Facebook US Electronic Music Content Opportunity Analysis™ 2019-2022

Content Opportunity Methodology

1. Measure & Categorize. Sample a large number of social posts to find ones that are significantly outperforming the average.
2. Identify Top Themes. Identify the themes that are resonating most with the audience by sorting the themes by their aggregated performance metrics.
3. Identify a Benchmark. Identify content themes that are performing above and under an average benchmark for the industry based on views & engagements.
4. Identify Opportunities. Look at the data and find the content themes that are resonating with the audience based on a set of top creators.
5. Repeat For Each Platform. Repeat the analysis for every platform that matters to your brand and audience to find platform-specific opportunities.

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Facebook Content Bucket Definitions:

• Electronic Humour: Videos meant to be entertaining, humorous or relatable to the electronic community.  
• Young Talent: Cute videos of kids performing electronic music, dancing to it or attending a festival. 
• Street Performance: Impressive videos of artists performing electronic music on the street.
• Creative Set-Up: Artists using unconventional ways to create mixes.
• Dance Video: Upbeat videos of people dancing to different subgenres of electronic music. 
• Throwback: Throwback videos from iconic sets, festival performances and times in electronic culture. 
• Epic Drop: Short videos from sets featuring a sudden change of rhythm or bass line proceed by a build-up section and break.
• Festival Shenanigans: Crazy, funny or entertaining clips from electronic festivals.
• Sample Challenge: Artists sample various sounds to create a track. 
• Epic Performance Moments: Clips from memorable or surreal moments during an electronic festival or performance. 
• DJ Shorts: Short videos of artists doing goofy, humorous or entertaining things.
• Avicii Tribute: Video compilations and performances from Avicii to remember him on his birthday and various anniversaries. 
• At-Home Set: Artists streaming lo-fi sets from the comfort of their own home.
• Lyrics & Meaning: Artists break down the meaning and stories behind their songs, albums, lyrics and work.
• Interview: Videos of a host asking artists various questions about their music and beyond in a traditional Q&A format. 

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Electronic Humour and Young Talent was an extreme performing content opportunity, averaging 3X the views & engagement rate on Facebook.

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Excellent performing content opportunities for the US electronic music audience on Facebook include:

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Good performing content opportunities for the US electronic music audience on Facebook include:

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Substandard performing content opportunities for the US electronic music audience on Facebook include:

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Low performing content opportunities for the US electronic music audience on Facebook include:

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Extreme Performing Segment:

Electronic Humour

Videos that are intended to be funny or entertaining, including memes, ravin' animals, festival humour, skits and more. 

Tactics to Implement:

• Unoriginal Content: As of Q1 2022, the majority of the top content viewed on Facebook is unoriginal (recycled memes, jokes, and questions that have previously gone viral on other platforms). The video on the right was posted three times by EDMTunes[¹][²][³], twice by Beatport [¹][²] and once by Dancing Astronaut[¹] and Run The Trap[¹]. This video alone generated over 26M views. Look for viral electronic videos to repost, and don't be afraid to share top-performing videos multiple times on your feed. 

Content Opportunities:

• No Decks? No Problem: Of the “Electronic Humour” videos, those featuring people pretending to play on “fake decks” generated 20% of the total views. Check out these other creative ways people performed on “fake decks” here and here.  

14M Views

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8M  Views | 16M Repost Views

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Young Talent

Videos of kids performing electronic music, dancing to it or attending festivals. Top videos in this segment include a kid performing a 90s club mix on the piano, a kid DJingand a 5-year-old producing a multi-instrumental song.

Tactics to Implement:

• Playlists: EDMTunes posted the video on the right on its playlist “EDMLols”. Sharing videos on a playlist can help increase its distribution through related content recommendations — helping you reach and grow loyal audiences.

Content Opportunities:

• Start ‘Em Young: Look for ways to engage with jr. artists on social, such as creating a remix challenge, hosting a DJ competition or partnering with badass 9-year-old like DJ Michelle. 

3.6M  Views

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14M Views

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Content Opportunities:

1. Street Performance

Impressive, crowd-pleasing videos of electronic musicians performing on the street. The first video features a man using flip flops and PVC piping to create music, while the other features Damat Drummer performing on pots and pans.

Tactics to Implement:

• Video Length: The top-performing video was just under 10 minutes long, while the others ranged from 22 seconds to 1 minute. The 22-second video had the lowest engagement rate by views, at 2%, while the other videos each generated an ER around 6%. The 10-minute video had the highest ER, at 6.4%.

Content Opportunities:

• Back to Basics: In a genre that is known for its elaborate costumes and high-tech stage effects, these street-performance videos are refreshingly simple. Create a video series where artists are challenged to use everyday household items — such as pots & pans, flip flops or PVC piping to create music.

3M Views | 7M Repost Views

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2.5M Views

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2. Creative Set-Up

Artists using unconventional ways to create mixes such as setting up a bathroom faucet as a kill switch or using barcodes or melons to create a track. 

Tactics to Implement:

• Video Copy: All videos analyzed in this content bucket have short titles and captions, with the longest title being 28 characters and caption being 54 characters. All captions featured at least one emoji.

Content Opportunities:

• No Limits: Creativity and innovation are at the core of electronic music. In this content bucket, musicians bring this to light by showcasing their humorously unconventional ways of creating music. When it comes to making music, there are no limits. Encourage artists to venture out of their comfort zones and create new sounds.

1.6M  Views

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3.4M Views

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3. Dance Video

When there is EDM, there will be dancing. Top videos feature a couple dancing to the 1994 track Brighter Days and a mascot and security guard jamming on the field.

Tactics to Implement:

• Off-Peak Posting: Of the data set, videos published at midnight followed by 1am generated the highest amount of views and engagements on average. Posting in off-peak times allows you to benefit from less competition and first-scroll of the day traffic.
• Video Length: Top videos were 37 and 46 seconds long.

Content Opportunities:

• Feel Good Energy: Videos in this content bucket are meant to feel good and boost the viewers mood. Share cheerful dances to upbeat music, and you can even make it a weekend celebration! Add extra excitement by using an exclamation point or emoji.

1.2M  Views

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1.2M Views

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4. Throwbacks

Throwback videos of legendary sets, infamous performances and riffs, and raving memories. Top videos included old school rave dancing from the 90s, A-Trak’s 1997 DMC World DJ Championships set and The Stickmen Project playing the classic Voodoo People riff. 

Tactics to Implement:

• Promo: Beatport shared the A-Trak throwback video on the right two days before he performed live on their ReConnect livestream.
• Tags: 90% of Beatport’s top performing videos on Facebook use tags including “Beatport” and other applicable tags to the respective video. The video shown on the left featured the tags “Beatport”, “A-Trak” and “DMC World DJ Championships”. 

Content Opportunities:

• Acceptable in the 80’s (Source): All generations (but especially Gens Zs*), are drawn to the comfort and nostalgia of their younger years. Sprinkle in throwback content from various eras in electronic history to unlock these “core memories”.  

3.2M Views

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1.1M  Views | 1.9M Repost Views

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Viral Videos:

These videos were omitted from their content buckets as ‘viral’ outliers for exceeding 3x the views and engagements of their respective benchmarks.

Livestream Moment

Length: 6:56 minutes

Content: The viral “Livestream Moment” video shown features the clip from when deadmau5 discovered the perfect vocalist for his song “The Veldt” while livestreaming.  

8M Views

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Electronic Humour

Length: 3:00 minutes and 30 seconds

Content: The two viral “Electronic Humour” videos featured above are from EDMTunes. The video on the left follows a skit format. Both videos have been reposted multiple times. 

24M Views | 11M Repost Views

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23M Views | 3M Repost Views

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Livestream Set

Length: 1:15 hours

Content: Nina Kraviz live set from the F1 Heineken Gran Premio D'Italia 2021.

2.4M Views

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Interview

Length: 1 hour

Content: Little Dragon was live on Noisey’s Facebook channel for a virtual interview. The live stream had a waiting screen before starting with a pre-recorded performance by the group.

86K Views

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Extreme Performing Opportunities are removed from the graph benchmark to avoid skewing the dataset.