5 DOs and DON'Ts to Consider When You Join an Online Community as a Musicpreneur

Following my previousarticle, which got you familiar with the importance of networking for your music career, and the benefits online communities, now I want to share with you a few Dos and Don’ts to consider when you join a one as a musicpreneuer.

1. DO read the Group Rules when you get accepted into the group.                                            In order to make the most out of your experience as a part of an online music community, it’s always a great idea to begin by getting familiar with the group rules, so that you don’t violate any of them and make a bad first impression to the admins and fellow members, or even get removed from the group, and lose access to it forever.
   Most communities have special threads, where you can introduce yourself, share your links, or submit a song to an admin-run Spotify playlist. There are also threads challenging and inspiring the participants to take a particular action to move forward with their careers. So, by following the threads and the house-keeping directions from the admins, you will not only secure your place into the group, but the group itself will be much more organized and easier for you to navigate, interact, get feedback and get your questions answered.
2. DON’t randomly post links to your music and asking for people to listen, like and share. More often than not, the purpose of a musicpreneur online community is not to promote your music. And, although you will probably have a few opportunities to showcase your art, provided by the host, the main purpose is to network, learn and share what you already know. So random promotional links are considered SPAM, and usually spoil the experience for the participants.
3. DO ONLY add members by inviting them. If you think that this group might bring value to a friend of yours, you might want to share with them  the opportunity to join , tell them why you think it might be beneficial to them and provide them with an appropriate link to submit their request. When you do this keep in mind what the preferred method of the host is when it comes to adding new members. Some community leaders are ok, with people just going to the group and clicking “Join”. But there are some secret groups out there that are meant only for people who are subscribed to a particular e-mail list, or have attended a particular event. So if this is the case, don’t share directly the link to the group, but share the link to the e-mail list they must join in order to get an invitation to join the group.
4.  DON’t add people without permission.                                                                                  Even though you might be 100% sure a group will be valuable to your friend, this doesn’t mean they want to join. There might be a reason why they don’t want to be part of such community, or of the particular one, so don’t just add them to the group, without asking first. Not only is it hyper annoying, but it might also be in violation of the group rules.
5. DO respect and be polite to the participants, and interact in a proper manner and language.                                                                                                                                   You want the same in return, don’t you?

Next, I will suggest a few really valuable communities you might want to consider joining.