Social networking websites are currently one of the hottest trends around. Everyone is on them. They grow virally and extremely fast. If someone joins up, they’ll have to invite their Yahoo, AIM or Hotmail address book and soon they’ll have all their friends on it too.

That’s what happened with Myspace, YouTube, Facebook, Bebo and all the others like it. For musicians, Myspace still rocks because of you’re ability to put your music on it. Facebook, although much more sophisticated in its layout and usability, doesn’t have a music function as far as I’ve checked it out.

Social networking online is no different than traditional networking. You invite your friends. They invite theirs. And so your networks grow. The question at hand here is how to use it for your music.

As far as I see it, such websites are there to do one thing: increase awareness. They’re not there to produce sales directly. You’ll hardly sell merchandise at these kind of sites. But what you will do is grow your fans by becoming friends and increasing your network.

And although the downside is that you don’t get their email addresses for your own personal mailing list, you can still do mail outs about your music once in a while. Increase awareness, create groups and get people to your site.

Promoting your music on social networking websites should always start with this first step: Know your goals. What are you looking to achieve? How much time do you wish to spend on such websites and how much direct results does it provide you? If it works for your music, keep on it. If it doesn’t, what else can you do? KNOW YOUR GOALS.

Once you’ve done that, for the 2nd step, I suggest that you select a small number of social networking sites that you want to work and dominate. Although you can setup profiles on many, I suggest you pick 1 or 2 and actively grow your networks on them. Be focused. And plus, more than 2 really takes your time. You can choose from Myspace, Facebook, Bebo and any others you’re aware of.

The next step is to identify whom you’re going to interact with. Who do you want to add to your friends list? Who do you want to be connected with? The answer isn’t everyone. Target your fans and supporters appropriately and you’ll save lots of time. Of course, you want ordinary people as your fans. But look for ways to add celebrities, media and publishers as well as prospecting groups to your friends list. Not only do you give them a peek at your work, but you also show your friends that you’ve got some important people and you’re serious!

At the end of the day, this is just another promotion tactic to get you a friends or fans list. The most important thing is to qualify your time and stick to it. By that, I mean work out how many hours a week you can devote to this tactic. And test it for a few weeks. If it works, great. If not, keep going and reduce the hours so you can see a long term effect. It is important you set your time and stick to it. Don’t overdo it and don’t sabotage any other marketing you may doing.

This is just the start on social networking marketing.

Start by dowloading and reading the free Strategy Guide To Succeeding As A Musician in 2008.

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