Case Study: Mötley Crüe x I AM POP
3 min read

Case Study: Mötley Crüe x I AM POP

"Messenger is the new e-mail marketing, except it is entirely more effective." Read up on how Ben Lifson has been using Messenger for Mötley Crüe.
Case Study: Mötley Crüe x I AM POP

I AM POP provides artists and their marketers with an easy-to-use tool that simplifies direct-to-fan messaging and allows you to reach fans directly.

In our Case Study series, we chat to the people who regularly use our tool, and see how they feel about it. This time round, we spoke to Ben Lifson from Eleven Seven Music.

Can you tell us briefly who you are and what your role in music marketing is?

My name is Ben Lifson and I’m the Digital Manager at E7 Label Group (e7lg.com). I handle social media advertising as well as content creation (graphic/video) for our artists.

You’ve been using direct messaging to reach the audience of the artists on the Eleven Seven Music roster for a while now. How’s that been going?

Direct messaging has been the most effective way to reach our artists’ fans. We see open rates above 90% on all broadcasts sent out, as well as incredible click-through rates on whatever we are currently promoting (pre-orders/new music video content/contesting/album releases).

You recently oversaw the launch of the Mötley Crüe Messenger channel. How did you plan the launch strategy and grow their subscriber count? How did it go?

Mötley Crüe obviously has a cult following that is willing to go to great lengths for the band. It was just a matter of transitioning that base from being just a social media ‘follower’ to a ‘subscriber’ on Messenger.

This was done using short and simple creative in a Facebook dark ad with a clear call to action to send the band a message. The incentive was that the fans would be the first to receive exclusive updates regarding the upcoming Netflix film, as well as the accompanying soundtrack.

Motley-Crue-FB-Ad
Mötley Crüe's Click-to-Messenger ad

The first 30,000 subscribers came on at 5 cents a head. After that it rose until it fluctuated between 15 to 20 cents before the end of the ad campaign.

What broadcast did you send out first? How was that received? What were the open rates and effects on sales figures?

The first broadcast was a link to a teaser of the upcoming Netflix film’s trailer. At the time 18,000 fans were subscribed, and 15,000 of those fans clicked the link! (ed. that's a 83% clickthrough rate). This was purely a reach and awareness campaign so no sales figures were effected.

How are you planning to use the Mötley Crüe channel from now on? Any cool things lined up for the near future?

Messenger is the new e-mail marketing, except it is entirely more effective. It will be used to broadcast any news/information we want the fans to know about, just like we’ve done for years with mailing lists.

Reaching fans who want to see your content has always been the hardest challenge with marketing, but now we have a direct lane to push the band’s agenda.

Any final words of advice for people about to launch their Messenger channel for the first time? What have your experiences taught you so far? And is there anything you would advise against doing?

If you choose to run a Click-to-Messenger ad, treat your audience like they are toddlers. Too much copy or creative will confuse them and will increase your cost-per-sub. Lay it out as simply as possibly, with a clear and concise call to action.

You want them to click the ‘Send Message’ button, so make sure that is the only thing being highlighted in the ad. My experiences has taught me that this medium works and should be exploited to the fullest extent.

I advise against placing any creative or copy in the ad that isn’t directing fans to the Send Message’ button. It is important to only have ONE goal per ad.


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You can read more about Ben Lifson's career as a digital music marketer in the Behind the Artist article we wrote.

By the way, we've collected and uploaded our most popular resources. You can download these resources for free!

Or why don't you connect to I AM POP directly through Messenger at https://m.me/bypophq