Creating Fan Engagement Before Your Festival

Creating fan engagement before an event is an essential part of building excitement and anticipation for attendees near and far. With so much technology available, these engagement strategies do not have to be time consuming or tedious. In fact, there are many ways to layer fan engagement strategies into your existing marketing campaigns that can positively impact ticket sales immediately. 

1. Use social media

Social media is a powerful tool for building fan engagement before an event. Create a buzz by posting interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, or sneak peeks of what's to come. Encourage fans to share and tag their friends to spread the word and generate buzz. If budget permits, offering ticket giveaways through platforms like Instagram, TikTok or Facebook help increase the visibility of your social platforms as well. If there are relevant influencers that can authentically collaborate with your festival, it is recommended to begin those partnerships ahead of the event to assist with ticket sales.

2. Incorporate a Chat Feature 

Often it can be overwhelming for a small customer service team to field all questions from attendees. The lack of communication can be a pain point for guests who feel as though they are not able to get the information they need before an event. By incorporating an A.I chatbot to your website, fans are able to get the answers they need and your team is able to focus on other tasks. 42Chat is a company we love, that is creating intelligent A.I chatbots that can create a two way conversation while delivering answers in 3 seconds or less.

3. Provide interactive experiences

Interactive experiences, such as interactive websites or virtual reality experiences, can create engagement and excitement for an upcoming event. Provide interactive experiences to fans through social media or dedicated websites to keep them engaged and excited about the event. Megilla is one platform that strengthens and accelerates engagement through acting as a centralized hub to collect authentic user-generated content. Festival producers are able to create a prompt, request videos from attendees, and have all user-generated content located in one place. These videos can then be shared prior to the event, or shown throughout the festival to further a sense of community.

4. Provide exclusive content

Exclusive content, such as behind-the-scenes footage or special offers can create excitement and anticipation for an upcoming event. Provide exclusive content to fans through apps or newsletters to keep them engaged and excited about the event. Companies like Tappit who offer cashless RFID and mobile pay systems for festivals also incorporate special offers to their white-labeled payment systems. By offering special discounts ahead of the festival for merchandise or participating sponsors, your guests will feel engaged and valued.

Increasing engagement before your event is crucial to building excitement and driving ticket sales. When a community feels heard, brand loyalty will increase. By incorporating strategic engagement initiatives and utilizing innovative technologies, your festival will see more year-round visibility and awareness that results in increased ticket sales for years to come.