I Live Hip Hop's Guide to Building a Facebook Following That Counts
I decided to put together this Read the Label interview after conducting research on hip hop blogs. I came across a collective of Hip-Hop supporters on Facebook known as I Live Hip Hop.
I gravitated towards I Live Hip Hop because of the community atmosphere and the level of engagement that was present on the Facebook fan page.
The interview was conducted with one of the owners of I Live Hip Hop. Thomas breaks down the inspiration behind I Live Hip Hop, the advantages of the massive Facebook community, hip-hop blogging and more. I hope you enjoy the interview.
First and foremost, would you mind sharing the inspiration behind I Live Hip Hop?
I started I Live Hip Hop not only because I enjoyed hip hop music but also to develop a platform for other hip hop heads to meet and pass on good music, it was also a place for artists, Djs, producers, B Boys, etc to showcase their talent. It's important for people to understand that hip hop is a culture and so with I Live Hip Hop this is what we try and reflect through our community or better known as family.
Who is responsible for posting content on the I Live Hip Hop Facebook Page?
A lot of great people. We have built the team over the years and really built a bond of trust... Which is vital, we actually learnt this the hard way after a previous admin hijacked our Facebook page and locked the remainder of our team out.
Now though we really have a great team there who are very knowledgeable about the hip hop culture. Our team is a real mix of different people from young to old, male to female, hip hop artist to Dj and entrepreneurs.
What is the main goal for the I Live Hip Hop Community?
To make a difference and to ensure that the hip hop culture is reflected in the right way. By difference I mean in a positive way... I see so many "artists" who push such a negative and detrimental message to our youth and that is a cause for concern, it's important that talented, educated and artists who have a positive message are heard, that's something we really enjoy posting to our community.
Would you mind sharing the advantages of having a Facebook community that exceeds 25k?
It's great to have such a large community and seeing everyone responding to our posts is really rewarding and fuels our ambition to continue. It's also very good in a business sense, it gives us plenty of opportunities to connect with a large amount of different people.
For the past year I have been inspired to create an ultimate hip hop blog list. Do you have any opinions of hip hop blogs?
They're good for hip hop. I mean, if the person behind the blog really has a passion for hip hop then that will reflect in the posts and create some great content. They are also a very good platform for independent artists who are looking to get their music heard and luckily enough blogs are always looking for new content an so they are always willing to accept submissions, it's a world where everyone is happy.
Would you mind sharing the benefits of Social Media in regards to sharing and commenting on music?
Social media is very powerful for artists, Djs and producers. It is a great networking tool and it is a very good way to build a fan base and most importantly to keep in touch with your fan base.
The only downside to social media is the artist who "spams" everyone's timeline, that is not effective marketing or networking and will only lead to you seeing poor results and a following who has no trust in you or your music.
What is your favorite album to drop this year?
Well everyone might expect it to be a hip hop album but it's actually something different. It's an album from the Urban Gospel artist G Status called Transparent, it's a great album with really quality music.
How can the masses get in contact with you?
Through our social network pages:
I Live Hip Hop on Facebook
I Live Hip Hop on Twitter
Any final words?
Thank you for the interview Praverb, it's much appreciated. God bless.
