1. Build your following by following the people most likely to be interested in you. Try to find people who are actively searching for underground/up and coming rappers.
For example:
Go to the 106th And Park twitter and follow their followers
Go to Lil' B's twitter and follow his followers.
Do a search for "Underground Rappers" and follow the people you find. Lots of positive sentiment I found.
2. Network with people, and try to find someone influential in your niche. Simply asking them to "check out your video" is probably not the best way to get their attention. Try to say what's up in as concise and sincere a way as possible that is somehow relevant to them. Find out what you can about them by reading some of their past tweets and watching their videos/listening to their music so you can actually say something that gets their attention. Then try to ask a small favor of them. Something like "I got this line that's dope as hell but I just can't get it right. Got any ideas?" etc. This asking a "small favor" of an enemy or even just someone above you is something you'll have heard of before if you've ever read "48 Laws of Power."
3. Be on as many social networks as you can. Use Tweetdeck or better yet HootSuite to manage multiple accounts and multiple social networks all from one site. You can also schedule Tweets to go out at any time you want so you don't even have to think about them.
4. Use keyword research tools and strategies to find out the best keywords to tag your videos with. This will take a much longer tutorial if you aren't already familiar with these concepts. I'll put that out in the near future, but in the mean time just make sure you are always tagging your videos with specific keywords and using a decent amount of them.
5. Creatively, I would suggest trying to write a song every now and then with a good gimmick to it. Think of the massive success of "The Motto" because of the YOLO trend. Also if you have a catchy song you really think has promise, leverage it to the hilt. Come up with some simple choreography that ANYBODY can dance to and do it in your video. Think of the massive success Solja Boy had because of the Superman dance. Other ideas include trying to write relatable lines that make people go "oh shit!" as they hear them. Hell write a line or two about Twitter, I can't believe I've never heard it mentioned by name in a song before.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
3 Ways to Twitter a Little Better
I know it's Tweet better. I was being ironic. Also I'm drinking a PBR and listening to Dirty Projectors...
On with the tips.
1. Find lists in your niche, and then identify the people creating lists. Then follow the person who created that list and attempt to interact with them. If you're a beauty vlogger and you found someone who created a list that follows beauty vloggers, than chances are she'll find you relevant and add you to that list.
2. There's nothing wrong with F4F. The more people who follow you the more there are who might see your tweets, links, etc. Thus the much greater chance of being retweeted. Go to some Followback Twitters like @TeamFollowWacky and follow their followers. The one's with decent bios are those most likely to not be bots and to be engaging people. Even if they're not in your particular niche, their in your niche of being human!
3. Ask people short, simple questions. If someone follows you or you see a person you'd like to follow, simply send them an @reply saying "Thanks for the follow. So what are you about?" or even something like "What do you have planned this week?" It seems irrelevant but the idea to networking is making actual friends in a similar way to how you would IRL.
But who cares about IRL. Real life is so 2008.
@SpecialFester
On with the tips.
1. Find lists in your niche, and then identify the people creating lists. Then follow the person who created that list and attempt to interact with them. If you're a beauty vlogger and you found someone who created a list that follows beauty vloggers, than chances are she'll find you relevant and add you to that list.
2. There's nothing wrong with F4F. The more people who follow you the more there are who might see your tweets, links, etc. Thus the much greater chance of being retweeted. Go to some Followback Twitters like @TeamFollowWacky and follow their followers. The one's with decent bios are those most likely to not be bots and to be engaging people. Even if they're not in your particular niche, their in your niche of being human!
3. Ask people short, simple questions. If someone follows you or you see a person you'd like to follow, simply send them an @reply saying "Thanks for the follow. So what are you about?" or even something like "What do you have planned this week?" It seems irrelevant but the idea to networking is making actual friends in a similar way to how you would IRL.
But who cares about IRL. Real life is so 2008.
@SpecialFester
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
How to Follow Churn Effectively
The best way to get friends/subs/followers on any social media or content sharing platform when you're new to the game is to do something called "follower churning." This is a term coined by Twitter, and has strict rules associated with it. But hey, we all gotta start somewhere! And unless you're gorgeous and you sing like a fucking angel gliding down a rainbow (Justin Bieber) you will have to put in some footwork to get started.
Fester is here to help you out. I'll discuss the best ways to follower churn on the various social networks and explain the differences.
1. Twitter -
Twitter is the o.g. when it comes to follower churning and if you do it too aggressively you can get suspended very quickly.
Using Twitter, you will want to follow users in your niche. So if you have a Call of Duty MW3 blog or YouTube channel, you will want to follow users who have video games listed as an interest. You may also want to follow users who follow a power user in the video game niche, like Nintendo or Machinima, etc.
Easy follow backs come from following anyone who follows accounts like @TeamFollowWacky or have the hashtag #TeamFollowBack in their profile. There will also be generated messages to retweet which include these hashtags and attract follow4followers.
2. Facebook -
Facebook is quite different, and the strategy to develop friends in a niche is a little more precarious. Facebook uses the oldschool "friend" type of networking rather than "following" for personal accounts. What this means is that when you friend request someone it has to have a resolution. On Twitter or Google+ a user will see that you followed them and can choose to follow back or simply do nothing, but you will still be following them. On Facebook though, a friend request is an ultimatum, they either accept or reject it. And if too many people reject that request, you will face a penalty of not being able to friend request anyone for a time period. The penalties keep increasing with each new infraction. The longest penalty I've ever gotten was a 30 day suspension from being able to friend request anyone. If you try, Facebook let's you know you're on timeout and tells you to the day how much longer you have left before you can begin friending again.
3. Google+
Google plus is one of the last places that lets follower churning (called "circle jerking" by G+ affectionados due to the circle based nature of G+'s network).
Many people will circle you back if you circle them.
Circle4circle guize!? 100% circleback!
It is also possible to share one the circles you've created with G+ publicly so that anyone who wants can add that entire circle. This means it's possible to follow hundreds of new users at once. Very efficient way to circle churn. Many of these premade circles however follow users who are already very popular and are unlikely to follow you back. I.e. Lady Gaga, Pitbull, etc.
Any questions please leave a comment or get at me on Twitter!
@SpecialFester
Fester is here to help you out. I'll discuss the best ways to follower churn on the various social networks and explain the differences.
1. Twitter -
Twitter is the o.g. when it comes to follower churning and if you do it too aggressively you can get suspended very quickly.
Using Twitter, you will want to follow users in your niche. So if you have a Call of Duty MW3 blog or YouTube channel, you will want to follow users who have video games listed as an interest. You may also want to follow users who follow a power user in the video game niche, like Nintendo or Machinima, etc.
Easy follow backs come from following anyone who follows accounts like @TeamFollowWacky or have the hashtag #TeamFollowBack in their profile. There will also be generated messages to retweet which include these hashtags and attract follow4followers.
2. Facebook -
Facebook is quite different, and the strategy to develop friends in a niche is a little more precarious. Facebook uses the oldschool "friend" type of networking rather than "following" for personal accounts. What this means is that when you friend request someone it has to have a resolution. On Twitter or Google+ a user will see that you followed them and can choose to follow back or simply do nothing, but you will still be following them. On Facebook though, a friend request is an ultimatum, they either accept or reject it. And if too many people reject that request, you will face a penalty of not being able to friend request anyone for a time period. The penalties keep increasing with each new infraction. The longest penalty I've ever gotten was a 30 day suspension from being able to friend request anyone. If you try, Facebook let's you know you're on timeout and tells you to the day how much longer you have left before you can begin friending again.
3. Google+
Google plus is one of the last places that lets follower churning (called "circle jerking" by G+ affectionados due to the circle based nature of G+'s network).
Many people will circle you back if you circle them.
Circle4circle guize!? 100% circleback!
It is also possible to share one the circles you've created with G+ publicly so that anyone who wants can add that entire circle. This means it's possible to follow hundreds of new users at once. Very efficient way to circle churn. Many of these premade circles however follow users who are already very popular and are unlikely to follow you back. I.e. Lady Gaga, Pitbull, etc.
Any questions please leave a comment or get at me on Twitter!
@SpecialFester
Hack Your Pinterest
Want to know how to "pimp out" your Pinterest?
Lets do this.
What you're looking at below is my Pinterest, customized to use the Pinterest boards as a contiguous banner.
Here's a link to a Photoshop .psd template I created to make creating a Pinterest banner easier for you.
http://www.mediafire.com/?61eemcnv5vosmo6
I did this in a similar way to how users have been "hacking" their Facebook Timeline covers.
A little background:
So everyone from professional graphics designers to 13 year old girls w/a pirated copy of Photoshop have been meticulously customizing their Facebook timeline to incorporate the format into an "optical illusion" type thingie (scientific term). This one by Louise Lundberg is my favorite that I've seen.
Here's another example.
Using a downloadable template that has all the dimensions of Facebook's format premade into a clipping mask allows one to easily drag and drop a large image to be be automatically clipped by photoshop to include the right sizes. Then one just has to copy and paste the timeline cover image and the user pic image and save them to new files and upload them to Facebook, and voila! You now have the coolest Facebook of all your friends.
But did you know you can do something similar with Pinterest? I've created the template for download already. It took me awhile to figure out the dimensions, so I've done all the heavy lifting already.
One thing about the Pinterest format is that it is quite long and narrow. Very few stock images work well with this and neither will photos taken with a traditional camera (unless you have a DSLR with a wide angle lense etc.) So to find good photos to use for a banner you should search for what's called "panoramic" photos
Google Advanced Image search has an option to search for panoramic images. That is your best bet. Otherwise think of things that are wide and narrow. I used a wiener dog. You could also use an arrow, or a shot of a face just showing the eyes, etc.
You can make use of an entire row of boards to create a contiguous banner, or you can make one board to display as a complete image. Example below:
Or here's another example of how to create a branded "row" of Pinterest boards:
Lets do this.
What you're looking at below is my Pinterest, customized to use the Pinterest boards as a contiguous banner.
Here's a link to a Photoshop .psd template I created to make creating a Pinterest banner easier for you.
http://www.mediafire.com/?61eemcnv5vosmo6
I did this in a similar way to how users have been "hacking" their Facebook Timeline covers.
A little background:
So everyone from professional graphics designers to 13 year old girls w/a pirated copy of Photoshop have been meticulously customizing their Facebook timeline to incorporate the format into an "optical illusion" type thingie (scientific term). This one by Louise Lundberg is my favorite that I've seen.
Here's another example.
Using a downloadable template that has all the dimensions of Facebook's format premade into a clipping mask allows one to easily drag and drop a large image to be be automatically clipped by photoshop to include the right sizes. Then one just has to copy and paste the timeline cover image and the user pic image and save them to new files and upload them to Facebook, and voila! You now have the coolest Facebook of all your friends.
But did you know you can do something similar with Pinterest? I've created the template for download already. It took me awhile to figure out the dimensions, so I've done all the heavy lifting already.
One thing about the Pinterest format is that it is quite long and narrow. Very few stock images work well with this and neither will photos taken with a traditional camera (unless you have a DSLR with a wide angle lense etc.) So to find good photos to use for a banner you should search for what's called "panoramic" photos
Google Advanced Image search has an option to search for panoramic images. That is your best bet. Otherwise think of things that are wide and narrow. I used a wiener dog. You could also use an arrow, or a shot of a face just showing the eyes, etc.
You can make use of an entire row of boards to create a contiguous banner, or you can make one board to display as a complete image. Example below:
Or here's another example of how to create a branded "row" of Pinterest boards:
The possibilities are endless. You could make a banner out of the 4 large panels, you could make 2 images out of 2 large panels a piece, you could make one contiguous image out of a large panel and the 4 small panels, or you could do Asian level difficulty and make a banner using 4 large panels and 16 small panels (like I did with the wiener dog).
Contact me on Twitter w/any questions. @SpecialFester
Happy pinning!
Monday, June 18, 2012
How to Become Tumblr Famous
I found a great "7 Steps to Become Tumblr Famous" tutorial on Wikihow.
http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Tumblr-Famous
It covers some basics, I will add a few more specific suggestions though.
One of the most popular/reblogged types of images is a photo with a humorous/inspirational quote pasted on it, often times in all-capital block letters. These are quick and easy to make. Just go on Deviant art, or use Google image search to find a thoughtful/artsy looking photo (nature, a couple, etc.) and use Photoshop or MsPaint to paste your quote/lyrics.
Also don't forget to tastefully include your Tumblr name/address on it somewhere so even if your image gets "stolen" and re-uploaded others will still see your name.
Stylistically, many of the most popular images of these types use a dark "vignette" around the edges of the photo, and white block letters in a sans-seriff font often with a drop shadow.
New tips all the time! Bookmark this blog!
For help, find me on Twitter @SpecialFester
http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Tumblr-Famous
It covers some basics, I will add a few more specific suggestions though.
One of the most popular/reblogged types of images is a photo with a humorous/inspirational quote pasted on it, often times in all-capital block letters. These are quick and easy to make. Just go on Deviant art, or use Google image search to find a thoughtful/artsy looking photo (nature, a couple, etc.) and use Photoshop or MsPaint to paste your quote/lyrics.
Also don't forget to tastefully include your Tumblr name/address on it somewhere so even if your image gets "stolen" and re-uploaded others will still see your name.
Stylistically, many of the most popular images of these types use a dark "vignette" around the edges of the photo, and white block letters in a sans-seriff font often with a drop shadow.
New tips all the time! Bookmark this blog!
For help, find me on Twitter @SpecialFester
Thursday, June 14, 2012
How to Make Pinterest Banner (Template)
Here's the template I made for creating a banner on your Pinterest.
Liek a boss.
~SpecialFester
http://www.mediafire.com/?61eemcnv5vosmo6
Liek a boss.
~SpecialFester
http://www.mediafire.com/?61eemcnv5vosmo6
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Weekly YouTube Tips
How to YouTube better and get more subscribers. Weekly tips.
1. Hold a contest to generate interest and participation and engage your users and leverage it to get more subs.
2. Use Google AdWord's "Keyword Research Tool" or even the YouTube specific Keyword Research Tool to hone your tags and find out what people are searching for that's related to your tags.
Another great way to find out good tags is to look at a video similar to yours and see what tags they are using. Check out the competition!
For reviews of famous YouTubers and free promos for your upcoming channel check out:
http://YouTubeSuperstars.blogspot.com/
Or contact me on Twitter @Specialfester
http://twitter.com/#!/SpecialFester
1. Hold a contest to generate interest and participation and engage your users and leverage it to get more subs.
2. Use Google AdWord's "Keyword Research Tool" or even the YouTube specific Keyword Research Tool to hone your tags and find out what people are searching for that's related to your tags.
Another great way to find out good tags is to look at a video similar to yours and see what tags they are using. Check out the competition!
For reviews of famous YouTubers and free promos for your upcoming channel check out:
http://YouTubeSuperstars.blogspot.com/
Or contact me on Twitter @Specialfester
http://twitter.com/#!/SpecialFester
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