S O C I A L M E D I A F O R

F E S T I V A L S I N F I F E

U S I N G S O C I A L M E D I A T O O L S T O E N G A G E W I T H Y O U R

A U D I E N C E

Susan McNaughton

March 2015

F E S T I V A L S - P R O M O T I O N A L

T O O L S

• Take a moment to think about the ways you reach your

potential audience

• list may include - brochures, flyers, road-side signage,

website, print advertising

• think about how frequently these change - a brochure

is a ‘one off’. Website - how do you update?

• any others?

W H A T M O R E C A N W E D O ?

• We are living in a period of rapid change

• Ways to reach an audience are evolving

• There’s an appetite for new things

• There’s too much noise

• People have more opportunities

• They also have more distractions

• Recommendations from friends are more important, but they’re no longer one-to-one

H O W D O P E O P L E ‘ T A L K ’

• When was the last time you wrote a letter?

• Picked up the phone?

• Sent a text message?

• Logged on to Facebook?

• Watched TV?

• Left a review?

S O C I A L M E D I A

L A N D S C A P E

2 0 1 2

• Type of device becomes

more important

• More people move to

mobile

• Twitter has moved to the

core and Google+ makes

an appearance

W H A T I S

‘ S O C I A L M E D I A ’

?

• Many different ways of

communicating

• All competing for your time,

energy and involvement

• With increased use of

‘mobile’ - smartphones and

tablets it’s everywhere

• No longer a separate entity,

just part of the Internet

S C A R Y ?

• Stop, draw breath and think about this before you start

• Don’t be scared

• We’ll start with some small steps

• We’ll look at what you’re trying to achieve

• Then we’ll focus on that

• This is a long-term activity, not just for this one event

G E T R E A D Y

T O B E S O C I A L

• Website: expectation is that

it will display news, provide

information about people

involved

• Provide a place where

people can interact - not

just an email address

• Share interests and find

community

http://www.standrewshighlandgames.co.uk/home/

A D D I N G L I N K S T O Y O U R

W E B S I T E

• Make it easy for people to find out how to interact via social

sites

G O O D T H I N G S C A N H A P P E N …

• If you start now, you’ll be laying the groundwork for the long term continuation of your event

• New opportunities will arise which you didn’t expect

• You’ll get useful feedback from people which will help you improve

• You have the opportunity to reach a new audience

• Your friends will help you

B A D T H I N G S C A N H A P P E N

• People will ignore you

• You may be criticised

• You won’t be able to control everything

• You will make mistakes and more people will know

about it

W H E R E D O W E S T A R T ?

• The first priority is to learn what the difference is between different ways of communicating your news

• List every way you currently communicate with your audience

• How do we integrate a more open and social approach to these efforts?

• How can we expand these efforts in a planned way?

N E X T S T E P S – P R E P A R E T O

P L A N

• Look at your current printed communications

• Look at your website

• Where else are you on the internet?

• Where is your audience?

• Do you know who your audience is?

• What do you hope to achieve by providing different ways

of communicating with your event?

P R E P A R I N G T H E P L A N

• Look at the resources you have available• Do you have the right people in place?• Do they have the right skills?• If not, where can you get them?

• Narrow down the possibilities by considering where your audience is likely to be active

• Don’t throw away all your current methods, but think of ways to adapt and improve

• Build in ways of evaluating your efforts and be prepared to make changes

Likely key elements for your Festival

Printed material directs

people to Website,

Facebook, Twitter

Website content at core

Content on Website

linked to/ from

Facebook, encouraging

visits to site

Content on Website linked

to/ from

Twitter, encouraging visits

to site

YouTube hosts video content

which can be linked to from site

or other media

Flickr hosts photographs which

can be linked to/from Website

or other media.

Pinterest & Instagram

may be worth working on

too.

G E T B U S Y , G E T S O C I A L

Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/SusanMcNaughton

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Susan.McNaughton.Soci

al.Media

Web: http://www.susanmcnaughton.com

LinkedIn:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/SusanMcNaughton