How to Manage Your Social Media as a DJ in 2020

In a world seemingly ruled by social media, for a DJ, properly marketing your material online has now become almost as important as producing it. There are many budding DJs out there, however, who are not 100% certain on how to go about this. To help you better utilise social media as an advertising tool, and to reach a wider audience than your friendship circle, we’ve put together this helpful guide with all the hints and tips you need to effectively manage your social media as a DJ in 2020.

Most Effective Social Media Channels in 2020

The first thing to consider is which channels you should focus on. Aside from the big four, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, 2020 is likely to see a continuous increase in the number of TikTok users.

What is TikTok?

For anyone who doesn’t know, TikTok is an app that allows its users to share short videos. It first appeared in China in 2016, before being released to other countries all over the world in 2017. Fast growing in popularity, TikTok is certainly not going anywhere. Uploaded videos can be up to just 15 seconds – the perfect timeframe to release a teaser of music – but it’s possible to upload a sequence of videos totalling 60 seconds max. Try posting snippets of music, events, interviews, or anything else relevant to your brand.

More 2020 Social Media Trends

As well as giving TikTok a go if you haven’t already, there are a few other general movements in the world of social media to be aware of.

• As of 2019, Facebook is the world’s third most visited website. Despite its age, the OG of social apps is still going strong – so don’t neglect it.
• 500 million users check Instagram Stories every day. Make sure you experiment with these to publicise all your new music and events you’re at.
• On average, Tweets with hashtags get 100% more engagement than those without. Do some research on your favourite, relevant, accounts and start hashtagging everything appropriate when you publish posts on Twitter.
• 70% of what YouTube users watch is actually determined by its recommendation algorithm. To improve your chances of being a ‘recommended video’, make sure you accurately title and describe it in the blurb; in a similar way to the well-known music or DJ styles you want to be associated with.

Focus on Building a Brand

Social media is a fantastic tool for marketing of any kind, because it offers the chance to publish a wide range of content to a huge audience – for free. The best advice for DJs is to spend some time creating accounts for all channels, but the trick is to make sure your brand is consistent. Consider:

• Your name and persona (edgy, folksy, family-friendly, old school etc)
• Your logos and other bespoke artwork
• Imagery, photos and videos
• Your tone and language

Consistency is absolutely vital when building a brand, so that you and your work are easily recognised. On social media, including a logo and hashtag on everything you publish is a subtle yet very effective way to announce your presence. Every image, video or piece of text should display these.

As well as visual consistency, it’s important to establish yourself as a brand associated with your area. For example, if you wish to be known as family-friendly, make sure this shines through in all the content you publish, including the language used.

Improve Engagement and Establishing a Loyal Following

For social media to work for advertising your DJ brand, you need to have an audience that interacts with what you post. When starting from scratch, of course your following is likely to comprise of all your family and friends. From here, the next step would be to invite them to share your page with their friends and family. This will usually dramatically increase your following.

Another method to enhance your engagement is to coin your own hashtag. Whether this is simply #yourDJname, or a phrase you want to be associated with, by using this on every post and encouraging others to do so at shows or events, your work will quickly become more visible. Just make sure you check to see it’s not already being used by anyone else who you don’t want to compete with. If there is another DJ with the same name who has already had this idea, try simply adding your country or state abbreviation to the end.

A surefire way to improve engagement on social media is to post something that literally asks for an answer. This could be an opinion poll, like what are the best DJ controllers to buy, or which new logo is best, or it could be an open question like “where’s the best DJ set you’ve ever seen?”

Maintenance and Management

After you have achieved a social media presence you are happy with, you must remember to keep on top of it. While it might not always be possible to drop what you’re doing and reply to every comment, make sure you do find time to give your social media channels the attention they need. Tip to do this include:

• Earmark some time in your calendar to go through and reply to comments, especially if there are questions. This should really be done at least once a week.
• Make a point to upload something new on every channel at every opportunity – again, once a week at least.
• Be sure to check out your competitors. See what other DJs are doing for your own inspiration, and to stay on top of what’s happening in the industry.
• Follow appropriate hashtags and ‘like’ relevant pages to stay in the know about news and trends.

Social media today is generally one of the most influential means of spreading a message. With a little time and attention on a regular basis, your channels can work to get more people listening to your music and booking you for events. A key thing to remember is not to lose motivation and give up. Developing a weighty online presence takes time, and the truth is you’re not likely to see dramatic changes in just a few weeks or even months. Keep at it, and in time you’ll wonder how you got along without it.

The article was produced by Laura Apps on behalf of The DJ Shop, one of the UK’s longest-running DJ equipment retailers.