Country trio Pistol Annies prepared people for the May 7 release of their sophomore album, Annie Up, with a four-week interactive experience that spanned mainstream social networks as well as emerging social platforms.
"The Great Annies Adventure" took fans on an online and offline journey propelled by a digital comic book and clues that appeared all over social media -- Facebook, Foursquare, Instagram, Path, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter and Vine -- in order to solve the story's mysteries, win prizes and earn tickets to a secret show.
"I don't think any of us have ever had this much fun promoting an album," group member Miranda Lambert told Mashable. "Watching them dissect clues, chat online about where we're taking them next, and race to each location is beyond cool."
You can listen to the full album in this Spotify player:
Here's a condensed look at the adventure, with analysis from Pistol Annies' members.
Online Comic Book Urges Fans to Save the Band
Cartoon versions of Lambert, Ashley Monroe, and Angaleena Presley encounter a massive problem in the adventure's slick online comic book Pistol Annies and the Case of the Stolen Gear: The One Tones band steal their concert gear, new music and merchandise with help from an evil CEO of a record label. In a series of chapters, the trio called upon their fanbase, dubbed "The Henhouse," to thwart the evildoers. Clues hidden in the story and on social sites led fans to stolen gear in the real world.
Lyrics Debut on Pinterest Before Audio Emerges
A lyric video, as of late, has been the main vehicle for artists to introduce new music and encourage fans to memorize the words (think Demi Lovato's "Heart Attack" and Justin Timberlake's "Suit & Tie"). But Pistol Annies bypassed that method for their new song "Girls Like Us," opting to debut its lyrics in a series of posts on Pinterest.
The "Girls Like Us" lyrics were stolen in the comic book but rediscovered by fans. "We wanted to find a way to use Pinterest in a way no other artist had before," Monroe said.
"We wanted our fans to be able to see the song before they heard the melody."
"I love how fans can read the lyrics and get a feel for the song in their heads before they hear how it actually sounds," she added. "It allows them to connect to the material in a way that they otherwise wouldn't."
Lambert said a clue at the bottom of the "Girls Like Us" Pinterest board alerted people they could find handwritten lyrics at an Austin, Texas, record store. One fan found the lyrics in Austin, and won a trip to a Pistol Annies performance.
Looping Video on Vine Ushers in Another Clue
Musicians are continuing to find inventive ways to use Vine, Twitter's relatively new app that lets people create six-second, GIF-like videos. Pistol Annies created a Vine account for the adventure's bad guys, The One Tones, whose Vines revealed a clue.
"Places like Pinterest and Vine are awesome for musicians because they allow us to share fun moments, our musical inspirations, and our favorite things directly with our followers all year long," Presley said. "It's been so exciting to find fun and unique ways to share clues about the adventure quest with our fans."
Even before the adventure started in mid-April, Pistol Annies embraced Vine, releasing the album art for Annie Up in a puzzle-looking, stop-motion Vine.
Publicly Rewarding Fans Kept Them Coming Back
Aside from leveraging social media to promote clues, Pistol Annies also used the social networks to place participants and winners in the limelight via an ever-updating Facebook photo album and notably on Twitter in tweets from cartoon alter egos of the band members (@LoneStarAnniePA, @HollerAnniePA and @HippieAnniePA).
The fan engagement and prizes -- autographed vinyl records, guitars, designer clothes, personal notebooks, exclusive video content and tickets to a secret show -- helped Pistol Annies garner 20% repeat viewership to the adventure's website. Visitors spent an average of two minutes and 48 seconds each visit.
"The adventure quest we've been on with the fans has been incredible," Lambert said. "Even if no one was following along I think we'd still have a great time doing it, so to see how huge the response has been is amazing."