Music festivals are a hot topic online. Celebrities perform and crowd at Coachella while the South East caravans to Bonnaroo every June. No matter what event is happening, there is constant competition for getting the biggest turnout than other music festivals. Are you a part of a marketing team for an upcoming music festival? Then this list will guide you on how to market to the appropriate audiences for the appropriate social media site.

1. Facebook

If you know anyone from Gen-Z, they will describe to you that it is the new MySpace. However, Facebook is still being used by almost three million people across the globe. The great thing about music festivals is that the age group of those that attend is very broad. A lot of festival goers average thirty years of age, so the target market for music festival attendees is perfect for Facebook (Grate, Rachel). The highest group that is on Facebook happens to be 25-34 year old women. If festival goers are searching for tickets, news, or festival outfits on Facebook, your campaign should be a part of their algorithm. To get onto their algorithms, your edgerank must be high. To gain attraction and interaction of your advertisements, definitely post videos. Having videos in users news feed will offer you more traction. For example, this video for okeechobee Music Festival advertises their festival in an alluring yet interactive way.

2. TikTok

TikTok has been rising since 2019, receiving new users every day. In fact, “one billion active users spread across 154 countries make TikTok one of the most popular social media platforms as of 2022” (Ruby, Daniel). This being said, there is a lot of potential for your campaign if you go through with this social media application. Using the creator tools within the TikTok settings, you can promote any video. If you post an in-feed ad, this will provide the most traction. Original content tends to get the most views from users. Ways you can create an advertisement is showing off the product with a trending sound. The sound will make your post more likely to appear on others for you pages. Also, the trending sound can connect a younger user to your product better. Definitely use TikTok to advertise to a younger audience if that is your target market! Even if you have an older audience you are trying to reach, there are so many different communities on TikTok. For example, there is a rave community that uses the same hashtags, sounds, and topics. Reaching this audience would be vital for marketing your music festival.

3. Instagram

Each month, about two billion users are active on the media sharing app, Instagram. Instagram has advanced immensely, making it a perfect spot for marketing your festival. Videos, reels, and even stories were introduced to the app, leaving creators to do what they please with all these new features. What better to do than make revenue and promote businesses? Using stories to promote your company is helpful because you can link websites to take the viewer straight to the platform you are advertising. Also, over five hundred million users share instagram stories with their followers every single day. The opportunity for reach and getting your brand out there is ginormous. Although you can post original content, you can also pay for placing advertisements through Meta Business Manager. Paying for your advertisements to present itself in other people’s feed boosts the chances of people viewing your ad.

No matter which app you use to promote your music festival, there are certain guidelines and facts to remember. Appealing to all audiences or a younger one will be very effective on TikTok. Meanwhile, older audiences have more of a hold on Facebook. Whichever social media you decide on, just ensure you are targeting the right audience.

References:

Grate, Rachel. “Festival Demographics and Insights – Eventbrite.” Eventbrite Blog, 14 May 2022, https://www.eventbrite.com/blog/music-festival-demographics-ds00/.

Ruby, Daniel. “35+ Tiktok User Statistics: How Many TikTok Users Are There in 2022?” Demandsage, 16 Nov. 2022, https://www.demandsage.com/tiktok-user-statistics/#:~:text=Privacy%20Policy-,35%2B%20TikTok%20User%20Statistics%3A%20How%20many%20TikTok,Users%20Are%20There%20In%202022%3F&text=One%20billion%20active%20users%20spread,media%20platforms%20as%20of%202022.

Are you already working in marketing within the music festival industry? Are you tired of completing campaigns that do not get any traction or recognition? Luckily, I have complied a few tips and tricks to make this less of an issue. Implementing influencers with your campaign will help guide your campaign to a success. Especially if it is an influencer in the music festival community. According to Rachel Malvin, a marketer for social media, says that around sixty one percent of audiences trust the recommendations made by an influencer. Sixty one percent of consumers is a way better increase than zero percent. Follow this list inspired by Rachel Malvin to enhance your reach in the market!

1. Setting your goals 

To even start a social media campaign with influencers, you need an entire plan for at least five months in advanced in most cases. Having ideas for your campaign is important. However, to even bring those ideas to life you need to have a budget, deadlines, and goals. To give your campaign the most efficient planning, you should also include any legal issues involving the process to be safe. Keep in mind, even if you have your plans and goals set up, you need to consider the influencer you are planning on implementing to your campaign. You need to make sure the audience that  you are trying to reach is the same audience that the influencer attracts. They will also have budgets, timelines, and considerations to follow, making it challenging but beneficial to your company in the long run.

2. Searching for an influencer

Finding an influencer to run your campaign with is a fun but at the same time tedious task to complete. You might have an idea about who you are interested in working with you. On the contrary, the first influencer that comes to mind may not work for your campaign or your campaign might not align with their goals either. Let’s say you are the marketing manager for a new water bottle that is a fan and you want Lindsay Lohan to be your right hand in marketing this product to festival goers before festival season is in full swing. Although Lohan would be great with marketing to that age  group, she has no background or evidence of having festival goers as her specific fanbase. However, if you explore hashtags and and tagged photos on social media like Instagram, you can find someone that attracts your desired market to be your influencer. Also, searching for mutual followers of who keeps up with the brand you are marketing can ease finding influencers to work with! This way you can find someone that relates to the festival goers market.When you do happen to find your goal influencer, make sure every contract is figured out and no ethics are broken. If anything throughout the campaign gets messed up, we do not want both parties to be upset.

3. Implementing the creativity

Now that your goals and influencer situations are taken care of, you need to work in order to bring your ideas to life! Are you working with the influencer to post them holding the water bottle fan on TikTok twice a week for a month? Are you having them post two sponsored ads of the water bottle fan on Instagram within two weeks? It is all about what your mind wants and what works with your marketing strategy. If it is in your budget and agreements, utilizing the influencer to follow latest trends that will not be cheesy months from now is vital. However, it is super important to notice what competing brands have done in the past to keep up as well.

4.  Setting the stage

Now that your creatives are finished, influencers have helped, and audiences have been chosen, it is time to post. Make sure the posting schedule is implemented. The posting schedule would be implemented in the contract to make sure the influencers are being paid and posting the correct content at the agreed times. At this step in the marketing campaign, you essentially wait and watch all your past month’s work unfold before you!

5. Keeping up/Focusing on Retention

Give some time after the content for the campaign is posted to make decisions on how you feel. There might be a lot of traction at first or none at all. However, be patient and continue monitoring your campaign. Keeping all the numbers like followers, following, and engagement rates of the company’s brand written down can later project the improvement of your company. Also, checking comments, reposts, or mentions can ensure you if the influencer managed to reach the right market. If there are any reservations about the product you are promoting, make sure to respond to the comments and make sure your audience is seen. Even if people are upset, which they should not be, they will feel appreciated if you are active in solving any issues. This increases your retention while keeping the chosen influencer for your campaign protected from hate comments.

 

If you have launched a million campaigns or have not even started one, this guide is beneficial to go over the basics of influencer marketing and producing a campaign. Although there are many steps, it it crucial to get every bit of information about what you are campaigning. Campaign using influencers if you want your brand to have more reach, new content, and more loyal customers. However if there was any information you use in your campaigns, feel free to leave any ideas in the comments!

Are you a business student with interests in music festivals? Are you building a brand you think would do well in the market of music festival goers? Do you need help with how to network at these music festivals to find a career that suits your interests for you after college? Well, sitting in the concert crowd, sunburning the day away will do nothing for you, your network, or your brand. Meeting a ton of strangers is a very scary concept for some. Especially when you are trying to bother a potential client that is just trying to enjoy themselves. The term no pain no gain might be popular in sports. However, in the business world, this phrase still applies So, what really is networking? Networking in my eyes is essentially platonically flirting to gain business ventures and connections. However, networking is also described as “Career-related networking represents proactive attempts by individuals to develop and maintain personal and professional relationships with others, for the purpose of mutual benefit in their work or career” (Jacobs , Sofie, et al.). In a sense, the more connections one gains, the more opportunities that individual will obtain.  It all seems like a setup or unnatural. However, if you do not get your foot out of the door, your brand will not either. Forced conversations are never fun, especially when you are at a music festival. When people hear that you are going to a four-day back-to-back concert, they do not imagine you networking, but we must be savvy to stay on top of all opportunities. Rejection will happen and so will being ignored. Not getting immediate results happens to strengthen your priorities and eventually helps you fall in line with what is meant for you. Jumping into a music festival with millions of connections around and not knowing where to start can be overwhelming. So, I made it easy by attaching a guide with ideas to ease networking at the music festival. 1. Know what your intentions are To get the connections, you want, you must have a few things in mind. First, know what outcome you want from the conversation. Are you looking for an internship or want someone to sponsor your company? You need to know your intentions to get your outcome you desire. This way, you can gear the conversation with a potential connection towards getting that internship or sponsorship. If you are looking for an internship, be specific about your wants and needs. If you want to go into music festival marketing, introducing yourself to brand reps at tents and telling them your needs for employment is vital. This will not only give a face to your name but gives you a chance in coming back the following festival next year to work for that company. If you want someone to sponsor your brand, there are endless opportunities. Freshen up on the top 6 ways to brand yourself at a music festival to succeed at getting your company out in the world of music festival goers. Knowing your intention of networking at a festival will allow you to create a mental outline of who you need to meet, conversations you can have, and the information that comes out of this conversation. 2. Have your LinkedIn updated When you are on the go, you will never know who you will run into. More importantly, you never know when you will meet a future employer or potential client. Having your LinkedIn constantly updated ensures you have an accurate, resume like content for people to reference. When you happen to be conversing with a potential boss or client, also known as networking, and the conversation leads to you needing to show credentials, LinkedIn in the perfect way to connect. It would be inappropriate, or informal, to ask a potential employer for their personal number. LinkedIn is a personal way to stay connected and even thank a connection for taking time to converse with you. The more you reach out, a possible client or employer will recognize your name. They can even bring your name up to the table if there is a business opportunity. 3. Prepare Your Elevator Pitch Networking does not just happen magically. If your goal is to express yourself to get a job within music festival marketing, you need to come up with a fifteen second go-to analog for yourself. Princeton’s Center for Career Development covered all the bases for having and conducting your perfect elevator pitch. For example, a perfect elevator pitch gives your worthiest credentials that is also short and to the point. Within this elevator pitch, you are going to want to differ yourself from other people so, “to introduce yourself, you need to know yourself and be able to talk about yourself” (“What is an Elevator Pitch and Why Do I Need One?). Saying your elevator pitch to everyone you meet during a music festival will not only get your name out there, but hopefully connect you towards the future job you desire. Since you are interested in branding and marketing in the music festival world, what better atmosphere is there to network at besides a music festival? Take advantage with every introduction you make that four-day weekend. You will never know when you are introducing yourself to a vendor, future investor, or even your very next client. 4. Follow Up Within a Week Did you establish great connections at a music festival? Did you find potential employers or new colleagues that you bonded with? Well, if you answered yes, then you must follow up with your connections. Just because you met someone does not always mean that they will remember you nor call you first. When a business connection is established, it is your responsibility to keep up with it to get into the music festival side of marketing. Following up with a connection ensures that they will remember you. When you go to apply for a job a connection had told you about, your name is going to stick out. Also, it never hurts to display your communicative skills with a potential employer/client early on. Even with a killer resume, amazing grades, and perfect attendance, you are not guaranteed your dream job. Networking is a crucial practice to attain your dreams of being involved with working in the music festival business. Although it might seem terrifying to put yourself on the line, the results are so much more rewarding than with what could go wrong. Be a proactive future music businessperson you are and do not forget to connect with millions at the next music festival you go are attending. Go make a LinkedIn, update your resume, and network away! References: Jacobs, Sofie, et al. “‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ the Importance of Networking for Freelancers’ Careers: Examining the Mediating Role of Need for Relatedness Fulfillment and Employability-Enhancing Competencies.” Frontiers in Psychology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 12 Sept. 2019, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6751263/. “What Is an Elevator Pitch and Why Do I Need One?” Center for Career Development, Princeton University, https://careerdevelopment.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf1041/files/media/elevator_pitch.pdf.