2. -Formed in L.A in 1983
-Anthon Kiedis and
Michael Balzary are the
remaining founding
members of the band
The Chili Peppers are one of the best selling
bands of all-time, with over 80 million
records sold.
-Chad Smith and Josh
Klinghoffer make up the
rest of the band.
3. -One of the original members of the
band, Hillel Slovak , and Anthony Kiedis
both developed serious drug addictions
between 1985-1988
-The addictions culminated in the
death of Slovak in 1988. Kiedis left Los
Angeles following the death, and after
his return the band had a meeting
-At the meeting, Jack Irons, the
drummer at the time, said he could no
longer be part of a band where his
friends were killing themselves.
4. “Californication” was the 7th
album produced by Red Hot
Chili Peppers, and the most
successful financially of the
Bands albums
-The album sold 15 million
copies worldwide.
-The Band Returned from Hiatus late
2009 and has continued to produce
consistently since.
-In 2008-2009, the band took a
hiatus, attributed mostly to
Anthony Kiedis claiming to be
worn out and wanting to
nspend more time taking care
of his son.
5. -@ChiliPeppers is the official Twitter account
of the band and has recorded just 527 tweets
in its “lifespan” despite its over 1.35 million
followers.
-Interestingly, they “follow” only 4 people,
two members of the band, an unknown
name, and an individual named @dave_rat
who is listed as an Engineer for the band
-By not “following” fans and other
organizations, the Chili Peppers are limiting
their ability to interact with their audience.
-Their tweet total of 527 is alarmingly low as
well, and shows they aren’t fully
understanding the value of the Twitter
audience.
6. -The Band uses Twitter to
announce tour dates and
upcoming shows, highlighted
by these custom logos for the
cities they visit…
7. -The Chili Peppers facebook following is
significantly larger than Twitter, but
that is mostly attributed to the large
difference in the user bases.
-The Band currently has 26,500,000
“likes” on their facebook page, that
provides links to photos and videos and
even shares fan art and submissions.
-The Page provides quite a few more
updates than the Twitter page does,
and updates fans on what the band is
doing outside of the music world as
well.
8. -The Chili Peppers instagram account is aimed at
sharing all the photos that captivate fans, mostly
of the band members and their experiences on
tour.
-In terms of exposing themselves to an audience
off stage, this might be the account with the most
“human insight” into their world, where the
Twitter and Facebook pages give more of a sense
of a broken feel, managed by another person.
-While the Instagram account Is likely managed as
well for the band, the photos speak for themselves
and really do offer greater insight into the band
and what they are doing.
9. -The Chili Peppers account on
Instagram has 85,632 followers,
once again only “follows” 2 other
individuals, with 358 photos
posted.
-Once again, it seems like the
Chili Peppers use social media as
a platform to speak to the world,
but not as a platform to hear the
world around them.
10.
Fan Forum: the fan forum for the band is directly on the bands website
at forums.redhotchillipeppers.com and is likely maintained by the record
label/manager.
MySpace: believe it or not, the Chili Peppers have a MySpace page with
over 500,000 people “connected” to their page. It’s really just a worse
version of their facebook page with less posts.
SoundCloud: The Band actually used SoundCloud to share a “parody”
song that was branded with the #RHCP2014. The song was a joke, but
many fans tweeted out as if it was real.
11.
Given the band’s long running cult following, it’s safe to say they have found their
audience. Their social media doesn’t shy away from this either, many of those
posts are geared towards die hard fans with references to things that happened
20 years ago, recent events and the band members personal lives.
Whether or not the band should focus on catering to a less “fanatic” audience is a
matter for debate, they are one of the most successful bands of all time that has
clearly “found their sound” and whether people continue to enjoy their music or
not doesn’t seem to be a factor in what they will do in the future.
That being said, there is tremendous potential to develop a new generation of
fans that grow to love the band not simply for the music, but for the way they
engage through social media, something the band does not seem to do very
often through any of their platforms
12.
The band primarily post photos, articles, videos, among the various other
marketing/sales pushes that are mixed in.
Many of the posts and tweets reference the bands past. Instagram seems
to be the only account with an easily identifiable insight into the band
right now. Twitter and Facebook are plastered with mentions of things
like throwback Thursday. The platforms continue to show they are aimed
at connecting with long time fans rather than new ones.
In terms of the ability to share it, outside of the music itself and the tour
dates and schedules, there is little content that is going to be interesting
or entertaining for someone not a fan of the band.
13.
As stated earlier, the band uses social media as a platform to reach their
fans but not as a platform to listen to them as much. Some fan content is
seen and shared by the bands accounts, but generally the posts refer to
what the band is doing, where their shows are next, reviews, articles, etc.
There didn’t seem to be an overwhelming interest in creating a separate
“community” through these platforms. There were no signs of prize
giveaways for users following on that particular service, and absolutely
no direct interaction with any fans.
The platforms treat the fan base for what it is, a cult following that does
not need to be “sold” on the product, merely informed. They don’t need
to feel loved back, or feel the need to have their loyalty bought.
14.
The band uses social media to promote upcoming events
and tour dates very effectively. Their ability to promote
those events and drive people to the venues they play in is
very effective.
The design of individual logos for each tour stop, promoted
online through social media and then sold on t-shirts at the
event is the perfect example of a crossover between their
digital promotion and the physical product the band
produces when it plays.
15.
Depending on the platform, the bands consistency varys. Twitter
has less than 600 tweets, which is alarmingly low for a platform
that is supposed to represent “instant thoughts”.
The band consistently posts photos of concerts and public
appearances, providing what is at the least consistent
documentation of what the band is doing, which is interesting for
fans.
There is no consistency to their interaction with fans, mostly
because it’s limited to begin with. Their interaction with fans
seems to be random and predicated on something interesting like
fan created art that they like. Engaging fans to make them feel a
greater connection to the band isn’t something that happens
consistently.
