon!)

In this guest post, David talks about how to step into the spotlight by earning attention, the theme of his book “The New Rules of Marketing and PR.

Take it away, David…

You can buy attention (advertising)
You can beg for attention from the media (PR)
You can bug people one at a time to get attention (sales)

Or you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free: a YouTube video, a blog, a research report, photos, a Twitter stream, an ebook, a Facebook page.

Anyone can step into the spotlight using the Web. Let’s take a look at how one person has done it very successfully by connecting with fans.

Amanda Palmer Connects With Fans

“Being a touring musician means meeting fans,” says Amanda Palmer, lead singer for The Dresden Dolls and punk rock cabaret solo artist. “I go out and meet fans after every gig. It’s important to make contact in real life and not just online in social media like Twitter. If you don’t meet fans in real life too, then you’re a fraud. If you’re not comfortable getting into the sweat with them and talking with people at shows, then how can you do it successfully online? I love connecting with fans. Speaking to people at the merchandise table after the show is great. I can stay there forever.”

This committed attitude has helped make Palmer a personal branding force of nature, using her infectious personality to connect with fans in person and on the Web. She has amassed a large online following on her blog, her MySpace page (more than 75,000 friends), her Facebook fan page (more than 25,000 fans), and her Twitter feed (more than 300,000 followers). Note that Palmer’s band, the Dresden Dolls also has nearly a quarter of a million friends on MySpace.

Palmer is very active on Twitter and uses it as a tool for instant communication with her fans. She frequently answers fans’ tweeted questions and comments. Because she truly enjoys her connection with her followers, Twitter comes naturally to her. “It’s important to have the makeup that I do,” she says. “I love to answer fans’ questions, and I love to make people happy. You can’t fake being authentic with your fans. It’s so easy to see through when other musicians are faking it, such as when some employee of their record labels tweets on behalf of their artists. Fans can see through fake tweets like ‘I’m about to play at a rad club. Get tix here.’ Fake artists’ blogs are the same. Who cares?”

Palmer frequently uses Twitter to bring together groups of fans quickly and spontaneously when she is on the road. She tweeted a secret gig in Los Angeles one morning and about 350 folks showed up five hours later at a warehouse space where she played the piano. It works great for her because, although she’s able to get a large number of people to show up, she is not so popular that she would create a dangerously huge mob. “I’m in the sweet spot of popularity,” she says. “I can send out a tweet and get 300 people to show up in a couple of days and do a free gig on the beach. I’ll play the ukulele, sing, sign, hug, take pictures, eat cake, and generally hang out and connect. And I’ll stay as long as it takes to talk with everyone personally. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails can’t do that because he’s just too popular.”

You Can Do It Too

Of course it’s not just rock stars. Anybody can step into the spotlight using the tools of the web to connect.

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Thanks David! Y’all come back now. Hear?
David Meerman Scott is the author of World Wide Rave and The New Rules of Marketing & P.R. now in a new revised edition.