Marketing 2.0 Blog » Client Centric Social Media

If you haven’t already seen the new NME Breakthrough website, I’d highly recommend it.  Even though you might not be an Indie music fan, chances are you’d be impressed by the social media deployment undertaken by such a well-established publication.

At Webjam, we are proud to help yet another publishing title to get closer to their readers: from the initial idea of better engaging with their target audience to designing an online destination to serve them; from embracing social media to committing to facilitate a community that shares the same passion.  We have marched on a challenging but rewarding journey to transform one of the most famous music publications into a service provider.

Allow me to walk you through an amazing journey so far.  The ultimate key to the Breakthrough website is to put users (both bands and music fans) to the centre of development, and this is the initial idea that we’ve followed through.

The creative stage started with Webjam iDeA focusing on building the right community and creative architecture based on the understanding of what our customer requires.  In this case, NME wanted to connect bands with music fans through an easy-to-use online platform that encouraged conversations between the two.

Once the creative brief was cleared and the architecture was put together, we moved on to the next stage – innovation.  With Webjam Labs, we added technology to the equation and consulted NME on how to maximise the capabilities of social networks. An example of this is the advanced reputation engine to surface the most popular artists and music tracks.

Lastly, we support the engagement through Webjam Activate. This is the most essential part for building a successful and long-lasting community.  During the process, we conducted focus groups with bands to ensure we were listening to the bands and music fans about the functionality they expect and suggested appropriate engagement initiatives.  It is key to have the right amount of engagement; too little might lead to a slow start, but too much would be off-putting.

We’ve worked hard in the past weeks with the NME team to get things just right and we are delighted that the initial feedback from bands, music fans and other music industry media is very promising. We look forward to seeing the community grow. To us, NME Breakthrough consists of all the elements to create a successful social media community – People (bands and fans), Passion (music) and Purpose (rewards for the bands), which we call the 3Ps of Social Media.