Dondria vs. Phatfffat: Music Producer Jermaine Dupri Uses Fans To Develop Twitter Marketing Plan
Y’all know I’m on this social media thing real heavy. So I study who is doing it, and doing it, and doing it well! Music hit maker, Jermaine Dupri, is one of those people. In this new age of digital technology and social media, it’s getting difficult for music labels and artists to stick solely to traditional means of marketing to turn potential fans into customers. That said, the award-winning producer is taking a non-traditional approach in marketing his new artist, Dondria aka Phatfffat, to the masses.
Here’s a brief backstory. Through word-of-mouth–which is still the best marketing tool–Dupri was introduced to Dondria viaYouTube about three years ago. From her home in Texas she simply sang on camera–just her, her wonderful voice, and THOUSANDS of captive watchers. Dupri recognized her raw talent and growing audience, signed her to his So So Def label, and now the YouTube discovery is in heavy rotation on radio stations throughout the country and has a #10 record on the music charts. Daaamn, talk about overnight success! But in reality if you follow his blog, Global14.com, you know ain’t nothing delivered overnight but FedEx.
Dondria’s debut album, “Dondria vs. Phatfffat” drops August 3rd. Below is one of the first non-traditional marketing meetings with Dondria fans, not with record executives nor promoters. And what’s cool is that he conducted this meeting while in FRANCE and fans are talking to him from the US, Germany, France, and Jamaica. It’s a great example of how social media connects people from all over the world and how entertainers can extend their brand, music, or whatever to fans and audiences off stage.
So watch this SoSoDefTV UStream vid AND PARTICIPATE in the growth of this great new artist, Dondria, using Twitter. She’s @Dondria and Dupri is @LTLline on the social network. Follow them both to get updates, videos, downloads, and info on her upcoming tour. You can hit her up on Facebooktoo! Also, take note of how they use to use social media to create buzz and turn the fans into more than customers but into ambassadors.
STONEYOCEAN
Ayyyyee #DVP #SOSODEF
LTL Fan
LEAK SONGS JD
gotta build up anticipation.
Peoople will download regardless
Build fans with hype.
Trust me.
Alesia
Enter “Dondria Creative Album Promo” Contest to win IPOD TOUCH! Details at youtube.com/dondriacontest #TeamDondria Marketing
Also follow @dondriaaug17th on Twitter.com for Dondria updates and facebook.com/dondriaalbumcountdown for more ways to get involved! #TEAMPHATFFFAT MARKETING!
TONGADUDE
TONGADUDE Says:
July 23rd, 2010 at 4:20 pm
i would JUST DO HER OR MY BAD JUST DO IT…LOL
RESPONSE TO TEAM DONDRIA POST
KEY WORDS- TWITTER MARKETING(AKA-VIRAL MARKETING)
1- Do TWITTER INTERVIEWS with bloggers like NECOLE BITCHIE(over 100K followers) Directly connects with her fan base
2- Have TWITTER Chats with hear TOUR PARTNERS TREY SONGZ(Over 800K Followers) & MONICA(oVER 300K Followers) even if they are CALCULATED CHATS about the upcoming tour
3- HAVE HER(DONDRIA) CONSULT WITH KERI HILSON(Over 670K followers) VIA TWITTER ABOUT being a new female artist & kind of ask for ADVISE
4-PROFILE PICS- Like you said get as many people(Dondria & Your Fans) change there AVATARS to the album cover
5- VIRAL OUTLETS- Since this is basically a viral marketing campaign, Utilize all outlets such as FaceBook, Myspace & Youtube9All should have her ALBUM COVER AS THERE PROFILE PICTURES, INCLUDING YOUR(JD) MYSPACE PAGE) if not Everyday Every other day with constant updates
6- Streamline all Dondria tagged postings here on global14 under the Dondria section on the header where you find the mixtape coz essentially Dondria doesnt have a website & if people come to global14 all they will find is the mixtape
7-Dondria LTL- Youtube Video Countdown with her interacting with fans during her different promotional shows & travels like Keri did before her album came out
8- The global 14 upper header shouls be dondria album cover also stating the release day of the album 8/17/10
9-Dondria trending- Since she’s a new artist that his not as big as a Justin bieber, provide an incentive for fans to talk about her album every day like you did by saying you would follow them if they changed their avatars to the album cover, create something like a Team Dondria Vs Team Phatfffat on twitter & random fans will be picked on twitter every day for meet & greets during the tour
10- At the end of the day its all about creating fans interest in Dondria’s music & informing them on the release date of the “Dondria Vs Phattffatt” & most of all for them to but the record when it comes out 8/17/10.This is just a start to generate your interest in my ideas so we can work together, like i’ve mentioned before Most artists don’t fail coz of lack of good music (Example R.Kelly) but because of poor strategic marketing ideas & execution… I can add more ideas for Dondria, Johnta, & the rest of the SoSoDef Camp
Get @ me @TONGADUDE ON TWITTER
LIFERS if you like my ideas hit up JD on twitter @LTLline & tell him to hire me…
PS- DONT LEAK ANYTHING, THAT DOESN’T TRANSLATE INTO SALES
Bootyinyoface
#BIEM!!!!!!! THAT’S WASSUP!!!!! 🙂
JD- I noticed in this article as well as a couple of others that u posted that they keep saying that the album drops on August 3rd!….That is the quickest way to confuse the fans that don’t keep up with this movement so u need 2 drum in2 the heads, hearts & fingers of ALL these people AUGUST 17,AUGUST 17, AUGUST 17 until they get it 😉
I LOVE @Tongadude’s hustle & he has some really great ideas!!!!but…. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD JD….will u PLEASE hit the homie up on twitter, email, something…so that he could stop invading every post on here LMAO :-/
P.S. The quickest way to get Dondria NOT 2 trend on twitter is 2 repeat the same hashtag multiple times in a tweet ie…. (#dondriavsphatfffat #dondriavsphatfffat #dondriavsphatfffat #dondriavsphatfffat #dondriavsphatfffat ), twitter considers stuff like that spam so word to the wise DON’T DO IT!!! ;). I’m sure some people have already suggested it…but I’ll say also, try 2 concentrate on specific times to get EVERYBODY on #TeamDondria to tweet the same thing… I know that’ll b kinda hard cuz everyone’s on diff schedules etc but it can b done ;).
Ewurafua
JD, @Bootyinyourface is right!
This article as well as many others all say that the album comes out on the 3rd of August!
This can be VERY misleading to fans and supporters alike.
@Tongadude…I see you are very persistent!
I think you may be on to something, but your number 2 and 3 suggestions are flawed!
The problem with number 2 is, it suggests Twitter chats with Monica and Trey!
To be honest, that isn’t going to really work, unless people have Twitter apps that allow them to read conversations between two or more people!
For the most part, it will just look like Trey and Monica are replying to their fan, about a question that she has asked!
The best thing would be to have a Ustream of all of them together in a room, or separately between the 3 of them…sort of like the one that Trey did with Nicki Minaj!
It will be more engaging and it will allow people who don’t necessarily know what Dondria looks like, to see her, and put the face to the songs they have been hearing!
The problem I also have with your 3rd point is that, people see through fakeness!
There is currently NO connection between Keri and Dondria, so how odd do you think it will look having her ‘chat’ with Keri?
I also think that rather than asking a newcomer like Keri, Dondria should ask someone more established in the industry, about the difficulties they have encountered and how they overcame it, to obtain longevity!
To be honest…I don’t even like your 3rd point…at all!
It will come across as one of the thousands and millions of people on Twitter trying to secure a deal, or a relationship with an artist/ producer, so that they can get a foot into the music industry!
Flawless
Congrats & stay blessed Dondria & Jermaine. I’m totally anticipating this release.
TONGADUDE
@Ewurafua The reason I mentioned Keri is because she just put out her first album as a female artist & I understand your ustrram idea which is good but knowing all their schedules won’t permit that to happen that’s why I suggested twitter convos about getting ready for the tour. Besides when fans see them talking via twitter more than llkely they will Retweet what they say & I do appreciate your comment & not believing it would work but its marketing just like u heard eminems songs during the NBA finals
Debonair73
Twitter Marketing Ideas
Dondria biggest fan base is still on Youtube. So her banners on her channel should be updated to show her album release date and also the fact that her two singles are up for sale now.
Dondria gets 25,000 to 35,000 views a day on her catalog of videos on Youtube. You can leverage that traffic to drive tweets about her her album by putting annotations on all her videos asking those viewers to tweet a certain message or hash tag in the description of the video.
You can do a So So Def/Dondia pack and give one away a day from Aug 1 to Aug 17 that includes SoSoDef merchandise and a signed copy of Dondria CD signed by you, B.Cox, Johnta to those that tweet the most about Dondria on a given day. That will probably be the quickest way to make Dondria a trending topic.
Back to Youtube:
You should be able to get Dondria featured on Music Tuesday on Aug 17 with her Youtube story and all. Kalombo’s artist Mr Meredith got featured 2 weeks ago and he got like 200,000 views on his video that day.
I still think it a big opportunity for labels to run a Youtube campaign with big Youtubers by have them use songs from the album in their videos.
Debonair
http://www.youtube.com/Debonair73
Hollywoodlvwork
First let me say, THANK YOU to JD for posting MY blog article. Yep! Hollywoodliveandwork.com is in da bldg. LOL. I’ll correct the album release info. But I got the info from here. See, if that info was visible on the first page of this blog, I woulda known.
Anyhoo, back to what’s important getting the word out bout Dondria and producing album SELLS. Here’s my two cents! Whatever you do it’s all about feeding content to Twitter not just tweets.
First! If you’re gonna do teams #Dondria vs #Phatfffat make sure errbody is up on the Twitter hashtags. I just made those up! Hashtags are easily searchable and help track mentions on Twitter.
1. If you wanna do it Trump style: Give teams challenges for example. For every city Dondria performs in you want–just throwing a # out there–500 albums sold-that’s basically 50 people with 10 cds or downloaded albums with RECEIPTS as proof. How you plan to check the receipts will be on you. Whichever team reaches the goal first gets a point or whatever number of points you want.
2. Challenge #2. Twitpics it and Facebook it! If buying album in a store twitpic it with team hashtag! Pics gain teams more points! Say which store you got it from and use team hashtag. At the end of a day or few days, Mngmt can easily search hashtags to see whose tweeted what and when. That said the hashtag only needs to be used ONCE in a tweet.
If you pre-order take a twitpic too of you and the albums and follow the same hashtag rule.Team Street promoters can do twitpics of themselves too putting up Dondria signage or passing out flyers.
3. Challenge 3. Scavenger Hunts. This could be done with a local radio station for cross promotion in every city or just one major one like LA or ATL. Locate the Dondria tickets or Dondria herself and she could hand the tix to fans. You or Dondria could tweet some of the clues using online video and ask everyone to RT. People participating should hopefully will tweet their progress. Once team member finishes hunt, team member must have PROOF of purchased album to get tickets. His or her team gets points!
4. YouTube. Create 2 simple videos on your channel. Cater each video to the specific team. Include Dondria in both but as either Phatfffat or Dondria. Mention team challenge, twitter trend, and album in the video. Ask each team to make their individual video viral–Tweet it, facebook, share via email. After a certain period team whose vid gets most hits, wins!
Whatever you do, Do NOT NEGLECT FACEBOOK. Statistically there’s more of Dondria’s demo and people in general on Facebook than on Twitter. First get some FBML going and really flesh out her facebook with a welcome page, custom tabs, videos, etc. It should look like a mini-website. I don’t totally trust FB, but I do use if for my clients. I don’t upload their original content there, but I do LINK to it elsewhere in status updates. Speaking of which YOU may want to consider the Facebook plug-ins so people can “LIKE” global14.
Whatever the challenge you must give people an incentive to participate–tix, gift bags, etc. for individuals. For the winning team you could also throw a party in the their honor. Those living nearby will get there easily but the rest will have to party via Ustream of Livestream. Do it up nice too with multicameras, a host, and of course interviews with you, Dondria, Oceans, etc.
To coordinate challenges I suggest getting individual team captains. Use those your employees or ask for 2 volunteers preferably those with experience in marketing/entertainmnt/social media. Get resumes AND REFERENCES. They may do it for some college credit or a stipend, but make sure they know it ain’t no bullshit position. You are expecting results and for them to be reporting the progress of their individual team. Put them on a simple contract or pay agreement. Map out ground rules. Done.
Hollywoodlvwork
I ain’t gonna talk to you no more today. LOL! Ideas are flowing so let me bust this one….After her tour you may want to consider having her attend or show up to the Blogalicious conference. It’s in Miami this year, October 8-10th. http://www.blogaliciousweekend.com for more info. It’s a popular blog/social media conference for Black, Latino, you know non-white women bloggers. Maybe she could get on a panel talk about how she uses social media to promote her music or even perform. Give out a few CDs. Many of the top Black and Latino bloggers attend this event. It would be one way to get them to writing about Dondria and sharing her music with their audiences.
Get some techie to create some graphic Dondria website banners with proper code to send people straight to iTunes once banner is clicked. Do a shout out to bloggers and music forums like the Singersroom.com to get these banners on their sites. Yeah they may want u to pay but it might be worth it. See its post. http://singersroom.com/video/Dondria/Shawty-Wus-Up/1280. LIFERS
MORE POSITIVE COMMENTS ARE NEEDED ON THIS SITE and others like it!
Ewurafua
@TONGADUDE,
Actually, the Ustream idea could work because I believe Trey and Nicki weren’t in the same location, but they manged to engage people, to promote the single “Bottoms Up”.
I wasn’t on Twitter when it happened, but I saw the recorded video on Necole Bitchie, and it looked like Trey invited her onto his stream.
I am not sure how it happened, but it worked. I am sure some Tech savvy people would be able to elaborate further.
I also understand why you used Keri, and the main issue I had with her is: her album sales are lackluster! She and her team have used a lot of MKT strategies, but it didn’t get people to buy her album. A year and a half after her debut came out…she is still Gold.
(No shade to her)
tongadude
@Ewurafua Yes Keri is just gold Rihanna is just gold Trey songz is just gold. In this day & she trust me gold is just like platinum. When I say she has convos with those people its about exposure. I appreciate your points tho.
James
Honestly the best thing to build anticipation is to tease us, leave us wanting more. Give us a tracklist, a 30 sec teaser of each track on the album. Im bored with that lil sampler yall did with just giving us one new song. But even that video got a lot of exposure across the blogosphere.
I think at this point you need to be trying to get all of those that do know about dondria to get the album its first week out, vs just exposing her to more people (the only way to really do that is national exposure, i.e. performances and such). Speaking of appearances, maybe get her on some big talk shows exaggerating the whole youtube to stardom angle and how talented she is.
But really, you should just build up the anticipation of the album by making new vids of her working on the songs that will be on the album that we havent heard. I remember dying for the album back in 08 when you did that with Kissed By the sun and the Nitti songs and such.
Edward Kinsey III
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER RIGHT?? LOL JD YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS!! #TEAMDONDRIA MARKETING! #DVP817 #BIEM @CEOflow_DOE HERE #LEGOOOOO!!!
Alesia
This is for ALL Dondria fans on TWITTER….2day @3pm CST let’s all tweet #dondria @ the same time..this will work but only if done @same time….We need her to become a worldwide trending topic again. If you don’t have a Twitter account, it’s very easy to get one. Go to twitter.com. Follow Dondria @dondria and us @dondriaaug17th….WE can do this! Leggggoooo!
LTLsisaleo
hey guys I want your opinion on something of which I have only just noticed bout dondria since she joined JD, ive noticed that since she has signed with Jd the amount of views shes been gettin on youtube has wained since the last requested song she did on youtube you u think this will affect her in terms of sales and her ability to connect to you all…. and 2nd is this due to the fact that we see her everywhere. and what do u think this will do her future prospects as an artist.
ballajb
Word of mouth marketing is the best marketing and it doesnt hurt that its free… Also when you involve the customers, they will bring fourth ideas to attract more customers.
Dondria Marketing Ideas:
1. Do a contest where people take pics of their receipt showing they purchased the cd and send them in and a winner will win a prize
2.For the Twitter war break the teams up. People with twitter names starting with A-M are #teamdondria and N-Z are #teamphatfffat. Officially announce this on next ustream.
3. Tell everyone to vote and also tweet for people to vote for @dondria video on 106 & Park
4. Tell people to do a twitpic of a pic of dondria on some site that they find once a day
5. Tell people to tell all their friends on facebook to add http://www.facebook.com/dondria.fields
6. Try to get all of her youtube friends to sign up for a twitter and if they have one already to follow her and tweet #dondriavsphatfffat.
7. Tell twitter followers to tweet “http://eventful.com/performers/trey-songz-/P0-001-000010533-1/events” which is a link to the tour dates
8. Tell people to make sure they Tweet her album release date and always mention @dondria #dondriavsphatfffat
9. Tell people to share her mixtape so people can get a chance to hear her if they havent already.
10. Make sure that everyone in the SOSODEF camp that has a twitter says something good about dondria daily so their followers will check her out.
11. Add some more things in the Dondria section on the global14 site that will draw a little more attention from fans like pictures.
12. Continue to have her hitting up radio stations while she is on tour
13. Have Dondria create a ustream channel
14. Make sure Dondria continues to hit up twitter with her tweets
I have many more ideas so JD make sure you remember @ballajb.
I have a Business Marketing degree from San Jose State University so I am interested in Marketing for SOSODEF and that only not singing and producing.
So please everyone follow me @ballajb on Twitter and tell @LTLline to hire me.
Thanks