Music festivals are often seen as innovators in terms of social media and digital marketing. With the competition of the industry, festivals will try and go that extra mile to outdo each other. This is very apparent in festivals social media campaigns and especially the visual aided platforms, where festivals will try and showcase the events culture, audience, location and artists in the best possible manner to create brand awareness and in connection the festival ethos, and this is why social media platforms such as Instagram are needed.
Visual social media (such as Instagram) is a necessity for music festivals “Through social media, marketers can gain rich, unmediated consumer insights, faster than ever before, and can foster loyalty through networking” (Hudson et al, 2015). This is something crucially needed in such a highly competitive industry as the music one, where developing competition and saturation is always a threat. The social reach is vast and if used properly can be extremely effective.
Instagram is a essential tool used by festivals to showcase there events, enhance social media presence, increase engagement and gain a higher reputation, and to back this up Hirschman states that, “One way of reducing the risk the consumer may associate with the purchase, would be through the use of visually-dominated advertising.” (1986).
User generated content is a key free marketing tool that festival can use in context to Instagram, users hashtags and comments can all aid the festivals marketing. Mobile phone network EE (sponsor Glastonbury) state that “Customers uploaded the equivalent of 1.5 million pictures during last summer’s festival” (2015), showing how big the platform can be for festival. User generated content is a form of content created users of an online system or service can use to create their own experiences and in turn promote the festival (Chua, 2014). It acts as an implicit incentive, this allows the user to feel good as a member of the festival community. Instagram allows users to share media from their lives with others, this in turn builds a relationship between the festival and customers, and it helps promote a festival without them having to promote it themselves which acts as a great PR scheme (Jodl, 2010).
User generated content is a driving force in terms of how festivals are perceived. Hyphen’s Miller-Cheevers states “The influencers on Instagram are really driving the agenda of what’s cool and which things people want to check out next year,”
However there are some downsides to festival using Instagram, because it is just a visual aid, it cannot really be used as a practical information source, meaning it should be complimented by other social media platforms. User generated content can also be negative, if users leave bad comments, which could potentially damage a festivals reputation. Instagram posts also need to engage users straight away because of the high competition, just sharing post, artwork and event images is not enough for an effective Instagram campaign.
A lot of festival already utilise Instagram, with regular updates of professional photos (of acts, audience, location), event specific artwork and user generated content. It helps build a pictorial representation of the festival, providing crucial visual engagement. Festivals Instagram pages aim to make a personal connection with customer, receive PR, build a loyalty and engagement with customer. The platform should also attract new customers, whilst engaging existing ones, effective examples of this include:
Coachella’s account is an example of an effective Instagram page by a music festival, they currently have over 931,000 followers. They post regular updates to keep customer engaged all year round (even off festival season), with various professional photos, videos of the event (showcasing the youth culture of the festival and the excitement that comes with Coachella). They also use fun/playful images (as shown below) as an effective tool for the event, through various content such as photos, memes, gifs and videos, to really try and capture the festival in a bitesize accessible manner. All these effort means that the company’s ethos are showcased to the general public through visual social media.
Another effective example is ‘Imagine Music Festival’, they offer followers the chance of entering free competitions for prizes such as free tickets. The brand specific hashtag that comes with this promotes the contest and gives the consumer a chance to connect with other participants. On top of this it promotes the festival, engages customers and brings together the festival and customers.
The festival also usual the visual aid of Instagram to market the festivals ethos and brand, in a way that captures the whole festival excitement and audience. All working favourable in promoting the festival. The pictures are used to engage customer and entice potential ones as well.
The emerging advances within festival using Instagram, generally revolve around user generated content. Through a partnership with Instagram, several major festivals — including Chicago’s Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn. — have displayed festivalgoers’ images on jumbotrons and onstage monitors during their events. The importance of festivals social media and user generated content is shown in the strategy by some festivals incorporating customer experiences in the brand and festival itself, to heighten the customer experience, increase engagement and a key PR scheme. User generated content can also be used as a metric, through likes, shares comments etc. being used to determine how successful a festival Instagram is.
Overall Instagram can be used to effectively promote a festival and engage people. The visual engagement showcasing a festival experience, brand and ethos can be achieved through a Instagram campaign (festivals must stand out from the crowd). To achieve this a multitude of viable content such as competition, user generated content, videos and regular updates will have to be implemented. A considered approach will allow festivals to showcase their brand in an engaging and marketable manner, to use the platform in the most effective way. Research has shown that user generated content is the main driver behind a successful Instagram page, with customer’s posts and opinions being crucially used as a PR scheme, and to promote festival in the most effective way. User content such as pictures, comments etc. all paint a picture for the festival experience and engage users too.
References
Chua, T; Li, J; Moens, M (2014). Mining user generated content. Chapman and Hall/CRC. P 7.
Hermann, J. (2015). I’m with the brand: why festival goers posting pics from Instagram and Facebook is a crucial part of event marketing.[Online] Available: http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/i-m-with-the-brand-why-festival-goers-posting-pics-from-instagram-and-facebook-is-a-crucial-part-of-10345868.html. Accessed 10 May 2016.
Hirschman, E.C., (1986). The effect of verbal and pictorial advertising stimuli on aesthetic, utilitarian and familiarity perceptions. Journal of Advertising,15(2), pp.27-34.
Hudson, S., Roth, MS., Madden, TJ., & Hudson, R. (2015) The effects of social media on emotions, brand relationship quality, and word of mouth: an empirical study of music festival attendees, Journal of Tourism Management. Vol.45, pp.68-76.
Jodl, F. (2010) Understanding Participative Consumer Behavior. München: FGM-Verl.,
Withers, P. (2015). EE to continue as Glastonbury Festival partner for third year. [Online]. Available: http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/2015/05/21/ee-to-continue-as-glastonbury-festival-partner-for-third-year/. Accessed 10 May 2016.