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The Value Of Promoting On Social Networks

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I had heard about how using social media marketing tactics can greatly increase the foot traffic to the events that we plan. We decided to give it a try for one of our concerts which turned into a raging success. We had people fly in from other cities and the event ended up with an active list of supporters who now want to turn it into a cult of concerts. I was able to compare the two approaches comprehensively and would like to share them with you.

Earlier, we spent only about 11-15% of the total budget on marketing our concerts whereas the major chunk used to go to the artists and site preparations. Shows with multiple underground artists would end up with 40-50% budget allocated to getting the artists booked, accommodated and compensated. This left a measly 50% for everything else including ticketing, liaisons, production management, licensing and compliance to name a few and when ticket master and their venues swallow up to 30% things get tight. What got me into social media as a primary focus was when I initially realized that through social media we can greatly increase the outreach and promotions without increasing our budget at all. In fact, our marketing costs are reduced to almost zero overhead in some cases, if not counting our time.

Online mediums like Facebook and other such platforms allowed us to get our targeted audience really interested in the show, without us spending a cent on marketing and soon enough we had them marketing our concert to their friends for free.

It was great seeing the excitement and suspense building up all by itself, while we focused on conceptualizing and planning the event details. Another great thing that we managed to do was get immediate feedback on the preferences and choices on the music itself, and schedule the artist bands accordingly. This was great not only for attracting the right crowd, but also for making the audience feel like they were part of planning the concert. That itself was invaluable to us. We ran out of tickets to sell within three days!

An important thing to remember is that we didn’t just go online to start promoting the concert. We had a pre-launch period in which we first built a network of targeted audience with which we communicated, connected and built a level of trust. This was a very important step in understanding the audience and forming a relationship and rapport with them.

There are a number of great social networking sites that you can use for planning your events. Do keep in mind that they have to be planned meticulously and with tact to get the best results.

Simon U Ford (SUF.EDBD)

Today’s tip! The first step to being super organized is to manage all of your passwords in you’re browser. Being able to share them across your team is a bonus.

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  • The essence of this is about increasing efficiency. More effective marketing at a lower price. Add to this that it can be directed towrds those people you specifically want ot focus on and you get closer to the ideal situation.

    Dont be misled, the cost in money terms is lower but there is the time cost one needs to consider. So part of developing an online strategy is optimising the use of your time, versus outsourcing and automation.

    Another important consideration is to remember there is also a before and after to any event which create further opportunities themselves.
  • duncan_b
    The commercial objective of social media marketing seems to be to create a helpfully relevant and trusting environment in which people can discover your sales funnel, and enter it if they choose. It's an alternative to costly advertising campaigns, and boils down to selling to people who see you as their friend, not as a stranger. By providing a positive buying experience (rather than a pressure-filled selling one), it should frequently result in repeat and referral business.
  • Duncan, I believe social media is that and so much more. You definitely want to help people out and provide high-value information to them because this will build your reputation and authority in their eyes. It does take your time instead of your advertising dollars but can convert higher because they do see you as a trusted advisor and choose to enter your sales funnel.
  • I am starting to understand how to make social media marketing work. It seems to come down to building a loyal following by providing quality content and frequent communication. This builds trust and a sound relationship. When you have something to sell (of quality, of course) you really don't need to sell any longer. The investment in building the relationship has more or less taken the place of selling. With the solid basis in place, it is almost like suggesting to a friend to go do something together. It no longer sounds like a sales pitch. This is music to my ears, because I am passionate about what I do and can talk about it for hours, but I am the world's worst sales person.
  • bobbicknell
    Your point of "get immediate feedback on the preferences and choices on the music itself" was well taken as a key point of using the social networks and surveys to have audience tell us what they want and to know where they live in the case of concerts. You built the trust and then the audience responded. Also people do feel like they are part of planning it that way as you have developed relationship with them.

    Can see how local business using these concepts of learning social media to lower their marketing costs can increase profits and have an immediate impact for them. Very powerful impact on marketing budge. Thanks for sharing! Your book "Social Traffic" is awesome!
  • It's very illuminating to see how your budget was so used up it only had 11%-15% leftover for marketing. Having these tools come along which give you another way to get the message out and tell people how cool an event is provides a great supplement to the marketing budget/efforts.

    And you obviously know the importance of anticipation in any marketing campaign. Apple did it brilliantly with their launch of the iPhone and the 6 months of buildup, "leaked photos", and other 'secret' communications which just happened to find their way onto the net.
  • Social Media is ramping up to be the best and maybe the only way to promote your products or events...join in, dig in or be left behind. Thanks for another great post Simon.
  • It is great that you could actually decrease cost and thus increase profits by developing strong connections to your niche on Social media sites Simon. Of course events are all about people having fun or learning. It remains to be seen really if businesses can market their products in this manner. Visibility certainly increases with interactions but if people on line are not there to go shopping then they would not necessarily really want to join up with them.
  • Rebecca,

    You remember the time when all your friends are going away for the weekend. They are going to a little holiday village together. You're not. But last minute you decide you want to go too,... only, you find the holiday village is all booked out this particular weekend.

    You're friends have rooms booked. You really want to go now so you search the internet and phone every property in town looking for a room. In this particular mindset it doesn't matter what you pay or what the room is like. You just want a room. Its all that's important. You're in a buying frenzy.

    Well that same village is half empty most of the year. Under normal circumstances you would shop around, compare it to other towns and book the best deal possible. Event marketing is about leveraging an audience off one and other in a way that leads them into a similar buying frenzy.

    An event can be anything. New product launch, a clearance sale or Christmas for that matter. It's a date to which you can anchor an audiences focus in order to build anticipation, exclusivity and scarcity triggers into a campaign that puts all your prospects onto the same page. The alternative is to make products for sale 24/7 and hope customers come in and but them in their own time spread across 160 hours a week. Selling one at a time. Each customer singing their own tune from their own sheet to which your shop keepers must dance.

    A sharp operator will sell more product with 4 well planned, recurring events (product launches) in any given year carrying far less overhead than the same product being made available every day throughout year. This argument excludes some products like consumables etc but you get my point.

    Four big events would carry less overhead and be more profitable.
  • I guess that is where a well thought out strategy comes in the best. The prelaunch or fertilization period needs to be very well planned out. For me it again underlines the necessity of an excellent team working together.
  • Not just an excellent team working together, but an excellent team with an excellent understanding of how the appropriate campaigns need to be built and nurtured -- the underlying things we're learning in this course. Hot stuff indeed!

    While I'm here: Congratulations, Rebecca on your LeaderBoard Standings this week! You GO, Girl!

    Peace and Love,
    DeeJay
  • Thanks you Dee Jay for your encouragement.
  • Guest
    I have two questions please:
    "We had a pre-launch period in which we first built a network of targeted audience with which we communicated, " Can you be more specific?
    In what cases will facebook stop your promoting? thanks.
  • Reading the comments here, many seem to confuse social media or social media marketing with Social Marketing . Social Marketing goes back a long way and is a very different discipline.
  • I'd love for you to revisit your post, Marina and expand on what you've said. What is the nature of the confusion you noticed? How do YOU define Social Marketing? What makes it SO different from what's being referred to here as Social Media Marketing? Isn't it ALL about relationship building -- only now, with Social Media, marketers have an opportunity to begin building those relationships well BEFORE transaction times.

    This puts both parties at an advantage:
    1.) the marketer is better able to make certain they're providing what the audience REALLT wants (E.G. one set of musicians/bands vs another) and
    2.) the audience gets to share their feelings in a way that allow them to KNOW their opinions will make a direct difference in the event/product.

    THIS is HUGE! It is the stuff rabid fans are made from; where evangelists are born. These benefits, of course, were completely unavailable before the internet and social media. This, is what Relationship Marketing of old has evolved into.

    I take it that you are saying Social Marketing is something OTHER THAN Relationship Marketing before the web and web 2.0 tools. Is that correct?

    You've stimulated many questions! Thank you! :)

    I look forward to your additional comments.

    Peace and Love,
    DeeJay
  • Thanks for the golden nuggets and the power of social marketing. I did not realize the power of social networking and the reach you can get from this form of marketing.
    If done right in the early stages, getting your first group of people that will market for you is crucial. Then how many degrees will it go through the network with the word of mouth marketing. Very powerful strategies...
  • when promoting a venue like a concert, I believe that the social marketing is a good place to rally people and create a good buzz. There are other events I believe that would be good to market in the social arena.
    As for selling a product or service, this market place will perceive as being sold. We all know what that means these days. People dont like to be sold. Through specific groups or pages on FB, I believe that you could increase your results. People who become a fan of these pages are wanting more information or want to contribute their knowledge.
    No matter what this is a great way to reduce your overhead or increase your marketing reach with little or no cost.
  • The more I have learned about social media marketing the more I know that not only is it the future of marketing but more importantly it is a way of marketing that allows one to build a loyal, pin pointed following on a very small budget and not just locally but around the world.

    Fantastic!
  • soldbyorion
    In real estate we refer to our quality connections as COI (center of influence). If cultivated properly we can enlist an army of advocates to help get our businesses to the next level. Your way of building before the launch was brilliant.
  • In previous years no matter what business you’re in so much has been spent on marketing. It’s such a drain. Social Media is the way of the future. Again it’s building trust with others so that they feel comfortable with your product or service and are willing to evangelize for you.
  • This Quote here is key! Engaging, Trust and rapport.
    "with which we communicated, connected and built
    a level of trust. This was a very important step in
    understanding the audience and forming a relationship
    and rapport with them."

    I must Thank Jonathan for introducing me to SocialTraffic.biz
    Because although I don't know what I'm going to do with all this
    Great Knowledge, I do know that when I'm ready it will have a
    Great Foundation.
  • I didn't completely get the "power" of social media until I got together with Social Traffic. I was on all the networks, but somehow I didn't have any real contacts. Now I realize that using social networks when you're making quality contacts is where it's at.

    Just the other day I was contacted by a gentleman in England looking for consulting on facebook. A year ago I wouldn't have believed that possible. Now, with the lessons I've learned and APPLIED here, I realize anything is possible.
  • i wonder how people can live without the social connectivity anymore...
    life minus social websites would be ummmm not life anymore...
    lol
  • Love how your can extend you reach outside of your city and show the value in doing so while cutting or at least not expanding your cost to promote. Thank YOU for sharing this.

    Is there another post of challenges you ran into doing this?

    ~Expect Miracles
  • Social traffic will only increase as people become more aware of the benefit that can be derived if understood and the correct usage of the various tools including Google Friend Connect.
  • As human interactions online increase, we find ourselves visiting more and more sites driven by user content.

    Social networks are on the rise and will not quit doing so anytime soon.... so the question is when will you get on board?
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