by: AskPat 341 Episode Transcript
Pat Flynn: What's up, everybody? Pat Flynn here, and welcome to episode 341 of Ask Pat. Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope your week is going well and as always, I'm here to help you by answering your online business questions five days a week.
Alright, he is today's question from DJ D'Loose.
DJ D'Loose: Hi Pat, I'm a DJ representing it from London, U.K. Like many other DJs, I was wondering if you could give me a hand on getting myself out there more. I think I've got a strong following, but I'd like to build on it. Maybe give me some tips on getting some traffic from my Facebook page, my website, and my SoundCloud. I also broadcast my own radio show on Sunday nights from my website, djdloose.com. I just want to know, basically, your thoughts on the best way of getting traffic. Getting likes on the Facebook pages. Getting the plays and followers. Also Twitter, all that stuff. So, any input would be great. Love the show. Keep up the great work. I'd love to hear from you.
Pat Flynn: Yo, what's up DJ D'Loose. Thank you so much for the question. I am currently on your Facebook page and on your Twitter page. And you're asking for more likes. You're asking for more exposure. How do you get yourself out there more. Build a strong following. Get more traffic through Facebook and SoundCloud and Twitter and all these things. And the first thing that I would tell you is that on social media, you need to become more social. It's very apparent that you're using these channels as a way to promote yourself. Which is obviously very important. But you also want to understand what it's like from the other person's point of view, the people who have chosen to follow you, to like your page. People who are choosing to follow you on Twitter, for example. If they keep seeing promotion after promotion, “I gonna be here, I'm gonna be here, I'm gonna be here,” that's great. They know where you're going to be at and that's fine. But they're not going to be able to build a relationship with you if you're just simply telling them where you're going to be.
You need to get them into your life a little bit more. That's what I use social media for. And that's why and how it's worked out really well for me, using social media to give people a glimpse of what's going on in my life and also be able to interact with my audience as well. That's how you truly build raving fans. True raving fans. And with a lot of the features of Facebook and Twitter nowadays, we can really tap into the power of social media to make an even stronger connection with our people as well. And you might be wondering, “How is that gonna help me? You know, maybe just a few people watch it.” But you know people retweet those things. People remember, people talk, they share things by word of mouth. They will remember you more if you have a conversation with them.
And it doesn't have to be a one-on-one conversation, too. When you have a conversation with your audience, you're having a one-to-many conversation. You can ask questions. And here are a few things that I think you should do, small quick easy things that you can do on these specific channels, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, if you have Instagram, which . . . I think every DJ should have an Instagram account because it's really quick and easy to shoot videos. So maybe you're doing a set someday and then you have this amazing crowd behind you, and I'm looking at your cover art photo here on Facebook and Twitter. You have a room full of hundreds of people behind you. You're looking at the camera, point the guns at the picture and at the camera, and it's a great photo.
Imagine if that was a video. You're taking a selfie during your set. Maybe there's a break in the music and you can just really quick, take a selfie with the crowd bouncing behind you. The lights and the music and just, “Hey guys! Thank you for following. We're here today. I just wanted to say, I love you guys. Check me out next week, I'm gonna be here. Shout out to so and so. Boom.” Done. Fifteen seconds, you have this content that you can then reproduce and put on the Facebook. And then reproduce and put onto Twitter. And then people are getting a glimpse into exactly what you're doing and also your product, what you have to offer them. Your music, you set, your everything. Everything that you're creating there. That is what people are going to eventually want. So you're giving them almost a sample. And obviously, you know what a sample is. You're a DJ. You go to the store, you get a sample of something, and you want more. You need to give people samples. If you're just telling people where they're going to get you, well that's cool, but give them the little bit of you. And then have them go to those places to get more of you.
So that's the first thing I would do. I would share bits and pieces of your set and your music. Maybe you're in a practice session. I would share those things too. Maybe you're just working at home or in your apartment or wherever you're at and just practicing your next set. Share a quick video of that. Actually look down at the turntables or whatever your deck is, and share how you're putting things together in a 15 second clip. People love to see behind the scenes. Again this is, again pulling from my own experience. People love to see what's going on behind closed doors. And if you can share that, people are going to feel more involved. They're going to feel more connected. They're going to feel like they have an experience that is beyond what a normal person who follows you would have. They might feel like they know more about you and be able to share something and feel privileged to know that and share that via word of mouth and feel special for knowing that as well. So those things totally, totally help.
And then to take that to a next level, if you wanted to interact with your audience more, I mean you should be interacting with your audience more on those channels asking questions. But also asking for feedback. That kind of lets down your guard a little bit. But also opens up that relationship that you have with that audience. When you let down that guard and you open up yourself for a little bit of vulnerability, just a little bit, it shows that you're a human being. It shows that you care. And it shows that you want people to share what they feel about you. To help you out too. When you get your audience involved, they feel more inclined to share, to like, to just be involved. To participate. When you get people to participate, they're going to be more . . . what is the word I'm looking for . . . they're more committed to what you're doing. And it just enhances your brand that way as well.
So those are the things I would do and hopefully you can see that it's actually not going to be that hard to start doing that. But for example, on Facebook when I just see a bunch of photos and images and flyers, essentially these are virtual flyers that I'm seeing. I mean, you need to be posting more. I would say post on Facebook once per day and on Twitter up to five times per day if you'd like. Just any sort of thoughts or things that come across your mind, start asking your audience some questions. You have a decent following already with 6,000 followers, which is fantastic. Start talking to them. I just see a lot of retweets which is okay, but a lot of virtual flyers as well. I don't see any conversations or any thank yous to your audience or anything like that. Just all promotional stuff. So less of that, but you can post quite a bit and actually get a lot of listens. And giving people a sample of what's going on, but also asking people for help in what you're doing.
I also see and hear in one of your things that you have an Instagram account. I just clicked on this and there is a picture . . . I didn't plan this, I'm just randomly clicking on an image. This is from three days ago and now I'm on your Instagram account, and I see a little beagle. I think his name might be Eskie or Eskie Boy based on your hashtags here. Now this is what I'm talking about. Now if there was a picture of you and your face along with this puppy, that would be amazing. But on this image you have 108 likes or 111 likes, and those are the types of things beyond the flyers that go a really long way. So again using, I'm seeing a little bit of the images I was hoping for these back tonight, showing you on your set with headphones on. Those types of things go really, really well. Doing that, I think would be kind of cool.
I think if you wanted to do a longer style, three to five minute video giving people a taste of who you . . . maybe your story. A lot people might not know your story and where you came from. Like for instance, I'm on your website, and I don't know exactly where you came from and how you got to where you're at. You know, I see the biography, that's cool. But I think if you did a video that show that along with your music playing and you actually moving and doing your scratching or mixing or I don't know what kind of DJ you are. I used to be a DJ myself actually. I didn't do anything serious. I'm sure you're a 100,000 times better that me. But I used to just for fun, get my Technics turntables and just start scratching, and I actually got invited to do a couple of house parties in college and a wedding for one of my good friends which was insanely nerve wracking, but also one of the funnest things in the world.
So yeah, I think you could definitely use more of you. And not just more of you, but more of you in your element. So, that's what I would do. And for anybody else out there who's listening to this, if you have any advice, if you want to continue this conversation and let DJ D'Loose know of what else he could possibly be doing, I think when you do that, then when you do promote with posts on those social media platforms, you will get more clicks because you've built that relationship. It's sort of like going up to somebody who's brand new and asking them to do something for you. They're not going to do that until they get to know you and who you are and what you're about. And that's kind of where all this is coming from. For everybody out there listening, use the hashtag AskPat341 if you got any more advice. Perhaps you're a DJ or you do something like this. Talk about what's working for you. So, use the hashtag again, #AskPat341 on Twitter. And wecould all follow that and continue this conversation.
And DJ D'Loose, thank you so much for the question today. For having your question featured here on the show, we're going to send you an AskPat t-shirt, again, over the pond once again, and my assistant will email you in a couple of weeks or so to collect your information so we could send that to you free of charge. For those of you listening, if you have a question you'd like potentially featured here on the show, all you have to do is head on over to AskPat.com and you can ask right there on that page. And yeah, I look forward to your question. Thank you so much. Thank you DJ, and best of luck to you.
Now to finish up, I always like to end with a quote. And today's quote is from Zig Ziglar. He says, “You were born to win. But to be a winner you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.”
Cheers, take care, and I'll see you tomorrow in the next episode of AskPat. Thanks.