The landing page for my Spotty growth ad campaign…visit here or click the image…
AFTER a crazy week I’d been hoping for a lazy morning, but I have a community hydro society board meeting on Zoom…so no rest for the wicked 😉
The meeting is useful. My fellow directors are a solid bunch who’ve all chosen to be part of the operation rather than being cajoled into it. Makes a huge difference IMHO.
I’d planned to paint the underside and edging of the ‘new’ smoker shelter roof but as I prepare the sunshine disappears and the rain comes on. Bah.
Instead, I spend some time in the studio editing video clips in various formats to use as ‘creative’ in a Spotify growth ad campaign on Facebook and Instagram. It’s been a coupla weeks since I ran my ‘fan finder’ ads so it’ll be interesting to see if the strategy works.
Having run the fan finder ads for a week our two I realised I had no idea how to follow it up and target that audience. The fan finder strategy is to reach a new audience with a video ad/s and no call to action – rather than have an ad asking folks to buy/stream/join/whatever the aim is to see who watches a solid percentage of the video (say 75% or more) then create a custom audience using these folks and target them with follow up ads. The premise is that if the video holds a viewer’s attention for a decent amount of time it’s likely that they like what they see and hear. We’ll see!
Anyway, the targeted folks are still quite ‘cold’, so I don’t wanna try and get them to buy something…I want them to become ‘fans’ before I even think about asking them for something.
I only come up with two realistic strategies – (a) get them on my mail list…or (b) direct them to Spotify. My gut feel is to try the Spotify growth strategy first. But definitely not directly to Spotify, I want them to go via a landing page so I can track results etc with my meta pixel.
I set up the landing page (see it here) then go about setting up my campaign and ad sets. I have a very limited budget, but I don’t wanna let the potential audience go stale before this follow-up, no matter how under funded! Watch this space for results and thoughts…
Once I’m done I head into Glasgow to pick up the guitar from Jimmy Egypt’s…a good job, amazing turnaround and great price 🙂
After a brief stop at the supermarket I get home, have lunch then get busy in the studio.
Later on I meet Fiona for a paddle. She’s got Nova with her – the dug’s first time out on a paddlebaord. She’s a bit excitable and not keen to sit still but overall she looks like a promising paddle companion.
UP at a reasonable time to get as much done as possible before heading into Glasgow for a supporting actor (SA) role on upcoming TV series Fear starring Martin Compston.
I haven’t done any of that kinda work for ages, the last being an episode of Scot Squad – with my ‘bee-keeper’ clip going viral a number of times on various social platforms.
As usual there’s a lot…and I mean A LOT…of hanging around finally wrapping just after 9pm.
I’m home. by 10.30pm, have dinner, catch up on some work then crash!
OFF into Glasgow early to drop the signature guitar off at Jimmy Egypt’s for some TLC.
There’s a dodgy switch connection and I need the Waverley tuners properly installed. Was done in rush on the road in the USA and I’ve been meaning to get a proper job done on them ever since. That was 2019!
Next stop Costco, then Tesco, then Aldi…then home.
I get some work done in the studio then sort postage for the final batch of merch mailouts from last week’s offer.
My late afternoon guitar student arrives and it’s such a nice day we do the lesson in the garden.
I’d hoped for a paddle but have some stuff to get done before we wander along to see Betty for a drink before dinner….
UP at the crack of dawn to get my sourdough in the oven.
While it’s calling I dye a leather bottleneck pouch I’ve made for a customer, do a little more work on Kevin McDermott’s video and print postage labels for another batch of free-plus-postage orders. Then breakfast!
Next up, a Zoom session with one of my guitar students before I call Jimmy Egypt in Glasgow and arrange for my signature guitar to go in for a ‘medical’.
I get some of the ‘official’ video from the Urban Blues Fest show in Romania into the computer to edit for tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream then it’s time for another Zoom guitar session.
I spend the rest of the afternoon finishing of the merch production and editing a couple of song videos to spin into the livestream.
By the time I’m done there’s not much time for a decent walk;k…just a half hour jaunt through the forest before the Wildcats’ livestream.
There’s some jambalaya left over form last night for dinner then I spend the rest of the night punting some of the forthcoming Scottish shows and getting an email out to Scottish folks on my email list.
AFTER breakfast I have a bit of a mad dash to get postage labels stuck on all the merch orders and get them down to the post box before the Saturday collection.
There’s also a bunch of vinyls to be collected by the postie.
Talking of the post, I have two rings that have breaks at the edge. The jeweller in Kirriemuir who made my wedding ring is a good repair man and asked me to send them to him for repair – he’s coming to the Bonfest show in May and will have them ready by then 🙂
I sent them special delivery (guaranteed before 1pm) and they were collected by the post on Thursday. This is Saturday and they haven’t showed!
The tracking says they’re at a (fairly) local post office near us awaiting collection! I phone the post office and the guy says he’ll take a look around and call back.
Mid-afternoon my pal Dave Robinson drops by for a visit. He was the editor of ProSound News Europe and is visiting the area for a walk with his pals Coley and Mark (who I know from his days working in Sound Control…small world!). We catch up over a coffee in the garden then drop into he studio – Dave is keen to have a look at the ‘Dave Arcari signature’ guitar.
I have some West Highland Way Gifts’ Merch to make so start the ball rolling. I’d planned a paddle, but change my mind and go for a walk up the lochs die instead.
Dinner is smoked chicken tacos…then we chill and watch a few episodes of Blue Lights.
MARGARET’s off to meeting just as my guitar student and her dogs arrive,
We have a good session then I put some rub on a natch of chicken thighs for the smoker before hitting the studio to do some tweaks on my pal Kevin’s video. Getting close to completion now, I think.
The ‘free-plus-postage’ offer I sent out to my email list has sold out so I rummage about in the studio attic and find some more copies of the CD – Radiotones’ second album Whiskey’d Up in digipak CD – and get it re-stocked. I set up an other e-mail to out later to let folks know that there’s more available in case they missed out first time round.
I also do some email list promo round my socials.
It’s a lovely afternoon and I’d planned a walk but after a coffee in then garden I fall asleep for a good half hour…then it”s time to get the smoker fired up for the chicken. Smoked chicken tacos tonight (and maybe tomorrow too!)...and the rest to go in jambalaya.
Then I start packing the merch orders. There’s a lot 🙂
By the time the chicken’s done, avocado sauce and salsa made it’s late…and after we eat I’m up ’til 2am creating and paying for postage labels for the merch….
OFF to the school in Balloch first thing where I have a really good session with some of the kids. It’s great to see the difference it makes to some of them 🙂
There’s shopping to be picked up en route home then lunch.
I spend the afternoon doing another edit and creating some more visual effects for the video for Kevin McDermott’s next single. I;m kind pushing both my and the computer’s limits!
Later on I put out a ‘free plus postage’ offer may email list then head back to the house for dinner. Betty’s already arrived and we have a grand night…my phone constantly pinging with orders for the special offer…the second Radiotones album (Whisky’d Up) in digipak CD. See it here 😉
Eventually the wind calms down a bit and we get out for a paddle 🙂
AFTER breakfast I have a Zoom session with one of my newer online guitar students. He’s already a strong player but looking to switch up his bottleneck game.
Having run my ‘fan finder’ ads on Facebook I need to follow up with some targeted ads. Initially I thought I;d run a mail list campaign but in retrospect I think I might be better to run a Spotify campaign first and see how it performs.
That means a fair bit of research and some thought into idea creative production which, as usual, turns out to be more involved than I first think. I make some good headway by the time Fiona arrives to go out for a paddle.
We have a good hour or two on the water and bump into another couple of paddleboarders at Port Bawn where we chat then head back to the village.
Fiona comes in for. cup of tea then heads off not long before Mikey and his pal Stevie arrive. Stevie’s helping Mikey with some plastering work at a neighbour’s.
