Social Media Strategies

I had heard about how using social media marketing tactics can massively increase the foot traffic to the concerts 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. What we realized with social media is that we can greatly increase the outreach and promotions without increasing our budget at all. Online mediums like Facebook and other social groups allowed us to really get our targeted audience interested in the show and soon enough we had them marketing the 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!

An important thing to remember is that we didn’t just go online and started to promote the concert. We had a pre-launch period in which we first built a network of targeted audience, through 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 concerts. Do keep in mind that they have to be planned meticulously and with tact to get the best results. I am going to keep sharing my thoughts and experiences in managing and marketing all sorts of events successfully. Keep tuned in and feel free to ask for specific advice.

Simon U Ford (SUF.EDBD)

Today’s tip! To get search engine traffic you must own software that’s capable of showing you everything the search engine spiders see.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.