Big live gigs are a great opportunity for converting vast amounts of the audience to online traction. I’ve gathered some ideas on how to push your social media engagement, working with give-aways and overall audience communication.
So here are some ideas on how to get that online audience cooking:
1. Exclusive give-aways
If you have time to plan, brainstorm some free give-aways like songs, mix-tapes, remixes, alternate artworks or reworks. You can set up unique download codes via bandcamp and give them away to the audience. For example as printed flyers at your merch.
If you have the means of doing so – why not create a really raw live-recording and make it available for a limited time only. In this case it’s really not about perfectionism. It’s more about atmosphere and the spirit behind delivering something unique like that.
Another give-away could be a video of one of your shows, for example via multiple Go-Pros set up around the stage.
Don’t underestimate the power of miniature give-aways – the smallest gesture can turn into an incredible payoff!
2. Merch + Social Media visibility
Even though it might seem like the most obvious thing in the world. Make sure your merch is visible and well positioned within the venue-complex.
Everything you can’t and don’t want to communicate via the show, like social media platform handles, can and should be present at your merch.
Its basically your second point of sale – with the stage being your first. I know a lot of artists who refrain from being too market-y while performing on stage, with good reasons: self promotion is vital, but theres a good chance of going overboard and distracting from the actual show.
Thats why it’s even more important to be aware of the role of the merch-area. It can act as an intersection, connecting the real, live concert situation to a potential social media follow up.
3. Set up a solid social media event campaign
The better you set up your social media event campaign – for example on Facebook – the easier it will be to follow up on the event.
This means: Setting up a comprehensive targeting strategy, creating a visual frame meaning new photos possibly exclusively for the event/tour, content plan for covering the time up to the event. Treat your event-page like a fan-page and deliver news, articles and features that were recently written up.
An individualized thank you posting with a picture is a great way of reflecting on a great night while creating the sense of uniqueness.
4. Be a people person
A really important part of playing live is sharing the experience and reaching beyond the time of the set. Get out there post-show and engage in some conversation with the audience.
Announcing on stage that you’ll be out there after the show, grabbing a drink while talking some music can act as pure magic when preparing some solid engagement.
Just as word to mouth spreads, your personal relationship to the audience is probably the most authentic way of dropping some news and info on upcoming releases and shows.
Get in the groove of a routine, and make sure one or two band-people are right out there after the show, especially before the bulk of the audience has left the venue.
Ask your fans for feedback and engage with them in an eye-to-eye conversation. Tell them to drop you some comments on your social or any video/photo material they collected. After all you want to push your social media engagement.
Never underestimate the power of audience generated content!
0 be the first one to show some appreciation for this!