Comedian Marcus Ryan in Love Me Tinder 2: The Untold Stories. Image: www.comedyfestival.com.au
With the Melbourne Comedy Festival in full swing, singles swiping on the dating app Tinder may have had offers more designed to make them laugh than to flirt. Dating apps like Tinder and OKCupid and even classified sales sites like Gumtree are increasingly used by artists seeking a way to differentiate themselves in a crowded market and break down the barriers between the amateur and the professional artist.
With his show Love Me Tinder 2, comedian Marcus Ryan said it was ‘pretty obvious’ to go directly to his target audience on Tinder. ‘A show about dating, love, and online dating especially, it is one way to advertise that doesn’t involve putting out ads in the paper or paying for advertising … I thought it was a clever little way to advertise and I’ve got audiences from it as well, so it definitely works,’ said Ryan.
In fact, he was a little dismayed to find out that other comedians had the same idea. ‘I’m pissed off,’ laughed Ryan. ‘I thought I was the only one… I thought I’d found my market!’
Ryan originally started promoting his shows through direct conversations with his Tinder ‘matches’, but with little time to actually date, he thought it would be more effective to include details of his show in the ‘About’ section on the app and include a promotional image. ‘I might as well go all out and make it completely public … if people don’t message, at least they’ve seen the show title and they can make up their own minds.’
But it doesn’t take an online theme in your show to encourage performers to use such guerrilla marketing tactics. Piano accordion musician Nikki Dagostino told ArtsHub she found Tinder was a great platform to advertise as you have direct access to a group of people who are interested in you, and potentially your work.
Dagostino uses the Tinder ‘Moments’ feature – which allows users to share pictures in real time – to promote her performances. Tinder matches can then ‘like’ moments, and she often has people ask questions and engage with her work.
‘Some people dig it – and I’ve had a lot of people come to my performances through Tinder.’ Unfortunately not all responses have been positive, with Dagostino receiving abusive messages condemning her promotional use of the platform.
While online abuse is never justifiable, many online dating platforms including Tinder have terms and conditions that specify non-commercial use of the platform. The small print conditions do not discourage Ryan. ‘It doesn’t worry me because I think they will just delete my account if anything.’
But image oriented social media sites such as Instagram have become such profit spinners for some artists, that it’s natural the usage will expand to other platforms.
Ryan said his use of the platform is just the nature of social media. ‘Everyone self-promotes on Tinder anyway. They are trying to get you to follow them on Instagram, or their blogs or something like that,’ said Ryan.
But could using Tinder and dating sites like OKCupid purely to promote your work be misleading to those people who are genuinely online to find love?
Ryan has experienced people getting upset when they find out he wasn’t after a date, but he does remain open to finding love online. ‘If love came from it, I’d be open to that but I’m not looking for it that is for sure,’ he said.
‘If I was doing a show about coffee I would probably go on coffee forums…. The fact that it is a dating website is kind of not even a thing,’ said Ryan.
Whether still in it for love, or just the money, does the creative promotion technique actually get bums on seats? Ryan said he can’t really track it unless people tell him they are coming to the show or they saw it. While he does get this feedback, he said the taboo around online dating means that many audiences are afraid to admit they heard about the show on a dating site.
There is also the risk of backfire. Lila Cumming, arts publicist and sometime performer herself, was invited to a comedy show via dating website OkCupid and was not impressed. ‘I think you have to be careful turning a personal medium into a marketing tool; I was totally put off from seeing their show. It was just a bit full on.’
‘To be fair though, I might have had a different reaction were they a more alluring dating candidate.’
The personal nature of the medium can also have people feel they are entitled to free tickets, said Ryan. ‘It’s an interesting one because if you put yourself out there and become personal – accessible – well people assume you are on first name basis and you are entitled to get freebies and discounts, so it is a hard one to try and promote yourself where you can actually talk to people’.
Eleanor Howlett from Sassy Red PR offered a publicist’s perspective. ‘I always say to clients, if you’re going to use Tinder, think about how you want to use it.’
Unless it’s a show about online dating, Howlett pointed out that the people who are going to find the promotion on Tinder are most likely not going to be the target audience. But it could be used creatively for publicity.
‘It’s all well and good to do it, but you’ve got to find ways to use the content that you create,’ she said. ‘If you’re going to invest time in it make sure you are going to get an audience out of it.’
The platform should be relevant to the performance, said Howlett, who has previously had a client sell his soul on eBay to link in with a character.
Gumtree is another unconventional medium creatives are turning to promote their work. Ahead of the premiere of the New Zealand vampire film What We Do In The Shadows in 2014, creators posted a Gumtree add looking for a housemate in Melbourne’s Brunswick.
The advert described the group as ‘a group of four easy-going males looking for someone cool and groovy to invite into our house who is also villing to teach us a little bit about modern society, fashion and ze internet.
It continued: ‘Ze room has a bed, a desk, a set of drawers, a spare coffin if necessary, and is available for $150 p/w + 2 veeks bond (negotiable). “No dogs. No religious nuts. No cooking wiv garlic. No clumsy people who cut zemselves a lot.”
The post finished up with a link to the film.
Even something as simple as a hashtag on Instagram or Twitter can help promote a show, allowing emerging or mid-career artists to contend with the headliners.
At the Garden of Unearthly Delights at Adelaide Fringe, comedian, actor and producer Tessa Waters created a viral sensation with her #toiletdisco hashtag, which involved making a video of herself dancing in the toilet.
Waters said it got her a lot of coverage during the festival, with the Advertiser naming it ‘Best Hashtag’, and the organisers wanting to put a DJ in the toilets next year.
Ryan has long been using other creative methods and mediums to promote his work. Familiar with the backpacker lifestyle having performed in over 25 countries, when travelling he creates events and promotes his work through CouchSurfing.
Ultimately, getting creative and using these accessible platforms levels the playing field. Ryan said when it comes to a high profile act, they will use social media to their advantage as well.
‘They are just doing it on a different scale on a different platform. People go on The Project, do interviews on the radio, and do publicity stunts, so I don’t think there is anything shameful about that. It’s just that if I’m not at that level and I don’t have an agent, I have to find my own way.
‘I’m only trying to make the world laugh,’ he added.
It’s the message not the medium, and Ryan left a lasting one: ‘I will marry anyone who comes to my show from Tinder,’ he laughed.
