Help me make an a cappella group. (Social media is failing me.)
It is my goal to start a professional a cappella group.
But. It’s turning out to be a bit more difficult than I thought.
I am researching and researching, but I can’t seem to find any a cappella people actively “hanging out” anywhere online.
Naturally, I posted messages on just about every relevant Facebook group I could find. I mean, that makes sense. Right? College kids/recent professionals hang out on Facebook. I also checked out a million a cappella web sites, but the majority were dedicated to selling CDs or promoting concerts– not any type of creative collaboration. Most useful space I found was the CASA forum.
Even craigslist, which I thought would be quit effective, hasn’t been. Twitter could end up being alright, but I’m pretty sure 98.8% of the people following me are not singers (I don’t think).
I even directly emailed a handful of ensembles that used to perform with my old group. So far? Nothing.
And this is where I attempt to be thoughtful.
As much as I love social-media-everything, I’m not sure it can help all the time. It’s great for linking up with awesome PR professionals, professors or fellow nerds– but what if your audience isn’t active online? How do you reach a community of strangers, if they’re not eBunching together? I’m frustrated.
So, this is when this post becomes a blatant request for your help to spread the word. If you know anyone in the Boston area who likes to sing and might be interested in joining an a cappella group, please let me know.
Alternate advice on how to find singer types is welcome as well.
Posted: May 12th, 2008 under A Cappella.
Comments: 10
Comments
Comment from Lindsay
Time: May 13, 2008, 2:09 pm
Maybe you should hit up the non-SM route and see if SAO would have some leads… also I bet you already saw this, but there’s a site called the Boston A Capella Scene (www.bacs.org) that lists all the area pro and college groups and their contact info. If I know of anyone I’ll definitely let you know. Good luck!
Comment from Chris Tess
Time: May 16, 2008, 5:56 am
bacs.org has been dead for a while. The CASA Forum is a good idea, as you mention, and hopefully the CASA Chat room will get more active. You could also try the RARB Forum (rarb.org), which is also active. Also try boston-acappella.yahoogroups.com.
Hope that helps. :-)
Comment from Rebecca Corliss
Time: May 16, 2008, 9:18 am
Awesome. Very helpful guys. Thanks.
Comment from Willy
Time: May 16, 2008, 11:44 pm
Here’s a Social Media idea that might work.
Invest 10-20 bucks in a Facebook CPC advertising campaign. Make an ad that says what you want it to. Target it to people who live in Boston and have a cappella listed as an interest. Send the clicks either to a Facebook group or your own web page inviting people to join the group. If you use the Facebook Pages option, then you can utilize the social aspect of the ads so that people will see their friends are participating and might join in as well.
I hope you give it a try. If you’ve never done a Facebook ad campaign before and have questions, feel free to contact me. I’ve had some decent success with them.
Comment from James Connors
Time: May 17, 2008, 1:37 pm
Hey, if you’d give a kid a chance, I can try to work my voice back up… but that’s in a bit. Keep it in mind!
-James
Comment from Adam
Time: May 19, 2008, 11:48 pm
Hey Rebecca,
I’ve gone the non-music’y-geek-route, but still have a deep love for everything a cappella. In fact, I found you via a tweet-scan for “a cappella” (how’s that for geeky?!)
Anyway, just wanted to pop by to say hello and wish you all the best in getting a group together. And, if I’m really lucky, you’ll have yourself a group and a performance in late August when I’m planning to be in Boston for a few days :D
Comment from Anissa
Time: May 20, 2008, 9:21 pm
Why not try creating your own social network? Try Ning….they are awesome, free, and very user friendly! Because Social Media is part of my everyday job, I understand how it can be very frustrating…but, if you use some of the ideas you have been given here, and link them all together, I can’t see how you would miss! Doesn’t hurt to add a few flyers around campus, etc too!
Comment from Rebecca Corliss
Time: May 20, 2008, 10:00 pm
Hey Anissa–Not a bad idea; however, I already checked out Ning and there were 5 or 6 a cappella networks with 1 to 10 people in each. I suppose if I worked hard to make sure my community grew, it’d be great.
I guess my issue is really that the majority of a cappella people don’t actively use social media. As good as the Ning idea is, how can I get them to join if they can’t even effectively use simple tools like Facebook?
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