How to make display popular

[EmmienLightFan]

I am one of very few displays in the country.

 

 

Only about 10 people have ever been outside and seen the display.

 

 

I have read stories about displays shutting down due to traffic and stuff, but I want just a few more people.

 

Many people on their first year have had people stopping outside their house in cars, I have read.

 

Also all my YouTube videos have more dislikes than likes.

 

 

 

[Ron Boyd]

News media. Be careful what you wish for though.

 

Get some business cards with the address and a bit about your display. Vistaprint is always running some sort of special on cards and such. Post it on social media, create a page on Facebook opposite your normal page. With my Face book page I gained over 750 likes in the last 2 seasons and my traffic has more than tripled in those last couple of years.

 

Just a few suggestions.

[EmmienLightFan]

News media. Be careful what you wish for though.

 

Get some business cards with the address and a bit about your display. Vistaprint is always running some sort of special on cards and such. Post it on social media, create a page on Facebook opposite your normal page. With my Face book page I gained over 750 likes in the last 2 seasons and my traffic has more than tripled in those last couple of years.

 

Just a few suggestions.

 

Thanks. I think I will make a Facebook page.

 

 

I have Instagram and YouTube for the display.

 

 

 

I am going to wait until next year's show though. This is my first year, and I want to change a lot. I think my house looks a bit messy.

[marsh28]

Do something different from everyone else.  This is actually why I do Halloween instead of Christmas.  You can do pretty much ANYTHING you want on Halloween....

[mpageler]

Unless a display has a lot of natural drive by traffic (busy street), it's going to take a few years of word of mouth to build up visitorship.

Word of mouth is going to depend on the wow power of a display. A news story is only going to happen if the disply is of a certain magnitude (not run of the mill) and/or has some other human interest side story to go along.

Ask yourself if your display currently has that kind of drawing power.

[robongar]

Move to an area were there's none or very little competition.

Edited December 21, 2015 by robongar

[Ebuechner]

I live you one of those neighborhoods that most people don't even know exists. We have about four connections to the outside world into the neighborhood that you could almost miss driving by. But I'm starting to see a lot of interest. Maybe about 20 cars a night. I've been told that photos and videos of our display are popping up all over Facebook. I've been listening to people trying to keep it Low key. We had the news media out here but they were nice enough to only mention that we were on the east side of Madison. Some people I talked to have mentioned that they made a trip to see our display. This is my third year and I would have to say this year I got a lot more organized with my display. I started off with 36 channels the first year now I've lost count. (If you build it they will come). To quote the movie field of dreams.

[EmmienLightFan]

Move to an area were there's none or very little competition.

I'm in the UK, there are less than 20 displays in the country, and the nearest one of over 600 miles away.

[MCas4380]

Then your display will grow by word of mouth just be patient it will happen before you know it.

[Dale W]

Make sure your display is worth seeing.

Anybody can find a fast song and vomit out a programmed sequence that will induce seizures. But having a quality show worth note is going to require time and effort in your design.

Rule of thumb: if you program a song, and substitute another song and can't tell, you are doing it wrong.

Forget twinkle and shimmer....they are a bane to a great show.

After you have spent about 100 hours programming and reprogramming songs....after you get timing marks down to 1/20th a second, you are ready.

Word of mouth

Local media...if they don't come to you, seek them out.

Give out cards with your address promoting your show.

Lastly, don't do crappy songs that you think will get you famous. If you want to program uptown funk for Christmas, quit now. It will never be a Christmas song.

Lastly, do something that hasn't been done. Be original.

All displays are starting to look alike in a evermore crowded hobby.

Best of luck

Post your videos.

Don't be afraid to take advice from old timers

[greenie95125]

I am one of very few displays in the country.

 

 

Only about 10 people have ever been outside and seen the display.

 

 

I have read stories about displays shutting down due to traffic and stuff, but I want just a few more people.

 

Many people on their first year have had people stopping outside their house in cars, I have read.

 

Also all my YouTube videos have more dislikes than likes.

 

Don't dwell on who likes or dislikes your youtube videos. You keep bringing it up, which I'll bet keeps bringing you down. I don't have ANY youtube videos, and I get plenty of people coming by to see what I've done. I have had no news media either... just word of mouth. All christmas music as well, though I don't know if that has anything to do with it.

 

Have fun.

 

Mike

[Need more lights]

I don't completely agree with Dale, I do a few non Christmas songs and they are more of a hit than the Christmas ones. I program what I like, or what has been requested. The song that has the most hits on my You Tube channel is a Parody, "Parking spaces hard to find" followed by a song from Risky Business soundtrack "Lana"...so go figure.

  My display is the only one I know of within a 50 mile radius, but I'm on a busy road. One of the things I've done is to call up a local radio station and ask, "Have you seen the light show in Dennisport? WOW!!!" then let them talk it up from there. I get about 50 people a night, sometimes 6 cars deep. Every year I get more and more.

I try to grow my display yearly, but sometimes money gets in the way. I always add 2-3 new songs a year, that's all I have time for...it takes about 15 hours to get a song just right. 

I still believe that less can be better. I put a lot of punch in the house alone...well, at least  what 32 channels can do, and I mirror most of my display to makes it look bigger than it is. Throwing up a light string on every bush and sprawling out a display can look tacky, do more in a small space and it looks neater. Try to keep light strings straight and tight, unless you want the garland look, just make sure that it is equally balanced so not to look just "thrown up". Take care when wrapping trees also, equal spacing is more appealing. If you have a few left over bulbs on a string after outlining something, don't double it back or leave it hanging,  use electrical tape over the extra bulbs to black them out.

The twinkle is useless, I agree with that, but shimmer can add a lot until you get the timings down to a 10th or better...just don't over use it.

Do try to do something different than everyone else. My tree is 2d and attaches to the house. I have the room for a mega tree but really don't need it, my simple tree works just fine.  I also built my star, its over 6' tall and runs 2 channels..I use it for the main beat of a song.

 

And don't be discouraged by the dislikes on YouTube, you have to remember what some of the competition is on there,  it's easy to be a hard ass sitting behind a computer screen and press the thumbs down button...lets see their sorry butts do something half as good, hell, most would need to call an electrician to change a light bulb.

The most important thing to remember is that this is a hobby...YOUR hobby. do what YOU like and have fun with it!!!

Merry Christmas...everyone!

[Ebuechner]

Why did you make your display? Hopefully your main motivation wasn't to get attention and be popular. I don't know about anyone else but I like playing with techy things and I enjoy Christmas lights and a few other things that made this hobby call out to me. To me people seeing the display and enjoying it is a side benefit. I enjoy building things in the basement sequencing and watching them all work together before I even put them on the house. If I was only to make my family and neighbors happy I would still be content. My two boys help me put up the decorations one of them is playing around with sequencing. My daughter enjoys going out with a Santa hat and giving out candy canes. We made a Ditto sign for the neighbor lady who lost her husband almost exactly two years ago. That brought a very big smile to her face in a time where she needed it. So you need to ask yourself why you're doing this. If you're doing it for the right reasons you will get recognized. So continue to enjoy yourself and be patient.

[1983ss454]

I don't completely agree with Dale, I do a few non Christmas songs and they are more of a hit than the Christmas ones. I program what I like, or what has been requested. The song that has the most hits on my You Tube channel is a Parody, "Parking spaces hard to find" followed by a song from Risky Business soundtrack "Lana"...so go figure.

  My display is the only one I know of within a 50 mile radius, but I'm on a busy road. One of the things I've done is to call up a local radio station and ask, "Have you seen the light show in Dennisport? WOW!!!" then let them talk it up from there. I get about 50 people a night, sometimes 6 cars deep. Every year I get more and more.

I try to grow my display yearly, but sometimes money gets in the way. I always add 2-3 new songs a year, that's all I have time for...it takes about 15 hours to get a song just right. 

I still believe that less can be better. I put a lot of punch in the house alone...well, at least  what 32 channels can do, and I mirror most of my display to makes it look bigger than it is. Throwing up a light string on every bush and sprawling out a display can look tacky, do more in a small space and it looks neater. Try to keep light strings straight and tight, unless you want the garland look, just make sure that it is equally balanced so not to look just "thrown up". Take care when wrapping trees also, equal spacing is more appealing. If you have a few left over bulbs on a string after outlining something, don't double it back or leave it hanging,  use electrical tape over the extra bulbs to black them out.

The twinkle is useless, I agree with that, but shimmer can add a lot until you get the timings down to a 10th or better...just don't over use it.

Do try to do something different than everyone else. My tree is 2d and attaches to the house. I have the room for a mega tree but really don't need it, my simple tree works just fine.  I also built my star, its over 6' tall and runs 2 channels..I use it for the main beat of a song.

 

And don't be discouraged by the dislikes on YouTube, you have to remember what some of the competition is on there,  it's easy to be a hard ass sitting behind a computer screen and press the thumbs down button...lets see their sorry butts do something half as good, hell, most would need to call an electrician to change a light bulb.

The most important thing to remember is that this is a hobby...YOUR hobby. do what YOU like and have fun with it!!!

Merry Christmas...everyone!

I don't completely agree with the just Christmas songs either, I have about 80-90% Christmas music but my 2 most popular right now are God bless the USA by the American Patriots and the Frozen mash up of the various songs. Yes Frozen is not Christmas but my son loves it, that's the most important thing to me. That my son loves it, the other kids are a bonus. I go out and watch my own show every night and do every year.

Most of my friends, and my wife's family think I'm nuts for working on lights and building props for Christmas and Halloween 11 months a year lol

[Lorenzo]

Check on your local newspaper , radio and TV web site , some of them are looking for the best Christmas Lights in town, to post on their article,

thats what I did and sometimes Im already having a traffic in my front road just for my first set up this year. its not to get someones attention but

its worth of an effort doing this just to spread the spirit of christmas through twinkling and shimmering lights.

[Tony Shepherd]

Make sure your display is worth seeing.

Anybody can find a fast song and vomit out a programmed sequence that will induce seizures. But having a quality show worth note is going to require time and effort in your design.

Rule of thumb: if you program a song, and substitute another song and can't tell, you are doing it wrong.

Forget twinkle and shimmer....they are a bane to a great show.

After you have spent about 100 hours programming and reprogramming songs....after you get timing marks down to 1/20th a second, you are ready.

Word of mouth

Local media...if they don't come to you, seek them out.

Give out cards with your address promoting your show.

Lastly, don't do crappy songs that you think will get you famous. If you want to program uptown funk for Christmas, quit now. It will never be a Christmas song.

Lastly, do something that hasn't been done. Be original.

All displays are starting to look alike in a evermore crowded hobby.

Best of luck

Post your videos.

Don't be afraid to take advice from old timers

Plus one on Dales comments

We are in the UK and get a lot of traffic our donations so far this year are £6,300 or almost $10.000 social media plays a big part but we find almost everyone likes a traditional Christmas look. The main point being you have to have something a bit different and a style that people talk about and like to visit. It takes a few years to get to this. Hope this helps. Tony

[sticks4legs]

I like my display and so does my family, if people drive by and like it as well..... Even better

Focus on what you like not others