J: So who are you and what do you do?
DJ: Well, my name is Jason Baron, aka D Jay Baron, and I’m a local here in Burlington. I DJ everything from weddings to parties to karaoke nights. I have worked in the downtown venues on Church Street, at the skating rink in Middlebury, at the rail jams at Stowe Mountain Resort etc. etc. For a while I had a regular show on Friday night at 7 with Fixation Radio and recently I brought together a bunch of emcees for a local hip-hop production.
J: You’re a young man, I assume you use a variety of social media in your work. What social networking sites do you use for business?
DJ: Primarily facebook. In the past I have used myspace and blogspot, but myspace is out of style, blogging is too difficult to maintain and I have found that facebook is currently most effective for what I need. I also post music onto my soundcloud account sometimes and share interests with people with a program called spotify. A few times I have found work- like weddings- on craigslist. The internet in general is key for my work as a DJ, without it I don’t know where I would find my inspiration. I don’t really know if I would be a DJ today if I didn’t have the ability to explore and download music to mix online. I buy a lot of equipment online too.
J: So what is it about facebook that does it for you?
DJ: Well with my facebook page I can really build a network of people. Everyone seems to have it these days- I have over a thousand “friends.” As for advertising, I can update my status to promote shows. I can create an “event” and invite all my “friends.” I can share photos and videos so people can get to know me better. I can communicate with clients through chats and messages. I can connect with other DJ’s. I can get feedback on my mixes and performances and so on and so forth. Facebook now has business pages available but I have found that the format isn’t really tailored to my needs as a DJ.
J: Do you have any specific tactics on facebook?
DJ: Well almost every night I post what I call a “Midnight Jammie” (a youtube music video that interests me) and surprisingly the tradition has received rave reviews and brought attention to my page even without my own music. Also, I was recently promoting a show and I asked some of my “friends” to use the poster as their profile picture for a few days. People were surprisingly willing to sacrifice their profile pictures and as a result we had a lot of support and a great turn out.
J: How do you use social media for personal use?
DJ: To keep in touch with friends. I really am using it all the time for business- the two overlap and interlock. Its nice to have everything in one place with one format.
J: Do you think your business would survive without social media?
DJ: No.
Well there you go.
