Whether you are a new DJ or you’ve been in the game for a while, chances are good that you don’t have a personal assistant or media manager to handle your marketing needs as a man. The reality is that most men’s support groups out there don’t help. Unfortunately this is a crucial component of DJing in this new age of the digital DJ. You need to be out there pretty much all the time, or at least appear to be out there in an online men’s group all the time. Since you obviously can’t be…you have to be smart.
In addition to being a professional DJ, you probably act as your manager, agent, publicist and producer. Well now you can add media manager to the list until you can afford to have a team of people worry about this for you. While the task falls to you, use these tips to help you in your DJ marketing…without taking up your entire day.
Start Slow
The first thing to remember about DJ marketing is that you don’t have to be on every single social media platform from the beginning. For one thing you never know which platform will be around tomorrow—MySpace, anyone?—and you don’t want to spend more time than necessary setting them all up.
My advice is to start with the important ones. Today that is Twitter, Facebook and Soundcloud. These are the ones you will need to build upon, where you will grow your fan base and reach out to other DJs and producers. An hour a day or less and you can easily manage these without taking from your work as a DJ.
Avoid The ‘Overshare’
One of the things you’ll notice about social media is that there are two types of people; those who overshare about everything and those who don’t share enough. For those of us who need social media for our careers we need to find a happy medium that keeps people engaged without pissing them off.
It will take time to learn, which means you will have to spend some time to see what works and what doesn’t. The good news is that these platforms are set up to track what works and what doesn’t so you can see what posts are getting the most engagement and which ones are virtually going ignored. It’s fine to post images of you with other DJs and producers that will reel people in…it is totally uncool to start a beef with another DJ, a fan or anyone else just to get attention.
Don’t do it. Trust me, whatever gains you get will be short lived and won’t do anything to combat the followers you’ll lose.
Consistency Is The Name Of The Game
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, consistency is key when it comes to DJ marketing. Social media rewards consistency, as does the internet in general. What does this mean for you? It means that whenever possible you should make sure you’re using the same DJ name so that everyone who is looking for you can find you. A small misspelling can make it difficult to find you, particularly if your DJ name is purposely misspelled.
If you find it hard to get your first choice name, be creative and tweak it until you get something as close as possible. For example of DJSeanGallagher isn’t available you could try djseangallagher or any other variation that may not please the eye but is too similar to be someone else.
Be An Active Participant
If you’re the type of DJ who expects producers, agents and managers to come to you during network events, this is probably why you’re having trouble marketing yourself online. You must be an active participant with both fans and artists. Reach out to people, even if it’s just to comment on a new track, an upcoming gig or responding to fan.
People aren’t going to just flock to you because you’re a DJ, you have to make them see how awesome you are. Be sure to comment on random posts, photos and videos and not just promoting yourself. I know, it seems counterproductive but you will seriously turn people off if you’re constantly promoting yourself. Sprinkle the promo part in there but focus on the being active part social media.
Sync It
If you have a big DJ gig coming up, hung out with some super famous or are dropping a new track, be sure to promote it all on the same day across all social media platforms. This is a great way to generate buzz when you need it. And if you’ve worked with other artists a nice @ mention or a tag will expand your reach so more people will see your news.
DJ marketing doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming, it just has to be done smart. Don’t overthink it; you’re a DJ not a media manager so spend time to market yourself while focusing mostly on what you need to market…your DJ skills.
I hope I helped you improve your DJ marketing skills. Email in the box below to get access to Free video DJ lessons that will answer all of your questions on how to become a disk jockey!
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