It Appears That Joe Perry and Aerosmith Know More About Social Media Marketing Than You!

A funny thing happened this week. In the middle of the day, a 40+ year old rock band, fronted by a 66 year old singer, underscored what I’ve been studying for some time.

Joe Perry, the lead guitarist, and one of the founding members of the rock band Aerosmith, showed us all that he has some serious social media skills in addition to being able to shred it with the best of them.

Perry came up with an idea to announce Aerosmith's new world tour with a live streamed broadcast from Hollywood's famous Whisky a Go Go.

This wasn't your ordinary concert announcement. Perry and the band, joined by opening act Slash, ripped through a few songs to celebrate their first day back at the club since 1973. So what does this have to do with social media marketing? Everything!

Traditional social media marketing is over! Here’s why.

Over the last 8 months I’ve been telling my clients that successful social media marketing is achieved when you reach consumers when they’re most receptive. I believe that the best way to reach today’s audiences is through partnership and alignment with sports and entertainment properties.

I realize that many, many people will hold steadfast to their useless content calendars in their attempt to force their pablum down our throats.

Fortunately for us, that doesn’t work anymore and finally the social networks are doing something about it. Confirmed by this statement from Facebook:

People use Facebook to share and connect, including staying current on the latest news, whether it’s about their favorite celebrity or what’s happening in the world. We’ve noticed that people enjoy seeing articles on Facebook, and so we’re now paying closer attention to what makes for high quality content, and how often articles are clicked on…

We’ve seen the studies. Most people don’t care if a brand even exists. Seriously. In the United States, people wouldn’t care if 92% of all brands simply ceased to exist. Ponder that fact for a moment.

It’s obvious to anyone looking at the data that people don’t get excited, or even look forward to, a brand’s Facebook posts or mundane tweets.

You want to reach today’s consumer? You have to give them what they want, when they want it, and how they want it. The best way to do that?

Sports and entertainment.

Let me give you a quick example. This week, the classic rock band, Aerosmith announced their upcoming tour. What was interesting is that they continued a trend by music artists and sports figures to announce their plans on social media.

In the middle of a work day, a band that began their musical journey in the mid ‘70's, compelled thousands to watch their announcement live, in real-time.

Here’s a snippet of how they announced their upcoming tour:

From a marketing perspective, Aerosmith played a quick set of 35 minutes and announced their tour and launched their upcoming “sale.”

If you watched the video, something should have jumped out at you. Most of those in the crowd in attendance were sharing compelling content. Content that an audience around the world would be interested in.

Content that the social networks have said is what they want published. In other words, Aerosmith gave their audience what they wanted and all parties were happy.

The band is happy because they are going to sell a boatload of tickets even before they present their product to market. Think about that one Mr. Brand Manager. Do you or your advertising agency compel people to buy your product with that kind of fervor?

We know Aerosmith’s audience is happy. The live fans were hootin’ and hollerin’ and tens of thousands of fans online were watching the livestream and the chat conversation was moving so fast I could barely keep up with it.

We can only conclude that the social networks were happy because it’s the type of content that users create, share and talk about on their platforms.

It was real, it was authentic, it was somewhat exclusive, it was entertaining, it was culturally relevant and they didn’t have to spend a dime to market it. When word went out on Twitter, people began searching for it and clicking to see it.

So in essence, we watched a 66 year old rocker, show us how it’s done. Did you happen to catch the first line of the song Aerosmith opened their set with?

I found those first words to be quite appropriate. After 40 years in the business, this band has adapted, evolved and is still standing.

So when Steven Tyler uttered these words…they kind of resonated with me and if you’re truly interested in succeeding in social media marketing, they should resonate with you as well.

“Checkmate honey, beat you at your own damn game!”

Yep, he’s right! Think about how many social media marketers, brand managers, CMOs and advertising agencies toil daily only hoping to get this kind of response to their marketing?

I always get get emails after I post my articles from marketers asking me to show them how to do “it”. I’m not a guru and I don’t purport to be an expert. I also don’t have any secret formula. I’m not a svengali of social media.

I watch what’s going on, adapt and evolve accordingly. I’m simply a student of human interaction.

What I’m learning and seeing to be true is that there’s a very, very simple recipe for success in social media. Just as there’s a very, very compelling reason why so many brands are failing at social media marketing.

The key is to simply give an audience what THEY want. That’s it. No big revelation. Yet how many meetings do you go to where you sit around a table of 5 or ten people planning to push out what YOU want.

It drives me absolutely crazy to hear the insanity that gets spoken in conference rooms and on calls. I used to say to myself, “do these people just like the sound of their own voices?”

The answer is clear. The social networks have spoken, and the audience speaks volumes by avoiding your crap. It’s you who won’t listen.

I see conferences being swarmed. I see the “how-to” videos being watched by thousands of viewers. I see the commentary on Twitter. Just stop!

The gig is up. No one has the answer except your audience. It’s time to be like a 40 year old rock band. It’s time you learn to evolve and adapt.

The one constant that you must hold on to is always give your audience what it wants. That will keep them coming back for more.

As Steven Tyler said at the end of the announcement show, “Rock and Roll is forever!”

Shouldn’t you strive to make your social media marketing as memorable and compelling for your audience?

Have a great day!