This past weekend, the city of Austin played home to one of the biggest annual music fests in Texas – Austin City Limits (ACL). With an estimated 75,000 people in attendance every day, eight stages hosted world famous acts such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack White, Metric, The Black Keys, M83 and more.
Not only was ACL a blast, but the event’s social media management strategy seemed to be the breakout star with everything from the official hashtag (#aclfest) being used to a giant square frame in the middle of the park that scored a lot of attention from festival attendees who use Instagram. Of course I was inspired by the talented musicians themselves, but there were a few creative takeaways to think about working into a social media strategy. Check out the ones that stuck out to me:
1. Instagram
Photo by Steve Hopson
The line stretched across Zilker Park as people waited to snap their picture inside of the ACL Fest square frame (pictured above) for a wicked-cool Instagram photo. Instagram has been huge for music concerts and #aclfest (of course) took the app by storm. Before the festival began, ACL announced that the official hashtag to use over the weekend was “#aclfest.” Why? By using this hashtag, users’ photos were instantly streamed into a “one place find all” feed on the ACL app, which I’ll discuss below. People were able to find photos of everything from Ryan Gosling and Rooney Mara at the Black Lips show to grown men running around in Fred Flintstone and Winnie the Pooh costumes. The hashtag created a fun community for festival attendees to connect, engage and share their favorite moments from the weekend in photo form.
An official hashtag as well as a way to incorporate a platform, such as the square frame for Instagram, is a great way for a social media strategy to create buzz and enhance the community.
2. Facebook & Twitter
ACL has been using their Facebook page and Twitter account for the past few years to get festival goers hyped for the upcoming concert and share moments from festivals past. A month before the lineup was announced, they asked fans who they wanted to see and it got an overwhelming amount of responses. Although ACL is a well-known event that has tons of content to share and discuss via social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter have been two outlets for their audience to not only look back on festivals (especially with Facebook Timeline), but these platforms create another type of community for festival goers to connect, discuss the highlights of the weekend, check out photos, get excited, read announcements and so much more.
Discovering the right way to talk to your fans and getting your community constantly engaged in your product, event, etc., will keep them returning, and returning often.
3. Smartphone App
Every year, ACL puts out an app for smartphones that users can use while they’re at the park. It helps festival attendees create their own schedule, find stages and more. This year, I felt the ACL app got a little bigger and a little better, especially with a tab dedicated to photos that Instagram users tagged with #aclfest.
An app and/or a mobile website could be beneficial to engage with your audience, especially if they’re heavy mobile users.
What events or products have a “rock star” social media strategy in your eyes? Let’s discuss below.