SEO, Drive-by posting in the HomeRecording forums, and you.

VomitHatSteve

Hat STYLE. Not contents.
So if you meander through the marketing and show-off subsections of this forum, you'll see a lot of these:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...um/haiduk-exomancer-black-death-metal-400842/
https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...l-praso-instrumental-music-production-396964/

Threads started by users with 5 or fewer posts. If you respond to them - which almost no one does - they rarely respond. And if you type the thread title into your favorite search engine, you'll find similar posts on a ton of other music production forums (gear page, gear slutz, a bunch you hadn't heard of before), often with identical titles and content.

There are other users who have dozens of posts, but if you look at them, you realize they are all similar threads or responses to their own threads. They're at least slightly more engaged in this forum, but it's still fundamentally the same tactic.

The question then is, what is the marketing strategy here? Obviously, you're not selling records to anyone on these forums. Everyone here is already trying to sell each other records, and we're a lot more likely to buy one from the guy who gave us some useful feedback on our mix than some rando.

Is it an SEO thing? If you type in that artist's name now, you certainly see a lot of results about the artist. But they don't point anywhere centralized. It's a ton of miscellaneous forums and - at best - an official Facebook page.

So what is the marketing value of this stratagem? Are these folks just wasting their time? Or is there something that I'm not getting?
 
I think it's just something to do with trying to catch Google's eye so whatever it is you're pushing starts to show up in their search results. You never know exactly what they're using at the moment, but certainly at one time, the number of different sites where that thing was referenced was part of the calculation, i.e., if someone searched for something related, whether your link show up on page 1, 10, 100, or not at all...
 
I was kind of thinking that, but these links are all going to a non-central location. Does having really good SEO for a random YouTube video really help anyone?
 
I do it because this is my hobby. I enjoy going to each forum and seeing what people are doing and their work. When I make new music, I will do the drive by and post at each forum that I am a member.

Drive bys: why does it matter?
if you want people to contribute, you have to contribute.
if you want people to listen, you have to listen.
if you want respect, you have to show respect.

all that is of course with some exceptions as there are no absolutes.

anyway those are my thoughts. Not really answering your question, i know :)
 
^
Yes, but a lot just spray out their own creations like bullets from a machine gun never staying around to do any contribution, hence the term 'Drive By'

That makes forum members feel sort of violated in a way. It also decreases the chance of people actually listening to the drive by offerings.

I think (just my opinion) that the mentality of the drive by dude, is much the same as the gangbanger doing a drive by with an automatic weapon. Not being a good shot and a trained marksman, they'll spray bullets in the hope of hitting someone.
The musical drive by isn't hip enough or marketing savvy enough to do it right, so they just post songs everywhere in the hopes they hit their target.

Who knows, just a theory. Lol
:D
 
^
Yes, but a lot just spray out their own creations like bullets from a machine gun never staying around to do any contribution, hence the term 'Drive By'

That was my thought.

Bainmack, you don't post a lot, but you do participate in conversations and ask real questions. A typical drive-by post on this forum is 5 random "yep I agree" posts on conversations that petered out weeks ago, then a link to a Youtube video.

It's possible these folks don't have a real plan and just hope that a couple more listens might be the thing that finally makes them or that someone significant will hear their music.

How many of us still vaguely harbor the fantasy that someone important and influential will "discover us" on accident one day and give us a bajillion dollar contract?
 
That was my thought.

Bainmack, you don't post a lot, but you do participate in conversations and ask real questions. A typical drive-by post on this forum is 5 random "yep I agree" posts on conversations that petered out weeks ago, then a link to a Youtube video.

It's possible these folks don't have a real plan and just hope that a couple more listens might be the thing that finally makes them or that someone significant will hear their music.

How many of us still vaguely harbor the fantasy that someone important and influential will "discover us" on accident one day and give us a bajillion dollar contract?

But I also think there is a method to the madness. Just poorly executed with no horsepower or juice behind it.

These drive by people are doing the same thing the big 'stars' are doing. Flooding every avenue they can with promotion.
You take a look at, say a movie coming out. You have ads in print, online, tv, cable etc.....
The stars are on every single talk show they can get on. Larger than life posters at bus stops, on the sides of the busses, even whole buildings are plastered with their damn face. Any venue to push what they're selling is utilized. Same with music, it's pumped up everywhere.
It's a formula, an annoying one to me, but it seems to work. The sheep fall for it.

The drive by dude (or chick, or any other label used) are doing the exact same thing. They just don't have the budget to promote in the places where they're bound to get some traction. So they annoy us. :D
There's no desire to be a part of and get involved in a conversation on any of these forums, it's just about getting it out there.

Too bad for them, that it doesn't work.
Lol :D
 
It's a formula, an annoying one to me, but it seems to work. The sheep fall for it.

To be fair, that's sort of the basics of marketing. Folks need to know something exists before they can buy it.

gtoboy said:
Nobody gets a jillion anymore.
That's part of what makes it a fantasy!
 
That was my thought.

Bainmack, you don't post a lot, but you do participate in conversations and ask real questions. A typical drive-by post on this forum is 5 random "yep I agree" posts on conversations that petered out weeks ago, then a link to a Youtube video.

It's possible these folks don't have a real plan and just hope that a couple more listens might be the thing that finally makes them or that someone significant will hear their music.

How many of us still vaguely harbor the fantasy that someone important and influential will "discover us" on accident one day and give us a bajillion dollar contract?

i agree with you. I'm just playing devil's advocate a little bit ;) I was doing a drive by on this forum topic, haha!
 
This makes me feel like I shouldn't post any of my mixes for a while. Would you guys say that? I'm looking to build my portfolio and connect with artists and now I just dunno if this is the right place to do that, I'm thinking not.
 
nothing wrong with posting. feel free to post. however, if you want responses and people to listen, then it's best practice to do the same to other posts.

Im not active on this forum, but other forums I try to watch/listen/comment on 3 different posts before I submit any of my work. 3:1 ratio. That's just my personal preference. On reddit, I recall reading <10% of your posts should be self-promotion. That's what, a 10:1 ratio?

to each to their own.

---------- Update ----------

This makes me feel like I shouldn't post any of my mixes for a while. Would you guys say that? I'm looking to build my portfolio and connect with artists and now I just dunno if this is the right place to do that, I'm thinking not.

nothing wrong with posting. feel free to post. however, if you want responses and people to listen, then it's best practice to do the same to other posts.

Im not active on this forum, but other forums I try to watch/listen/comment on 3 different posts before I submit any of my work. 3:1 ratio. That's just my personal preference. On reddit, I recall reading <10% of your posts should be self-promotion. That's what, a 10:1 ratio?

to each to their own.
 
I don't have any beef with folks posting their work. I enjoy hearing what other people are doing. It would be nice to get a bit more than just a Youtube post, I think. Maybe something along the line of "My buddies and I are doing this in our garage using Protools first" (it is "home" recording after all).

I remember when Jimmy Quango started posting some of his initial home videos. He's an amazing guitarist, and now he seems to have found his groove with his "Gaugolon Orchestra". His first postings were from (I believe) his kitchen. His music would have never crossed my radar, had he not come here asking for comments about his recordings.

Some people are technically inclined, some people are artistically inclined, some are a bit of both. We need them all.
 
This makes me feel like I shouldn't post any of my mixes for a while. Would you guys say that? I'm looking to build my portfolio and connect with artists and now I just dunno if this is the right place to do that, I'm thinking not.

We are a community rather than a service. You can post up your music but if you're not participating in the community, it will most likely go ignored. If you're looking to just spread your music around the internet then don't bother.

Posting to this site doesn't build a portfolio, but hanging out with other musicians who are recording at home is a great way to improve your craft.

Let's see if you come back to respond. :)
 
Spam is for social media. Forums are for learning and networking. Some people just get that confused.

Some people are poorly educated and/or don't understand English, I'm sure that factors in as well.

That is why forums have to be regulated to some degree in order to be successful.

On the flip side, if everyone was a genius marketer, then this industry would be extremely competitive.

Does it help SEO? No, especially if you're spamming. YouTube helps most with SEO, getting actual branded back-links like SLIME GREEN BEATS works in some instances.

I worked in the internet marketing industry for many years, I hate it, but I have a great grasp of knowledge. There's value in these forums, but it's a much better idea to again grow, learn, and network on them. It's better to focus on quality than spam, but again not everybody is perfect.
 
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