Pollstar Live! Social Media Marketing

Social media outlets like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have all taken the phrase “word-of-mouth” to a whole new level when it comes notifying concertgoers of shows in their market, but there needs to be a team effort between the parties involved to keep those fans informed and sell tickets.

Moderator Kelli Richards of The All Access Group kept the discussion flowing as to the variety of outlets to reach the masses and increase sales on a regular basis.

See Also: Extended Pollstar Live! Coverage as well as Pollstar Live! Facebook and Twitter

“I’ve been saying this forever in the context of concerts of the future. I don’t know why artists don’t engage their fans before, during and after a show when everybody’s got the technology in both directions to do that,” Richards said. “And I don’t know why venue owners don’t capitalize on it. Do a deal with an artist, enable a thank-you MP3 file afterward, and you will build an incredible list with your local audience as a venue.”

Ryan Chisholm of Nettwerk Management said that he evaluates all forms of social media to decide which, if any, is right for the company’s artists.

“I generalize by saying Facebook is the megaphone… but it’s based on an algorithm so you can‘t use it like Twitter. You can’t post on it five times a day and expect that impression of your show to be very high,” Chisholm said. “So with Facebook we use the strategy of mixing it up with our marketing messages and also having personality.

“I think that one of the best things that social media can provide whether it‘s Facebook, Twitter or Instagram is the personality of the artists. The artist can basically control how they’re perceived online if you have an artist who is willing to utilize those networks and make sure their presence is strong.”

Topspin Media’s Bob Moczydlowsky said it’s important to evaluate how many tickets an artist can sell and empower them to do it.

“It’s got to be easier for an artist to be compensated, or encouraged, to efficiently reach an audience because they can and there has to be artists helping the venue put people in the seats,” he said.     

Nederlander Concerts’ Jamie Loeb agreed, saying that the small percentage of artists that do engage their fans can make it a lot easier to sell tickets, along with the plethora of social media sites.

“The question that has always perplexed me is ‘How do you find out about the music?’ ‘Oh, my friends.’ ‘Well, how do your friends find out about the music?’ What social media does is give us a way to contact those friends,” Loeb said.

Moczydlowsky discussed the recently announced Daisy music service, expected to launch later this year, with Trent Reznor and Topspin CEO Ian Rogers at the helm as another platform to reach the masses.

“One of the things we’re working on at Topspin … we did an artist integration offer where we’re going to be the way the artist offers are rendered,”  he said. “The problem we’re going to try to solve … this [lack of ] knowledge problem [with fans] is to attach new information to consumption.” 

“Trent Reznor has been using our software for years and he has an amazing direct business that generates incredible amounts of money.”  

One example in use now is You Tube videos with links embedded in them take the fans right to the artist merchandise seen in the video.

Loeb also said that despite how it may appear, an email database is still “King,“ not dead, as a marketing tool.