Swindon Music

The example I'll use for this is Bushwackers. Now I've joined the Bushwackers & Sin group, mainly because I'm interesting in knowing what's going on there on the off chance they may be putting on something I'm interested in. I get invited to a few events each week, great.

But the problem comes with a bombardment of messages weekly about these events - mostly poorly worded and all CAPITALISED. Netiquette aside, these messages get pretty frustrating - by now I know Thursdays mean 99p drinks without needing a fresh message every week, especially with 99p repeated multiple times in the message itself. Not only that but another bombardment of (identical) messages come sent to 'Attendees of...'

But this can also be enterprited as fair game depending on what side of the fence you're standing - I've opted in by joining the group and I can opt out by leaving.

Bushwackers aren't the only place that do it by a long shot - I get a few hundred messages and invites a week I barely have any interest of reading.

So my question is, where is the line between promoting your events and just plain spamming?

And should facebook be doing anything to help protect against this? I can't see any settings anywhere that will allow me to receive invites from the Groups I join but not send me any messages.

If you ask me, its all spam and I dont care for any of it.

I wonder what a certain former Talk in Code member might have to say on this subject.

I too was a member of the Bushwacker & Sin group. Alas, it was all too much for me as I was getting 3 sometimes 4 messages a day about the same promotion from 3 or 4 different administrators from that group. One message is quite sufficient about a promotion and decide who is going to post a message and stop these multiple messages about the same thing. I have left the group.

In the former member of Talk In Codes case, I thought that was fair enough. The band had delegated him to promote on Facebook and him and him alone did so.

The beauty of Facebook groups and fan pages is that you have to join them. Therefore if you don't like the 'spam' (not a term I would use) then leave the group or fan page.

Generally, I don't mind at all with groups on Facebook. A recent case is Matt Kilford and (in my opinion) didn't 'spam' enough. What does one do?

The Vic, 12 Bar and Rolly/Furnace send out listings once a week. Maybe Bushwackers could learn something from this philosophy?

The line is fine, but still very clear. By all means promote, but do it in such a way that you embrace old and new fans.

I do it all the time.

I would argue that unless you are targeting a specific audience then it's all just "cold calling" or spamming as they call it in this new fangled web world. On a slight tangent, when it comes to band promotions too many "promoters" think that promotion relies on just sticking up a facebook page and sending out invites once a week.

Just because you have "120 are attending" that means very little. Many people join groups or events just to get their profile about (spamming the spammers?) and I would suggest that most events are lucky to have a 10% return on their facebook page.

Possibly one of the reasons for such poor turn outs in certain venues is that certain "promoters" don't realise that things like flyers, radio coverage, word of mouth, magazine exposure, etc count for more that a half baked FB message ever can.

Back on topic, I think social networking and spam go hand in hand, it's just the nature of these places either get used to having to delete such messages, leave the groups responsible or leave the site. It's not like it's real life.

Picking up on what Mr L has said. It does seem odd that a lot of bands and artists tend to promote themselves well. Jim Hip Route, Sam Bates, Green man, Matt kilford, to name just a few, promote their wares very well (in my opinion) as do Riffs, 12 Bar, The Vic, Rolly and Furnace. What puzzles me is that I am a member of a few so called promoters groups on Facebook and hear very little from them. I'm not going to name names but there's a clue in the name...promoter!

The beauty of Facebook is that you have to join the group in question, so to complain about spam? Just leave the group. However, Facebook isn't the only way. You can get listed in Ragdoll, Ocelot, Frequency, BBC Introducing, Swindon Advertiser, Gazette & Herald, Western Daily Press, Heart FM. Put posters up, hand out flyers, etc, etc... not forgetting the What's On section on this site

Of course I would expect bands and artists to promote themselves as much as possible. We all want to play in front of a full house but we need to pull in people from outside our own particular circles and maybe some of that is down to the promoter?

It is an interesting thing as social networks have begun to become a place where people look to first and almost entirely for their promotion of events...

I am a great advocate of all mediums and all mediums need to be used well and effectively and always look at a different way to do things.

I remember when I used to be in a job where web stats played a massive role in reporting on marketing. These days they are important but what you can do to get those people to actually interact is way more important, and that is what social media is about.

The one thing I always say though is that social marketing is a great free way to tell people what you are doing and many people don't have great marketing budgets BUT then flyers and posters don't cost a great deal these days but then where you put them is important...

I think the problem lies with event organisers using a generic group to promote a specific genre. For example a club should either leave it to the promoters or create seperate groups for each type of night they run (if it's in house promotions).

Well annoying getting spam from something you're not, and never have been interested in!

I tend to ignore most of them unless something really grabs me or is a personal message from a friend. I most probably miss out on some good stuff, but can't be arsed to wade through all the crap to find it.

Stupid group invitations irritate me too. "Would you like to join the Facebook group: 'What colour is your dog'?" Brilliant, yes count me in please, sounds fab.

I must get about 10 text messages a week form Herbies bloody Pizza though. Half the time they're so badly worded that the only bit i can make out is the "Any Pizza £9.99". I'm a fat bastard currently so am avoiding pizza, but still can't quite bring myself to cancel the messages.

i always promote heavily on the facebook. some times it warns me i am abusing it!! none of the groupes or pages have ever complained and untill they do i will carry on.

Hehe - I guess I did have a reputation for being a little 'enthusiastic' with my marketing approach on social networking sites.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, though. I'm glad to not be involved in those activities any more!

Put it this way, I've had about 100 messages in the last week on facebook, 94 of which I've got no interest in, either from groups or in the main for events I've yet to RSVP to. I'm guessing it'll be the same for most people on here?

Yep, I ignore most events I get too as a quick glance at them always makes me sure that they're not my cuppa tea. It's not their fault they're "spamming" me as I signed up for it! If you don't like it then simply remove yourself from the group...



Don't knock yourself Damo, you did a great job and, from what I saw, it always bloody worked!! I only run occasional events as a promoter but the last few I've done have been phenomenally busy and successful and I believe completely that it's down to getting the final Facebook "push" right during the final week or two leading up to them that's been the key.

BTW, there's an awesome night coming up this Thursday at The Vic... See below...