Marketing your festival the right way

Unfortunately, there are many people that take videos, edit them, and re-post them on their page calling them their own. When this happens, I file a claim with Facebook/Instagram and the video is removed immediately. Asking for permission or just tagging the festival/videographer would prevent me from filing copyright claims.

This situation is different, it’s not a random person - it’s someone who I consider a friend.

This friend got upset with SBKZ Media because we asked him to:

  1. Give credit to the festival and SBKZ Media.

  2. To not alter or change any videos we have produced.

I woke up one morning and received an invitation to join a new festival. I accepted and opened the page. I found at least 3 videos that I filmed for festivals that had been downloaded, changed (new intro, logo, and some effects), and credit was given to a videographer in Brazil.

I reached out to the festival and asked that they remove the videos (because they changed/manipulated the video) and did not give credit. After finding out that this festival is run by my friend, he sent me a message explaining what happened. I’ve worked with my friend in the past and really enjoyed creating content with him. I said no worries, if you just tag the festival and SBKZ Media we’re good.

Fast forward a week or so. I go back on the page and a new video is posted of Ry’el and Jessica. It’s a demo of them dancing at Zouk Me SF but with an entirely new audio track. The video was completely altered/changed.

After seeing this, I messaged my friend asking him to remove the video because his team had changed the sound. He got upset and said he would take down ALL of the videos. I asked him to just remove the one video that he altered and not the others. He insisted that he would take down all of the videos.

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I’m not upset with my friend at all. All I ask is that promoters tag the festival/videographer or reach out to me telling me what you’re going to do. If my friend had told me he was going to do this from the start, there wouldn’t be any issues. I’m really easy going and have worked with many artists and promoters. My goal is to strengthen the community by putting out great content, and maintaining the integrity of that content.

If my friend is reading this: you can use any videos of SBKZ Media. I support you, your event, and the Brazilian Zouk community 100%.

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Here are some tips for festival promoters:

-Share the original video from the festival and write a clever or catchy description of the video.

-Ask the videographer for the original video, create a really good description, and utilize Facebook/Instagram advertising.

-Instagram is hot right now. We are focusing a lot on creating short-form videos for IG stories.

-Content is important, but distribution(marketing/copywriting) is more important.

Brazilian Zouk in Singapore

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We are excited to be filming the 1st Zouk festival in Singapore. Hosted by Cheryl Qiao Rou, this year’s all-star lineup includes: William & Paloma, Arthur & Layssa, Rick & Larissa, and the one and only DJ Kakah.

Last time we were in Asia we were also in Singapore and filmed the 2018 Singapore Bachata Weekend. Zouk Sensation will be held at the same venue which makes things easier for us since we know the space, layout, and lighting. There is nice hotel conveniently located right across the street. We are thrilled to be back in Asia in early 2019, we hope to see you there!

You can purchase passes on the Zouk Sensation Website.

Los Angeles Zouk Festival 2019

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We were first introduced to Brazilian Zouk and Kizomba at the 2015 LA Zouk Festival. Our world has never been the same since. Hosted by Shani Mayer and Christian Whitecloud - the LA Zouk Festival is conveniently located at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. This is the premier festival that brings hundreds of dancers together from all over the US and Canada. It’s truly a dance reunion like no other.

Get your 2019 passes HERE!

See what we filmed at the 2017 Los Angeles Zouk Festival

Check out a few of the demos that we filmed on Friday at the 2018 LA Zouk Festival.

Pros and Cons of Viral Dance Videos

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The first thing we do when we wake up and the last thing we do before we go to sleep is check our phones.  It's 2018 and we live in world where it seems like everyone wants their dance video to go viral.  Why do we want videos to go viral?  What are the benefits of a video going viral?  What are the downsides of a video going viral?  

Pros:

  1. Exposure - Millions of viewers around the world will see your video. Viewers will be exposed to the dance genre, your name, the festival's name, etc.

  2. Affordability - You can shoot a viral video with your cell phone and upload it within minutes

  3. Entertainment - People are consuming videos more than ever. Watching your video is fun, interesting, and engaging.

Cons:

  1. Conversion - If your video had 8 million views, how many people liked your page or bought your product/service? Are you monetizing the video? What's the goal?

  2. Content - Sure, you can shoot the video with your cell phone but what's the quality and editing like? Does the video portray you as a dancer in the best way possible? Is this the image you want?

  3. Ego - Does it seem like the person is only doing it for likes and shares? Do they live and breathe getting attention and having only low-quality viral videos?

It's pretty easy to create a viral video in today's world.  Search #kizomba or #bachatasensual on Instagram and you'll find many videos that have gone "viral."  Unfortunately, these videos don't represent the dance in the best way possible.  Many people view or like the video because it's shot in a way that sexualizes the dance.  It's obvious to spot the videos, Instagram accounts, and artists are just there for the likes and attention. 

Before creating any video, we always ask ourselves - "what is the objective or goal of this video?"  If the goal is to focus on your butt and get 9 million views, that's not conducive to dance community in any way.  It's not something that we support or would ever film.   

We focus on quality and creating a professional online presence.  If the video goes viral, that's great!  Most of our videos aren't optimized or shot to go viral.  We've had two videos go viral since starting SBKZ Media.  The first was a salsa demo that we filmed at the Montreal Salsa Convention, and the second was a recent video of a Brazilian Zouk Performance in Mexico at Zouk MX.  

Most of our videos get thousands of views, likes, and shares.  Every video we post has a goal and a purpose.  If a video of ours has 157 views, something is wrong (this rarely happens).  Most of our videos are shot with the goal of inspiring people to dance more, creating a great online presence for the artist and promoter, and pushing the dance genre in the right direction to promote healthy competition and a growing, vibrant dance scene.