If you know me, you know I (Kendra Wright) love music. No, I LOVE music.

I’m not biased as to genre. I love country music – Willie Nelson, Tim McGraw, Randy Travis, Darius Rucker… I love crossovers like Zac Brown Band more than I can express.

And, I love many other kinds of music, including artists like Kanye West and Justin Timberlake. (Somehow I can separate out behavior from musical talent, in case you noticed that several of the artists mentioned have exhibited less than exemplary behaviors at times.)

But I digress.

As events, we ARE entertainment. So when I see musicians promote themselves well, I feel there is something to be learned. Justin Timberlake’s recent release of his 20/20 Experience album was admirable, no matter what you think of his music.

I often talk to events about building up to a fevered pitch (and doing this as early as possible with strategically-timed, pre-event announcements). JT (you don’t mind if I call him JT, do you?) did this brilliantly, by doing these four things incredibly right:

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Chances are that you’re already using social media as part of your marketing toolkit. Here you’ll find 5 ways to increase odds on having a spectacular event.

1) Create buzz with a contest

Any type of free giveaways get people excited and scrambling to get in on the action. Contests are a great way to generate interest in your event and get people talking about it.

Recently Rodeo Houston targeted the younger audience with a contest promoting their Demi Lovato concert.

Participants only needed to say where Demi was born (and spell it correctly). The winner got two chute tickets to Demi Lovato’s concert at Rodeo Houston, plus the chance to meet Demi Lovato backstage. Also, Carnival tickets, a steak dinner for two before the Rodeo, two season passes to the grounds and a parking pass. Now that’s a serious prize package!

As Leroy Shafer, chief operating officer of Rodeo Houston, said, “these entertainers introduce rodeo to a new generation that will stay with us for generations to come.”

Create a hashtag to easily track your entries on twitter and use a similar phrase on Facebook. Keep the requirements super-simple to encourage participation.

2) Create a video that people will share

A video is the next best thing to experiencing your event in person. Great visuals and sound will not only get people excited to attend, but also will get them motivated to share their excitement.

Make a video (and remember, it doesn’t have to be slick – just take it with your phone!), and leverage it everywhere you can. Post it on YouTube, Facebook and on your own site.

We aren’t sure if this was truly done by a fan or someone at the Los Angeles County Fair, but it’s unique, clever and catchy , proving that even slightly annoying things catch on with repetition.

Some Things I Saw At The 2012 Los Angeles County Fair

3) Interview Performers or Guests for Special Content

One of the main reasons people attend your event is to see your performers – rodeo cowboys & cowgirls, famous singers or even the chef at a crowd favorite fair food cart. Getting more exposure is one of the primary reasons that they are performing at your event.

So take advantage of this by doing a short interview with your performers, and this will be valuable event content. Here’s an example:

Trevor Brazile talking about the prestige of the Pendleton Round-Up

Again, leverage the content everywhere – YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and your own site.

4) Create a “Great Tips” post for your blog

Help your guests organize their day by creating a post with tips about your event. Highlight the “Don’t Miss It” attractions. Suggest ways to avoid the crowds for the most popular attractions. Let them know helpful information about any event changes; for instance, you have now moved several kiddie rides over near the petting barn rather than everything being in the midway. (If you have a Saffire site, your guests can use all of this information to customize their own event schedule right on your site.)

Encourage your visitors to contribute their own tips. Make sure it’s easy for them to share this great content on Facebook and Twitter.

5) Create a tweet for your attendees

If people are excited about attending, why not make it easy for them to tell their friends by just clicking a button. You can create a custom Twitter button with your specific message already set up in the Tweet text. Here is the link to Twitter’s Button resource. Once you’ve built it, you embed the HTML code that Twitter provides.

These are just 5 Ways to promote your event with Social Media. Be creative and try out your own ideas. One of the great things about social media is that you never can predict what will catch everyone’s attention and go viral. Just keep the content flowing.

Instagram is a very popular program for sharing photos on smart phones – especially among the younger audiences our events need to reach.

Instagram pictures provide another great way to tell your audience the story of your event. You can promote anything that represents part of your event—from concerts to competitive events to the midway and food.

Here are 6 ways to get started on Instagram and make the most of it to market your event.

#1 Get started now!

Sign up for an account – It takes two minutes. Download the app and simply use your Facebook info to link the accounts. Choose a user name, like your Event’s name, and pick a password. Select any Facebook friends that you’d like to follow on Instagram, and you’re done. Now you are ready to choose some event photos, enhance them using Instagram filters and upload them.

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There are moments when I’m almost painfully aware of how long I’ve been doing internet marketing (since 1995, if we’re really keeping track).

One of my main reminders is seeing the change in web browsers. In the old days, it was Netscape vs. Internet Explorer, and it was a constant challenge to make websites look good in both browsers. Then along came Firefox, Chrome and others.

As is true in real life, the only thing constant is change, except I’d say this is even more so with how quickly things change on the Internet.

The shift of search engines is another reminder of my time in online marketing. Before Google, website managers had to worry about getting found in a whole myriad of search engines. Google domination has actually made our lives easier!

But then as is often the case with putting all eggs in one basket, when the Google algorithm shifts, the aftershocks are seismic.

This spring, Google has been busy teaching us what they think is important online by changing the rankings (often for the worse) of  many websites. The bottom line is this: We in the industry have always known that what you have on your page is dwarfed in importance by who links to you. “Who links to you” used to mean other websites., but now it mostly means social media.

Google understands that a website isn’t the only place online where a brand needs a presence, so exchanges via social media about and with your brand are now more important than ever. You must interact with your customers, which will get you a great reputation and also rankings in Google.

The Checklist

What are the most important places where you need a presence? Our answer, inspired by a Fast Company article on the topic, is nothing new. But you should consider it your checklist in having a strong brand, both for your customers and for Google.

1. Have conversations on Facebook. Invite questions, suggest reading, provide links, and curate content. Share content that inspires more followers, and if you aren’t getting more followers, tweak your strategy and repeat what works.
2. Share tweets about topics of interest. Notice we didn’t say self-serving announcements. Nobody wants to read over and over how great your brand is. Provide info that is of real use to people, then measure what gets retweeted the most and repeat what is successful.
3. Upload videos to Youtube. If people aren’t watching and sharing your videos, then tweak your videos and repeat what is successful. (Remember, Google owns YouTube – reason enough not to leave video out of your strategy.)
4. Pin and repin interesting images on Pinterest. Most businesses can communicate better with images than text, which is handy, since as we all know, reading online isn’t exactly pervasive. Pin things that you think will be interest to your customers
5. Participate in groups and post company updates on LinkedIn. If a customer sends you a referral, ask them to post it on Linked In. (Send them a link to make it easy for them.) Because company pages are public and now feature status updates, these pages can be useful both for search engines and people.

Branding is definitely a marathon, not a sprint. But the time you put in pays dividends that your event will feel for years to come. Your goal is to be sought after, both online and offline, to share the relevant information you become known for sharing.

So what are you waiting for? Get going!

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: our goal is to help improve the overall online presence of the event industry.  One of the ways we try to keep up with the needs of fairs, festivals and rodeos is by surveying our current clients to find out what is important to them.

Earlier this spring, we asked what feature they would most like to see incorporated into Saffire and the overwhelming answer was text message marketing!

After we saw this infographic, we were sure glad we took their word for it and now provide SaffireText.

But that’s enough about us.  Let’s talk about why text marketing is an important step for the event industry.

This infographic breaks down why text message marketing just might be the best way to reach customers.  You can’t really argue with the fact that 98% of text messages are opened!

Most Americans look at their phones around 150 times per day, so going where your users are has taken on a whole new meaning.  Not only should you have a presence on sites they already visit, but you can now go directly into the palm of your customer’s hand with the latest information and updates about your event.

Text messaging is still considered to be mainly a personal form of communication, so you don’t want to just add text marketing to your mix and look like a bull in a china shop.  Here are a few tips to consider as you get started with text marketing.

• Text messages should be short, simple and personal.
• Text messages are not billboards, so make sure to include a call to action so your point is clear.
• Timing is everything, so only send messages when they will be considered valuable to the customer.
• Respect your customers and don’t send too many messages.  Remember, texting is a relatively new form of marketing so give customers a chance to tip toe in without scaring them off.

If you haven’t considered text marketing before, I hope these statistics show you that this new marketing technique is something your event should consider.

If you’ve had a conversation with one of our team members for longer than 30 seconds, we’ve probably told you how important we think ecommerce is to the success of any event.  Our roots are in ecommerce for large companies and we’ve proved our theory to be true, so it’s no surprise we are so sure that it will help increase revenue for your event.

Even though we are spreading the ecommerce message far and wide, we still find events that are skeptical, so we’ve decided to try a new approach.  They say “A picture is worth 1,000 words,” and in this case I couldn’t agree more!  This infographic tells you just about every reason we have (and a few more) as to why your event MUST have ecommerce. 

So let’s recap:

• 50% of the online population has made more than one purchase online.
• Over the course of 2012, 184 million people will shop online.
• By 2015 US consumers will spend $270 billion online!

Folks, if these stats don’t convince you that it is time to make ecommerce a priority, I don’t know what will!

The creation of your event’s brand has been a process that has taken years, if not decades!  As with any new brand, there was a period of trial and error to fine-tune what it means to be associated with your event as you found your identity.

For some of you it means supporting youth livestock scholarships.  For others it means staying on the cutting edge of the fried-food craze, while others are focused on creating the ultimate concert lineup. Whatever it may be, there is an immediate thought that comes to mind when someone hears your event’s name.

Over the years, we have found that many events are sure of who they are, but just aren’t quite sure how to translate their brand to the web.  Check out these 5 tips to help you enhance your online marketing to truly reflect who you are as an organization.

1.  Make your website the online front gate to your event.

The moment people arrive at your website, they should feel like they have stepped onto your event grounds.  If there is a specific theme or color associated with your event, make sure that plays a part in the look and feel of your site. People may only visit your grounds once a year, but visiting your website is an experience they can have daily, so make sure you make it memorable!  Honestly, I can’t be on the Rodeo Austin website for very long before I can “taste of the dirt” of the rodeo.

2.  Strut your stuff!

Your event is unique and has a personality all its own, so don’t be afraid to show it.  The Tulsa State Fair has fun to spare on their website!  Their mascot, Dizzy the goat, pops in and out showing off different aspects of the fair.  From food to livestock, they highlight different aspects of their event with a twist.  They also incorporate their colors in a great way by creating a bright, eye-catching design.
 
3.  Don’t lose sight of what you’re all about.

Make sure you feature the mission of your organization.  For example, the American Royal Association highlights right on their homepage that they give over $1 million annually to support youth and education.  While lots of people visit their site to learn about events like the rodeo or World Series of Barbecue, they want to make sure that you know right from the start the heart of who they are and the difference that want to make in Kansas City.

4.  Create a community of fans and supporters.

You hear us harp all the time on the importance of social media, but an event that seems to really “get it” is the Florida Strawberry Festival.  They have over 36,000 Facebook fans and over 5,000 Twitter followers.   The often run contests and post pictures to spark conversation among their followers, which are great ways to create a sense of community.

5.  Don’t be afraid to try new things.

I think we can all agree that fairs, festivals and rodeos aren’t always the first to jump on board with new online trends.  For example Pinterest is the fastest growing website in history, but only a few fairs, like the Kansas State Fair, have actually created accounts!  If you’re late to trends, you are missing out on free, primetime marketing!  We encourage you to pay attention to the “buzz” you might hear about new online marketing tools, and don’t be afraid to take the plunge.  What have you got to lose?

As the marketing mix continues to evolve, businesses are looking for new ways to reach their customers, which means they are more likely to spend money on sponsorships than ever before.

In fact, it is estimated that this year companies in the US will spend close to $18.9 billion dollars in sponsorships on events like sports, philanthropy, community events, arts and entertainment.  Lucky for the fair, festival and rodeo industry: You are just what they’re looking for!

As a community event that gives back, you encompass several of the criteria businesses are looking for in a sponsorship opportunity.

I know that events depend heavily on the support of local businesses for their event to continue to thrive in the current economy.  With funding disappearing left and right, sponsors are the ticket to the future of your event.

In order to keep the sponsors you have and find more, you need to know the benefits they are looking for.  Sponsorship is a two way street, so make sure you’re giving them what they want in return.

Don’t be afraid to try something new and update your sponsor package with online opportunities.  On-site signage is great, but make sure to include prime real estate on your website, too!  Linking to their site from yours will also improve their Google ranking.

The audience who comes to a fair, rodeo or festival is a unique combination of individuals from all walks of life.  An event like yours crosses all demographics to give the sponsor a new and diverse audience to reach.  Make sure to mention that you will include their company  in your social media posts during the event.

And the best part about these ideas?  They are free for you!  Nothing like not having to spend money to make money.