How to Best Use Social Media and Digital Marketing for DJs

Let’s be nostalgic together for a moment. It wasn’t that long ago that many of us found ourselves cutting our teeth in the DJ industry with a handful of club flyers in the mall parking lot. Our marketing strategies didn’t consist of much more than bugging everyone we knew about our upcoming show. The more adventurous among us might have gotten a few T-shirts made with our DJ name or logo. Most marketing was purely through word of mouth, which worked well but limited our reach. Then came social media, and with it a whole new era of digital marketing for DJs.

Now, if you’re in the DJ industry, it seems as though DJs are marketing themselves everywhere. From your Instagram feed to your YouTube homepage, DJs are grabbing ahold of digital marketing with both hands. These marketing strategies have become essential for growing our audience and businesses but it’s important to make sure we are delivering more “steak” than “sizzle. In this article on digital marketing for DJs, we’ll talk about how you can create great hype for your DJ brand and actually live up to that hype. Our hope is that – instead of being a great marketer with some DJ gear – you’ll become a great DJ that markets yourself well.

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Digital Marketing For DJs – How Things Have Changed

We mentioned in the introduction the “old way” of marketing that involved hundreds of flashy club fliers with bright graphics and bold text. They required working with a promoter or at least knowing your way around a bit of graphic design. If you weren’t familiar with marketing or salesmanship, it was tough to go at things on your own. As social media became more and more commonplace, these same marketing strategies were digitized but kept largely the same.

While these fliers still exist in the online sphere (no matter how outdated they look), DJs are becoming savvy to the fact that partygoers and potential clients have changed in the past 10-20 years. DJs exist in the mainstream now, and practically everyone knows or has seen a DJ recently. Simply having your name and logo on a flyer isn’t enough to interest people in your talents anymore. Think about it – TikTok feeds are filled with clips of talented DJs from around the country and the world. If you want to be relevant – at the top of people’s minds when they think “DJ” – then you need to fully embrace digital marketing.

Digital Marketing for DJs – How to Use Social Media

Nowadays, social media is the bread and butter of a DJ’s digital marketing plan. You can create an entire marketing strategy that’s free and easy to manage, with a much wider scope than fliers in a parking lot. Here’s how:

Get on Social Media

Surprise surprise, the first step in marketing yourself on social media is being on social media. There are too many social media networks to count now, from Facebook to TikTok. Most DJs are a part of at least one, but you should probably join more. For years Instagram has dominated the marketing space for DJs, but newer services like TikTok have been rapidly rising in popularity. Try to join all of the major networks and unify your brand across them. Use the same profile photo and username, if possible. Share similar (but not exact) content tailored to the strengths of each platform. For example, showcase your high-quality event photos on Instagram, quick mixing videos on TikTok, and full-length mix shows on Mixcloud.

Be Regular in Posting

Whether or not potential clients are shown your content is up to the ever-confusing algorithms behind each social media network. What is proven, however, is the need to be consistent in sharing content with your fans. It doesn’t matter if you choose to post daily or weekly; pick a schedule and stick to it. This not only keeps you in the algorithm’s good graces but also shows those that view your accounts that you are actively working.

Leverage the Strengths of Others

You may be a phenomenal DJ but that doesn’t make you a great marketer. While social media has made digital marketing for DJs much easier, you still need other skills like writing good captions, taking good photos, and decent editing of your mixing demos. If you don’t know how to do these things well, don’t be afraid to get help. Whether that’s learning the skills yourself through YouTube videos or hiring someone from Fiverr, make sure that the content you put out into the universe is grade A.

Use Collaboration to Your Advantage

Sharing content for people that already know about your DJing is great but you should also be continually working to grow your audience. One of the best ways to do this is through collaborating with others! Fellow DJs, event professionals, and venues can all be potential sources of collaboration. Event photographers can provide you with amazing photos to add to your Instagram feed. Venues that know and trust you can highlight you on their own social media accounts. Always be on the lookout for ways you can combine your social media presence with others.

Digital Marketing for DJs – Be a DJ First

At the end of the day, digital marketing for DJs is one important part of being successful in the event industry. However, it’s not the most important part. Ultimately, you should continue to focus on honing your DJ skills – mixing, music curation, and creative expression – over anything else. Too often we see DJs focused so much on marketing and branding themselves that they lose sight of why they got into the business in the first place. Creating a solid brand is crucial but should never come at the expense of becoming lazy in our craft. As we said in the introduction, the “steak” is much more important than the “sizzle.” Talented DJs naturally attract the attention of others, and that should be your goal. As you combine your talents with a simple but modern digital marketing plan, you’ll grow your audience and reach new DJ heights each and every year.

Putting it All Together – Top 3 Tips From The DJs Guru on Digital Marketing for DJs

We’ve touched on a lot of digital marketing best practices in this article. You may be asking yourself, however, “What are some other things I can do right now to put my best foot forward in my marketing?” Below, we’ve thrown together our top 3 tips on things you can do immediately to up your marketing game.

#1 – Revamp your social media pages. Your social media profile pages are as important as the home page of your website, especially to the younger demographic. It will represent your brand and may turn people on or off from booking you or using any of your services. Be sure to pay close attention to your profiles on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and others.

#2 – A picture is worth a thousand words. Have professional portrait shots of you and any of your staff that you want to be hired. It is imperative for so many reasons to have professional portrait shots for marketing and advertising materials both in digital as well as print. We recommend developing a relationship with a local photographer and working out a “referral” system if possible.

#3 – Shoot videos in 4K. Buy yourself a camera that shoots 4K or learn to use your smartphone (that most likely is already capable) better. Capturing high-quality video is a must for any entertainment company. The better the initial content is captured, the better it will look when used in marketing materials. We promise you, shooting in 4K is the way to go and will enhance your business by simply making you look more professional and polished.