Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Hopkins - UK
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November 11, 2005
Arctic Monkeys: Viral Marketing Success Story
The Arctic Monkeys, a band hailing from Sheffield, took the #1 spot in the charts the week of 29 October 2005 for their hit single "I Bet you Look Good on the Dance Floor". The song's popularity is attributed to the file-sharers not the image makers, stemming from emails among fans and downloads from the band's website. Could music companies have predicted this surge in popularity before the song shot up the charts?
The first chart below shows that in April, when the band was virtually unknown, visits to www.arcticmonkeys.com came from chat rooms and blogs. Search engines became a more important source of visits in June as the band's name recognition grew. The second chart illustrates this relationship between increased awareness of the band, measured by searches for 'arctic monkeys' on the left axis, and visits downstream from search to the band's website on the right axis.
So in answer to my original question, "could music companies have predicted this surge in popularity before the song shot up the charts", the answer is yes. By monitoring visits from blogs, chat rooms and online communities companies can identify emerging trends.
Viral marketing poses a real challenge to online marketers. Blogs and chat rooms can be a venue for consumers to rant about a negative experience but can also build awareness of a product, service (or in this case a band) through personal stories, recommendations and referrals. Blogs and chat rooms can serve as informal networks that create energy and enthusiasm -- witness the Arctic Monkeys recent fame.
I encourage music companies to monitor visits downstream from the Hitwise Blogs and Net Communities and Chat categories to identify bands that are growing in popularity through viral channels.
Other industries can also benefit from monitoring these categories. Do you know which sites in your sector receive the highest volume of of visits from blogs and chat rooms?
Posted by Heather Hopkins at 01:23 PM
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Comments
I never thought I'd see a post about Arctic Monkeys on this blog! I'm seeing them tonight in NYC so I'll finally be able to determine for myself if they're really that good.
Posted by: Derek at November 15, 2005 11:28 AM
nice bit of information, i will link to it form myt arctic monkeys links site..
Posted by: gramondo at December 6, 2005 03:24 PM
hey artic monkeys are great seen them at the nme tour last week!!!!!!
Posted by: shivers at February 18, 2006 06:08 AM
The question from looking at these graphs is: What specifically happened in late-April to spike site usage so quickly?
Posted by: Craig at March 5, 2006 06:47 AM
Craig - thanks for your comment. The spike you are refering to in April is a spike in visits from search engines, chat rooms and later, blogs. The second chart shows visits to the Arctic Monkeys website. You'll notice that visits didn't really pick up until late May and in particular when their song hit the charts.
Posted by: Heather Hopkins at March 5, 2006 08:47 AM
Heather,
I am infinately interested in the Arctic Monkeys sudden success. My band has been struggling with online marketing, do you know any good blogs/ websites that we could break into besides the obvious saturated myspace/purevolume sites. really enjoyed the article. Thanks.
-Teddy
Posted by: teddy at April 8, 2007 09:44 AM
Teddy, thanks for your comment and good luck with your band! I have sent you a request via MySpace to add you to my MySpace friends.
We have lots of info on music sites and sites sending visits to bands and artists websites. If you want to speak with someone at Hitwise about getting access to the data, just let me know. You can find out more at www.hitwise.com.
Thanks again, Heather
Posted by: Heather Hopkins at April 9, 2007 11:08 PM
