Social Media - How Can You Get People To Attend An Event?

Over the last few weeks I have used outdoor music festivals as a focus for case studies on how to leverage the power of social media. As the camping season draws to a close, what to do this weekend?

How well are they encouraging me to attend? What else could they do?



Butserfest

My nephew's band, the Theory of Six Degrees has graduated to the main stage at Butserfest, having played Glastonbury this summer. Butserfest is unusual in being a one day festival, run by a local council. . No camping, no alcohol and of course no drugs. Aimed at youngsters 14-20, it's timed after their summer breaks and just as they go back to school and university. So how attractive are they making it to attend?

1. The website hit me between the eyes. Brilliantly designed, albeit pushing content down "below the fold" for a laptop. There's a YouTube video from last year on the front page to give me an idea. Information  clear, though not sure when it finishes (if I was driving a parent's taxi). But given the target audience, where's the link to Facebook?
2. Nonetheless there is a Facebook site. The landing page is the info with the lineup with times for the two stages. Sadly no end time again. People are posting to the wall, and the festival staff have been replying (nice and clearly as Butser Fest). So here goes "What time does it all finish? Anything after the main stage? Where to pick up?" Sadly they've stopped replies, at the most critical time, as they prepare to open the gates.
3. There's also a Twitter feed. They've kept up a steady stream of tweets, notably talking  about how to get tickets, and re-tweeting tweets from the bands performing.. But this has also stopped, so no news on gate tickets
4. MySpace is their "other" website, with all the same info, There's  videos, the publicity poster, set list, and their Twitter feed (which could usefully be added to their main website). 

So they've basically done all they can to engage with the local youth and get them along, except in the last few hours. I hope the weather's kind to them!

Bestival on the Isle of Wight

My daughter's already gone there for the weekend with a group of friends, so I'll get the lowdown next week (if I'm lucky!). She's grateful it's sold out so I can't join her. How have they managed doing that?

Well it's now in its seventh year, involving Radio 1 DJ "Rob da Bank". I assume he gave it plenty of publicity. Radio airtime is key. It's grown from 10,000 visitors in 2004 to 43.,000 last year. What about social media?

1. The website is rather flash. Automatic music is a problem in an open office, and it was some time before I found how to turn it off. In fact the site is built in Adobe Flash, so they've also built an HTML site. Pity its menu system doesn't work on the iPad and iPhone! Personally I found the ButserFest website much easier to navigate than either version. But at least they have (tiny) links to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube 
2. "Festival TV" is their channel on YouTube. It's only here I discover that there is a fancy dress theme, "FANTASY". That explains the flying unicorn on  the website! There's a promotional video for this year, plus videos from the last few years. It's party time. Dzzee Rascal will be there. Now wasn't he at Reading ?
3. The Facebook site is pretty basic. The interesting thing is a page titled "YouTube" containing some of  the videos from the Festival TV channel.  And the photos of a beautiful peacock head-dress.
4. The Twitter link is actually for @RobdaBank. There is a separate festival feed which has been tweeting consistently before and during the early stages of the event

All in all I doubt whether the social media side has helped fill the event, though it's helping to engage with folk to come next year. I strongly suspect it's the mentions on the radio which has pulled the punters.

Swanage Folk Festival

The Swanage festival doesn't take place in some remote field, but at various venues around the seafront and town, including pubs. It's therefore similar to "Bunkfest" at Wallingford, and "Sweeps" at Rochester.

It's therefore a complex event to cover on the net.  The website is pretty comprehensive, but not pretty. There's no apparent official social networking. Again I wish them every success!

Wooburn Festival

This is a very different type of festival. There are a host of classical music and other arts events held indoors in the High Wycombe area for a month or so from 21st September 2010 to 24th October 2010.

I was having a beer with the chairman recently and he said there's one fantastic act that has only one ticket sold so far. The event is still some way away, but he finds this odd and deeply concerning. So how are they trying to put bums on seats?

This is the 44th year of the festival, so they are certainly used to success using traditional forms of publicity. What about the internet and social media?

The website is fine. But no links to social media. Could it be that they need to be doing it to counter competition from other events? Probably not, but social media can only help.


The HMV Experience

"HMV's shock over High Voltage show... HMV Group has lost a tenth of its value ..failure to draw big enough crowds to London's Victoria Park in July ... to an inaugural classic rock festival." was the headline and opening gambit in the newspaper this morning.

I've previously mentioned that HMV are moving away from the sale of recorded music and books (revenue down 13%) as digital begins to dominate, and move into live venues and events. The Hammersmith Apollo is now theirs, for example.

The website has, at least now, two big boxes to link to Facebook and Twitter. The Facebook site has continued to be lively since the event, but there's only been one tweet since on Twitter. That's to announce that High Voltage has been nominated for the Classic Rock Event of the Year, at some annual awards. So the event itself must have been good.

However it is reported that there were only 15000 for a venue taking some 25,000, losing some £1 million. That's £100 per head needed from unsold tickets. As a weekend pass was £135, plus other income on site from those extra people less any additional costs, a sell-out looks as if it would have provided a small profit, but nothing exciting. Sonisphere as a heavy rock festival was packed out, as was the 80s Rewind Festival with more poppy acts. So what went wrong with High Voltage?

A quick look on the internet finds comments from music fans suggesting the line-up was a mish-mash that was trying to be all things to all people, rather than to have the focus of the other festivals. But the other key difference?

HMV does not appear to own a radio station, and there's no obvious link with one on the festival website. I don't know whether they used radio advertising. But could the lack of a "pet" radio station that would continually plug the events make a difference? Quite likely.

As HMV have announced that "plans are well advanced to operate three further music festivals for summer 201", they need to get them right to avoid further significant losses.


In Conclusion

It's clear that  a good, attractive website helps provide the information potential festival goers need before booking. Using social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter can only help,

However there's nothing to suggest that social media is the guarantee of success. Whilst radio and other traditional forms of marketing are as important as ever, if not critical, social media should form a key part of the overall marketing mix.


And for success, providing a focused offering that people want to buy.



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