Back in June, I wrote about Turntable.fm, the social DJ service and music community. Since then, I have spent countless hours playing music on Turntable.fm and have accumulated a good number of points and fans. 1,550 and 137, respectively.

According to ttDashboard, a site that tracks some interactions with the site, that places me 1,756th and 345th in those categories overall. From my time spent on the site, I know I have an abnormally high number of fans for my point total. I’ve seen DJs with double my points that don’t have half my fans.

It’s nothing earth shattering and nothing that puts me in the top 100 most popular DJs (or close to it), but enough that people ask me, “how did you get that many fans?” The power of fans is that, every time you DJ in a room, they receive an email making them aware of it (unless they’ve disabled that) and, when they are on the Turntable.fm lobby, they can see if you are in a room. With that in mind, let’s talk about what I’ve done.

Spend Time

First and foremost, let’s get this out of the way: it takes time. I can’t estimate how much time I have spent on the site, but it is a lot. And while I can get work done while I am on the site, it is definitely a lower rate of productivity. So, I balance that out by not using the service when I really need to get things done.

Before this week, I spent three weeks away from Turntable.fm, because I had to get ready for a conference and get a lot of other things done. But, if you want to grow your community on anything, you must spend time on it. That is always worth repeating.

Know the Room Before You DJ

It takes literally a few minutes and always pays huge dividends. Know the room you are in before you play a song. What’s the genre? What’s the vibe? This is usually in the “Room info” tab directly above the fifth DJ spot.

Always, always look at the “Room info” tab when you first enter the room. Not just for the description, but also because you should review the recently played songs to make sure that you don’t play a duplicate.

Try not to force yourself into rooms where you won’t fit. Life is too short – even on Turntable.fm.

DJ in Popular Rooms

I hesitated to put this in, but it has to be said: DJing in busier rooms leads to more fans. This comes with it’s own challenges. Busy rooms are hard to get a slot in. Some are free for all, where it is the quickest click that gets the spot, and some have wait lists that are reasonably well enforced. Either method is time consuming.

But, if you get the golden ticket, it’s a lot of fun. I’ve been able to DJ in a 60-80 people room a few times and a 140 people room once and I’d love to do it again. Most of the time, I just don’t have all day to monitor a room to wait for a slot.

Be Nice and Supportive

There are a good number of people on TT who are jerks or, at best, music snobs. They don’t grasp the concept of music being a matter of taste and they complain, whine and moan and, in the worst of cases, say some very mean and nasty things.

Generally speaking, those are not the people who have a lot of fans. I can’t understand why! People fan people that they like. You are either a kind person or you aren’t. But, being kind will probably lead to more people wanting to hang out with you on TT.

On that note, encourage people to play music that they like, that fits within the room. I’m not saying you have to “Awesome” everything, if you don’t want to, but I like to try to “Awesome” people who are nice and are playing music that fits within the room. Especially when I am on the DJ table. I don’t pressure anyone else to do so because when you do that, you go from “nice” to “overbearing.”

However, when people are closing in on a point milestone, kindly encourage the room to help get them there. “iFroggy is 5 points away from 1,000! Let’s get him there!” It’s appreciated by the DJ.

Welcome People to the Room and the DJ Table

Entering a group you are not familiar with, even on TT, can be awkward for some. As a DJ on the table holding it down, you alleviate some of that with a simple welcome. Your fellow DJs are your allies, so be sure to welcome them to the table, as well. It’s a good, simple ice breaker that instantly helps to put people on your side.

Bottom line: it pays to be a good host.

Chat and Interact

Talk to people in whatever manner that you feel comfortable doing. Keep it light and friendly. You want to interact with people like you would if you were all physically in a room listening to music together. Don’t be a DJ that never says anything. And don’t let your points and fans go to your head.

Have Fun

There are a lot of random fun things and discussions that pop up while you are on TT. There are song based games, such as one where you try to keep one word from the last song or artist in the next song’s title and keep that going as long as you can.

You can also play with the avatars a bit – you’ll see rooms where all DJs have the same avatars or a pattern of sorts. These things help to keep it fresh.

Leverage Your Presence on Other Platforms

When you are DJing, post a status update on other social platforms, as appropriate. One thing I like to do is to send a tweet out with a link to the room and include, on the tweet, other current DJs in the room that are also on Twitter and, perhaps, the person who started the room. Driving people you know to the room also will drive up the number of fans that you have.

When Your Facebook Friends Join Turntable.fm, Check Them Out

Your Facebook friends have already connected with you and made arguably a more meaningful connection, in accepting you as a Facebook friend. Turntable.fm will show you, on the lobby screen, when people you have fanned on TT or people you have friended on Facebook, are in a room. Go into the room they are in, say hi and fan them.

Tell People When You Fan Them

One of the things that I enjoy doing, that that has led to increased fans as a byproduct, is to simply tell people, in chat, when you fan them. I only fan people that I like and/or want to follow. Saying that I have fanned them is just a public acknowledgement and it’s a complement to them. It’s me saying “not only am I going to fan you privately, but I want others to know I like you, too.”

When people friend you on Facebook, it’s a mutual thing where they are notified on the website and must accept it. But, as of this moment, when people fan you on TT, you are not told on the site. You are sent an email message and if you aren’t checking your email at that very moment, while the person is still in the room, you might never see them again or be able to fan them. So, this helps to bridge that lack of communication.

Many people, when they learn that you have fanned them, will fan you back.

Passion Drives Numbers

Finally, the thing that most DJs with a ton of points and fans will tell you, that you’ll think sounds pretty crazy coming from them: don’t worry too much about points.

Points and fans are just numbers. What drives numbers is your passion as a DJ. If you are passionate, and spend plenty of time on the service, numbers will come.