How to market your dancing on youtube?

First topic message reminder :

Okay so from what I understand all the shufflers on youtube who're famous get tons of views after they market themselves and get tons of people subscribed after going to meet-ups and meeting new people, etc.

I wanted some tips on how to get your videos noticed more on youtube, so I can start getting more people to watch my videos. I haven't really dabbed on marketing myself so any tips would help and I'll try them out and see where it goes. Just wanted to get more of a fan base for support, etc. Thanks.


Also is there a way to get endorsed or something so you can make money and buy good outfits, etc

yeah solar told me im still in so its all good and i finally gave him my video for the crew shuffle

StarkShuffler wrote:Also Garry I had talked to a lady in the mall near my grandma and she had said "NO." very firmly about filming. I didn't ask about events but the security guard said to ask management.

Yeah that NO will be the standard response, until you get permission. Yes like the security says go to management. They will know the broader policy on filming and also this is a marketing opportunity for the mall to promote itself.

These are very tough economic times and won't improve quickly, so retail places like malls need to get prospective shoppers through their doors, this is one way to do that, hosting something that will certainly attract shufflers, who are generally well behaved and trustworthy, and lead to increased patronage to the mall shops.

There may be barriers to overcome with adults perceptions of who shufflers are, thinking firstly of others they've had to ban in the past, such as Malls here in Australia. Skate boards are banned, scooters and BMX/bikes are banned, running through crowds, loud noise, graffitti, shop lifters have all been problems etc.

Young people in shopping districts are often unfairly treated with scorn because others have ruined it for everyone in the past.

But your direct approach to management will demonstrate immediately to the Mall management shufflers are different, responsible and productive people, rather than destructive.

In your approach to the Mall Management, you'll probably have to make an appointment, which is normal. So in your approach - say going to the Mall office in person, if you give the management reception a simple one page cover letter, with your contact details and a paragraph or two (at most) about what you want to do, with a copy of the GS1 dvd I've sent you and mentioning briefly in the letter that it is ok for the management to copy the dvd for others in their organisation/business to veiw, you'll give them enough initial information for them to check out before seeing you.

You don't give them all the details, just the main parts, the main concept points - these are the selling points, the reasons why the Mall should be interested in this idea.

They will probably run the idea past some of their staff before responding to you. If their staff say yes this is a good idea, managment will weigh up the business considerations and probably then, they'll give you an appointment, more or less to discuss what they're interested in doing and nail down a deal with you.

If they see your letter and dvd and decide no, you'll probably just get a polite letter from the management saying thankyou but NO, and no appointment. If they say 'best wishes for the future', it means 'don't come back'. So you don't, you go to the next Mall

Youtube comments are a magnet for haters. Especially those who have no clue about shuffling and just want to trash you. This can be very bad for your reputation if 60 comments are that you suck, when in fact you don't and those 60 hate comments don't equal even one informed shuffler comment

So you need to make a decision, will you interact with the comment and correct the errors or restrict the comments ?

I've shut the comments off on Youtube for Global Shuffle, instead I direct people to this MSO forum, where if someone who is 15 years old who doesn't shuffle, has never been to Melbourne and wasn't born when shuffling started starts banging on that the shuffle started in the late 1980's - which it didn't, I can respond in detail, like this:

The Melbourne Shuffle started AFTER the Cold War ended 1989, it's a victory dance. We were free from the tyranny of the superpowers and we could do whatever we wanted now - We could even dance with the Russians - our supposed mortal enemies, if we wanted to, and we did, Russians have a dance culture going back many centuries and in 1992 when the shuffle started we even dedicated a TVU broadcast to the Russian cosmonauts stranded in the Russian Space Station just a few miles above us.

Here's the actual TV Station ID, which was played on free-to-air television across Melbourne every hour during our broadcasts for 1992. I was asked by TVU to create the work, after they'd seen some of my video art. The images came from the TVU archive and the party footage shows the very first Melbourne Shuffle steps going live to air.


NEURENERGEN by Garry Shepherd '92

Brecon | Myspace Video

Here's the Global Shuffle documentary, with a clip of the actual behind the scenes of the parties and broadcasts with some of the first shuffling ever seen on TV.



These video's show how we felt, as an artist that's what my work focused on at the time, because it was a life changing age.

We were not happy in the Cold War, none of us were. When the Berlin Wall was torn down 1989 by normal people from both sides, we were happy. Living all our lives under the very real threat of nuclear war and dying slowly from radiation sickness, from bombs made with our own taxes, was not something to be happy about.

In the end of the 1980's the world was in it's worst recession since the great depression of the 1930's. The only way shufflers could rent studio space in the Melbourne central business district (CBD) was because the city was a ghost town, 1000's of businesses had collapsed, people had lost their jobs, their homes, their families were breaking apart with the stress, Real Estate agents in the CBD would let anyone rent the office, just to try and save their own jobs, not knowing if they'd have a job a week later, it was not a happy time. Noone had money, and like today you spent your money on basic life staples like food and housing, venues closed down nobody could afford to go out and if they did, there was no joy, everyone was depressed drowning their sorrows, everywhere you looked, in the streets, in the news, in your families faces.

Someone not born then could not have known that from first hand observation experience, they would have to be quoting someone who was there. Challenge your Youtube commenters to prove what they're saying, who are they quoting was that person there, prove it. Wikipedia says shuffling started in the late 1980's - says who, where the proof, show us the video, name the venues give the dates, and back up the facts from eye witnesses, show us the proof, post the links. If they don't, then readers can dismiss them as BS. Don't be a victim of haters on your site take control, own your site.

So I have to weigh up just what I'm getting with Youtube comments, and just how much value does someone looking at your vid give to the comments. For me some ignorant little runt bleating 'that's not shuffling' on a Youtube comment is of no value to me and none to an educated shuffle audience, who for instance here on this forum will offer reasons to justify their comments of why it's not shuffling and be prepared to back up their claim and offer good suggestions of what shuffling is. A casual youtube commentor won't do that because they generally don't know, and don't really care. They may think shuffling is only the Cupid Shuffle or something.

Just because someone is the 'general public' and has an 'opinion' does not mean you as the artist has to put up with abuse from haters. Delete them from your Youtube comments, only keep the ones that have something to say other than hate.

If you aren't considered good by a commentor, challenge them to show you a good one, prove themselves - challenege them to post their own shuffle vid for comment, take control of your site, you are not a doormat, you're an artist, and you can talk to your audience, challenge your audience, educate your audience, engage with your audience.

Far more value to you and your Youtube audience.

These are new days for marketing, we make the rules now, this is our time.

For instance, checkout MSO Forum member Emily Waffles Deviant Art site
http://emilywaffles.deviantart.com/

Some words of advice:

First off. CRITICS, if you are one, please, actually CRITICIZE. Give me something to work on. dont just be a judgemental prick >n>

Second. Dont sexually harass me. boyfriend or not. i'm a goddamn lady, treat me like one.

Third. This is art, if you dont like it dont say anything rude : / cause well, its RUDE lol... i'm not gonna go around saying bad things to other people because its not my place to judge because like love; beauty is in the eye of the beholder.


Okaii!

littlephan wrote:

I'm also wondering about the sponsoring stuff, I've been thinking about setting up shows and renting a space for shuffle practice and course for youngsters

I rented one last year, but with almost no income to advertise it didnt succed that well^^ :/ I did pretty good anyway though ^^ In the terms of creating new good members for my crew ^^

Yeah that's a good idea. The main problem at the moment is the world economy being so bad, that the usual sponsership money isn't around at the moment, the same with renting dance studio space.

You'll find that most want to sponser you or rent, but the economy is too depressed at the moment.

But bear in mind that this is the same situation that the original oldskool started in. In 1992 It was the worst recession since the 1930's, but a few years later around the mid 1990's real recovery was holding ground and it went on to boom for 20 years.

This bad time now may take another 1-2 years before things lift.

So for a business, this is the time to prepare for the recovery and make sure that the moment an opportunity appears, you're ready to grab it.

So use this time for audience building, keep doing like you are, setting up Youtube channel, Facebook, on this forum, you can also set up your own home page here to with permanant links to all your other sites, etc.

People need time to get to know you and form some sort of interest in your work whether the economy is good or bad. Once things get busy, you often don't have time to do this stuff, so use the slow periods in your career to explore and develop your work, while spending more time engaging with your audience, while you have the time.