Pros and Cons of Viral Dance Videos

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.

3 things latin-dance promoters and artists should stop doing.

1.  Having multiple personal Facebook accounts.   We've all seen it and have had to deal with it.  At the end of the person's name they have full, I, or II - i.e., My Name Full, My Name I, My Name II. 

This is frustrating when you don't know which account to add/follow.  Also, when you need to reach someone but you don't know which profile to message.  You message one profile but they respond with another.  On top of multiple personal profiles, they have an artist page, a dance company page, and a joint partner page which complicates things further.

What's the solution? It's simple: You delete or convert your additional personal pages and allow people to follow you.  You can have an unlimited amount of followers.  Sure, you'll loose some friends when you delete those extra accounts, but it's worth the short-term expense.  The convenience of properly managing and communicating through one personal FB account is worth it in the long-term.

If you are maxed out at 5k friends, turn on the follow option.  When people try and add you as a friend they are automatically following you.  You can then remove the request request and you are good to go!

2.  SPAM tagging you on FB for every event.  (Even if they know you aren't in the country) Getting notifications is annoying enough.  But getting the same notification from the same promoter every week and having to untag yourself gets incredibly exhausting.  Also, if it's the same weekly event thats been going for the last 5 years, there is definitely no need to be tagging anyone.

Once you create an event, it will automatically appear on everyone's upcoming events that you're friends with.  Unless you are directly involved with hosting the event, no one else should be tagged.  Also, SPAM tagging has become increasingly popular with artists who have a new demo that they just released.   Just like events, demos are filmed almost every day so tagging people who have seen similar demos can becoming draining as well.

3.  Adding dancers to groups that they don't want to be added to.  Groups are extremely convenient in FB when used properly and where valuable information is exchanged.  Unfortunately, in the dance world, 95% of groups are SPAM groups.  Promoters from all over the world post their event, festival, or ****NEW DEMO ALERT*** in every group imaginable.  They spend hours copying and pasting the same text in every group hoping they will get likes or shares.  Facebook has complex algorithms that can pick up on multiple postings using the same text.

I've had people add me as friends just so they can add me on a group.  When you leave the group you've been forced to join without your permission, be sure to click the box 'Prevent others from adding me to this group.'  

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Additional tips for the dance community:

-If you notice these three things happening to you on a regular basis, just unfriend the person.  Just because you unfriend them on FB, does not mean you aren't friends with them in the real world.  It's nothing personal.

-In your privacy settings, be sure to prevent posts from being posted on your wall without your approval.  

-Going live on facebook is probably the most annoying things I see on a daily basis.  Facebook is really trying to push individuals and businesses to go live.  I don't recommend going live unless you are partying with Justin Bieber.  

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With more and more events and festivals popping up every month, promoters and artists are desperate for attention.  It's important to identify those that are marketing themselves the right way, versus those are not.

If you found this article helpful, let me know.  Let me know what other things annoy you in the latin-dance world of Facebook.  Tag a friend, share this article, and let's improve how promoters and artists market themselves in the latin-dance scene.

Thank you 2017 latin-dance festivals!

2017 was an incredibly busy year for us.  We filmed over 15 Salsa, Bachata, Kizomba, and Brazilian Zouk dance festivals and congresses.  We were exposed to many different promoters, locations, cities, countries, personalities, dancers, and artists.  We learned a lot about how different festivals are organized and ran.

Like with anything in life, one needs to have balance.  Filmed festivals every weekend will inevitabley burn someone out.  We tried our best to keep a good balance of local gigs, travel, and dance gigs.  Unfortunately, there were months where we filmed several dance festivals consecutively.  

With all the experience we got in 2017, 2018 looks brighter than ever.  We have new clients on the horizon and are super excited to continue working with with our favorite festivals.  It's not easy traveling with expensive equipment and filming/editing a 3-5 day festival non-stop.  There are times where we need to take a step back and take a break.  

Bachatea - Madrid
Amsterdam ZNL Zouk Festival - Amsterdam
Bachata French Kiss - Troyes
WestZoukTIME - Bruno
L.A Zouk Festival - Long Beach
Official - Prague Zouk Congress - Prague
Montreal Salsa Convention - Montreal
Zouk Me Summer Fest - San Francisco
Los Angeles BKS Festival - Orange County
Kizomba Luxembourg - Luxembourg
MiamiBeach KizombaFestival - Miami
Zoukadise - Puerto Vallarta
Montreal Is Kizomba - Montreal
Dutch International Zouk Congress - Breda
Hawaii Zouk Festival - Honolulu
Kizomba Harmony African Dance Experience - Cancun

Check out our work: sbkzmedia.com
Follow us on IG: instagram.com/sbkz_media

We don't try and work with every festival.  Rather, we focus on relationships with good promoters that are fair, honest, and try to do what's best for their respective dance community and push it in the right direction.  A big thanks to all of those promoters that we've worked with, and that we continue to work with in the future - you know who you are!!

Bachaturo 2018

I've always wanted to dance bachata in Poland, could this be the year?  In 2017, I traveled through Europe and went to Bachatea 2017.  It was honestly the biggest let down of my life.  For a festival that big, with that stature, that name - I, along with hundreds or possibly thousands others wanted to cry after the first day.

The lighting, sound, floor,  and workshop space was non-existent.  Imagine a super big car repair shop with thin walls that divide the space into Bachata, Salsa, and Kizomba rooms.  Imagine there is no dance floor.  Just hard concrete that give nothing back.  As the teacher is speaking, you can't really understand him/her because you also hear the echo of music and other teachers.  WELP!  This pretty much summed up Bachatea 2017 in Madrid, Spain.

As with any festival, there are pros and cons.  Now that the cons are out of the way, let's talk about the pros.  The stage and performances were impressive.  Lots of seating was available and the stage was huge.  Many artists from all over the world were also there.  

After speaking to many artists and dancers over the years.  Two festivals have always popped up as their favorites.  One being Summer Sensual in Croatia, and the other being Bachaturo in Poland.  I've always wanted to go to Warsaw so this might be the year.  The organization, lineup, production, and overall energy looks promising.  

Here is the recap from Bachatea 2017 in Madrid:

Bachata French Kiss 2017 | France

It was my second night in Paris and I decided to go out to a Bachata social.  What did I find?  Bachata Sensual is definitely on the rise.  One room was packed with dancers while the other room was completely empty.  That other room?   Good guess,  it was the Dominican room.

It's good to see Samy El Magico keeping Dominican bachata alive in France.  While it's not the norm, it should definitely be available and respected.  The festival is also centered around this respect.  Samy brought an eclectic mix of bachata artists that dance all different styles.  

I really enjoyed the music throughout the festival.  The bachata DJs played a good mix of Dominican, Traditional, and Urban.  They also had a separate Kizomba and Salsa room.

The thing that stood out for me the most at this festival was the location.  Situated two hours East of Paris, the festival was held in the beautiful city of Troyes.  The city has flavor, taste, and history.  The buildings show age and tell a story.  I was able to fly my drone around the city for a few minutes until the police stopped me.

20 minutes outside of the city is a number of champagne/wine vineyards.  Unfortunately, we weren't about to go champagne touring(we'll have to save this for next year).  Samy has big plans for 2018 and we are excited to return to film another amazing festival!