Why DJ Khaled’s Content is So Addicting
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I remember my friend in shock asking me, “Wait, you don’t follow DJ Khaled on Snapchat??” He described to me the type of content he posts. Of course, I thought how stupid it sounds. Yet, I followed him. And then I was hooked.
Why?
What is it about DJ Khaled that made him one of the most followed accounts on Snapchat. Let’s dive in…
Creating the Inner Circle
Jonah Berger describes “social currency” as “content that gives people a way to look good while promoting the products and ideas along the way.”
DJ Khaled has skyrocketed in popularity due to his ability to create and provide social currency, through the use of insiders — content that appears to be a secret so that those sharing seem “cool.”
It was really cool of my friend to know about DJ Khaled when I did not. He could say “bless up” and I would not have understood but maybe somebody else would have, and they would have that connection between each other. This initial group of insiders act as on-the-ground guerrilla marketers. Especially in the case of Snapchat that doesn’t have an easy sharing function; it is the ability to create something that compels one to tell others that is critical when creating content. Why do people want to tell others about DJ Khaled? Because he’s ridiculous! People like sharing ridiculous and surprising things. He get’s lost at sea on his jet ski, shows off his crazy mansion, talks about positivity in such a unique manner — it’s shareable at its core.
He created content that made the viewers feel like insiders.
The Story
DJ Khaled’s Snapchat consists of reappearing characters and themes — Chef Dee, Lion, watering plants, hammock talk, and of course, “they.” Like any good story, DJ Khaled created a common enemy for everyone to rally against. “They don’t want us to win,” “They didn’t want me to be on Ellen,” “They didn’t want me to succeed.” Celebrities starting using “they” to refer to a common enemy.
These reoccurring words, phrases, and characters that DJ Khaled uses give that inner circle a point of connection, a unique way to communicate with each other, and forms an easy to follow storyline.
DJ Khaled created his own language in his content; as the masses and celebrities started learning the language, so too did brands. It’s all part of being a group of “insiders” but coupled with a story of positivity and success, and it becomes addictive.
Scarcity
The natural ephemeral nature of Snapchat has been a catalyst for the app’s success in general and by way of this, DJ Khaled’s success. Scarcity creates perceived value — in an experiment researchers had one jar of ten cookies and another jar of two cookies. Although the cookies and jars were completely identical, participants valued the one in the near-empty jar more highly. Scarcity is why “limited edition” items appear valuable.
Snapchat and DJ Khaled utilize scarcity to their advantage — he created a TV show that disappears after 24 hours, compelling fans to watch it everyday.
The ROI
Pre-Snapchat, the highest DJ Khaled reached on the Billboard charts with one of his albums was #12 with I Changed A Lot (2015). Post-Snapchat, he landed two number one albums with Major Key (2016) and Grateful (2017), wrote an auto-biography called The Keys and sells out of his “We The Best” merchandise line. All of these leverage the brand that he created on Snapchat.
Actionable Takeaways:
· Create consistent branding in your marketing materials — whether it be characters, colors, themes, slang terms — and use them in all posts.
· Wrap your content in a larger narrative — what is your story? Tell using the consistent branding materials listed above.
· Find avenues to attention with less noise: research trending social apps that may be easier to connect with fans. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter are all bigger than Snapchat but DJ Khaled carved out his own lane on the platform. Less competition on a platform will generally lead to higher engagement. The next Snapchat and Music.ly is out there somewhere…
· Make certain content scarce:
·Make the content accessible only through an email list, or with a gate (i.e., Facebook like/email address or follow on Spotify for extra content).
·Make some content disappear after a certain amount of time, motivating users to consume the content quickly
·Create “limited edition” products or features
