With millions of young adults on social networking sites, it is only natural that marketers and promoters are following. And it should come as no surprise that our lively Sin City is taking a huge stake in social networking. It seems like every club in Vegas has dozens of promoters and DJs, and each one of them has a MySpace or Facebook account dedicated to try and attract people to their venue. In Las Vegas the use of MySpace for promoting nightclubs is undeniable, but is it effective? Facebook is a newer phenomenon to the Las Vegas nightlife scene, which begs the question, which is a better tool for club promoters, Facebook or MySpace?
As a local in Las Vegas, I connect with many club promoters on MySpace and Facebook. It seems like everyday there is a new friend request from a promoter at Tryst, Pure, Prive, The Bank, it’s endless. I reached out to a few local promoters to get there opinions on how social networking has effected their business and aided the growth of this lucrative profession.
Mike Nagar uses MySpace to bring in tourists and locals to TAO and TAO Beach located at The Venetian. Nagar believes social networking sites can be a great tool when used properly. “I’ve spent the last 2 years figuring out a successful formula, and have taught it to the TAO promotions team that I manage. Ever since I have ran this team and implemented the trial and error findings that I have discovered, our team’s numbers have tripled since this time last year.”
Nagar has been with TAO since November 2006 and now currently serves as the assistant director of promotions. He currently has over 8,000 friends on MySpace, and that number continues to grow each day. “MySpace since the beginning is a networking dream if you know the ins and outs of the whole site. Most Vegas promoters have to go out on the Strip the day of to find clientele for that night. I get mine days or even weeks beforehand by sitting behind a computer or answering my phone.”
When asked to compare MySpace and Facebook he remarked, “Neither one should really be compared to each other because the original focus of each site is different. MySpace was built to be one huge billboard. Facebook was built for you to be more personal. For quantity purposes, MySpace is better. In order to build that quality relationship with your clientele, Facebook is definitely better.”
This then led to the next question, what is it that makes Facebook a better quality tool for promoters? Enter Will Ramadan a.k.a. DK Knowledge. Ramadan is a Canadian born DJ who travels the globe performing, but spends a majority of his time now in Las Vegas.
Ramadan is an avid Facebook user and one part of the admin and creator team of Facebook’s group, “Vegas baby, Vegas!!! The Party Guide.” “The key is to apply yourself intelligently and make it so people will want to reach you. A good example of this is the Vegas club guide I created with Steven last summer. I am from Canada, where Facebook was already far more dominant than MySpace, and I was shocked to see that very few people in the Vegas even knew about it. I saw the growth potential, and with my Facebook expertise and Steven’s job as promotions director for Pure, I knew we had a winning combo.”
As for MySpace, Ramadan says that despite having over 10,000 friends, Facebook is definitely more effective for his business. “The fact that I can separate friends into different groups is very powerful for me since I have a large fan base across the continent. It is much easier for me to target people for relevant events and therefore make my message far more effective. I also find it is more quality versus quantity. It is easier for me to stay in touch with people on here and I can reach fans much more effective through my groups than I can through MySpace.”
Las Vegas is definitely having a more intense presence on Facebook. A search in Facebook groups for the key phrase “Las Vegas” turned up over 500 different groups. It appears that Facebook is an undeniably better quality tool for connections in the Las Vegas nightlife scene, however, there is no denying that with over 18,000 friends between only two Las Vegas promoters, MySpace has staying power into the future.
In a town where new nightclubs pop up seemingly every month, it is the club promoters tireless job to bring in clientele, locals and tourists every night to their venue. With social networking tools at their side, this cycle will continue to grow and prosper into the foreseeable future. It will only be time that will determine which will prevail as the premier promoter platform, MySpace or Facebook.
