How to manage Social Media for Festival Organisers - presentation created for Festivals in Fife, Scotland in March 2015

1. 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

2. 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?

3. 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

4. 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?

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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/

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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?

13. 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?

14. 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

15. 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.

16. 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