Las Vegas promoters excelling business with social networking

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.

Get in the AIM Game!

I recently returned from the Southern California regionals of the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC). My fellow classmates and I represented UNLV for the first time at this level and spent months working with AIM and AIM Social Media products. The assignment was to create a full campaign to promote AIM, increase AIM brand awareness, grow trial and usage, and bridge the gap between AIM and AIM Social Media products. The campaign included advertising, promotions, public relations, marketing and product development. In short, A LOT of work.

Our campaign was “Get in the AIM Game,” a fun and young approach feeding off the already established appeal of AIM. We heavily focused on the mobile capabilities of AIM and the target market (18-24 year olds) obsession with mobile devices. I am unbelievably proud of the product we created and believe it would have been the perfect campaign to bridge the gap of AIM users to AIM Social Media (AIM’s version of MySpace).

The competition put us up against many well known Southern California universities. We were suppose to be judged by the client (AOL) and industry professionals. Unfortunately the AOL judge wasn’t present and were judged by agency people, who, in our opinion, were not aware of the full scope of AIM and its users. I don’t feel that this made for a fair competition. Retrospectively, it was still an amazing experience. Social networking is such an incredible phenomenon that AIM is trying to once again get back in the game (see the reference here!).

It was an incredible experience to see how social networking is evolving and how many different ways it can be interpreted. I only hope that one day AOL will give us (and the other 8 teams) our 20 minutes, maybe then AIM can get back in the game!

Beware, employers are watching!

Once upon a time, job connections and business deals began with face-to-face interaction. Your reputation was secured and defined by your actions and word of mouth. Today’s world is much more complex than this. The phenomenon of social networking is redefining the way we connect and relate to one another. Social networking allows people a forum to express themselves and connect with family and friends. This is the beauty of social networking. What is often lost on this generation, is that your social networking pages will contribute to the way employers, professors and colleagues view you.

Social networking is now so normal, that people rarely realize that when you post your life online, the whole world can watch, the good, the bad and the ugly. Employers are now screening applicants through their online history, not just resumes. It is being reported almost everywhere that employers are looking into personal history on these social networking sites and search engines. UK’s The Independent reported that “62 percent of British employers are now checking Facebook, MySpace and Bebo pages of some applicants….reasons given by employers included concerns about excessive alcohol abuse, ethics and job discrespect.”

So how do we defend our reputations against prying employers? Is it fair that employers judge us on our college Spring Break romp years after the fact? Fear not, job-seekers. A new service has been created to combat all of the negative things about you on the internet. ReputationDefender.com is a service that searches the internet and reports back in a monthly report what is lurking on the web about you. For only $9.95 a month, you will have monthly reports sent to you detailing everything about you found on social networking sites, blogs, and even YouTube and Flickr. If you find something damaging, the service will “destroy” this information for only $29.95 an item. That dream job may not be out of your reach!

Once you land that perfect job, where is the line regarding privacy? What information is fair game in a lawsuit, workman’s compensation claim or sexual harassment?  California law student Zack Frost thinks that it is only a matter of time before your online history is standard in court. “When you enter the professional world, it is important to assess what you are saying by having these pages up. If you choose to keep your pages open, be sure to take the proper steps to keep your information as private as possible.” When it comes to legal cases, Frost believes it is entirely legal for the court to view your sites as evidence. “In court we are charged to bring to light any evidence that can get to the truth, many times this will include information you have online.”

There are many opinions on what is ethical to look at in regards to your employment, but it seems the employers and lawyers are moving with the times. Remember that once you post something online it is going to be around and available for a long time. Your reputation personally and professionally is always going to be put into question, so make sure you think about this the next time you post pictures and comments on your pages!

Facebook groups draw in users

Users of MySpace and Facebook will openly admit that the two platforms offer different types of amusements. MySpace usually has people surfing through friends profiles, pictures and recent song choices. Facebook offers its users a forum to meet, relate and exchange based on location, favorite things, likes and often dislikes. It seems like everyday a new group pops up and we are running to join them. But why are they so appealing?

The group function on Facebook offers people a place to define themselves as individuals while belonging to a group of shared interest.  A look on to this users page reveals many things about me. I am a group member of I Love Going to College in Las Vegas, UNLV Greenspun School of Journalism, Dwight Schrute: A Man of Infinite Knowledge, Addicted to Entourage, Nothing Gets My Room Clean Faster Than a Paper Due in the Morning, and a personal favorite, Bitch Please…I’m from NORTHERN California. It is easy to determine from these choices where I live, where I came from, my favorite TV shows, and that at moments I can be a bit of a procrastinator! Just looking at the groups a person belongs to can categorize them and give on-lookers a better understanding of who they are.

I predict the group function on Facebook will be what the music function was on MySpace; a moth to a flame effect of sorts. The groups range on Facebook from business, common interest, entertainment and arts, geography, internet and technology, just for fun, sports and recreation, student groups, activities, politics and hobbies. There is an area of interest for everyone of every age. On these groups people are able to connect with people who have the same interest, a function that MySpace completely lacks. Facebook offers people a place to meet without having to be someones friend. This allows a more effective and easier way to network. Kudos Facebook!