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Why should you be using social media? Well, this is why. Your audience is there.

Nielsen did a survey during July – September, 2010 of the consumers who were getting a new Smartphone. 33% wanted an Apple iPhone, 26% wanted an Android phone and 13% wanted a Blackberry device. The same survey conducted between January and March 2011 revealed that 31% wanted an Android, 30% wanted an iPhone and 11% wanted a Blackberry. Android is slowly creeping up the consumer ‘cool index’, beyond the iPhone. We need to be thinking about this when working with application development companies and look to cross-smartphone solutions.

Glastonbury Music Festival in England is one of the biggest music festivals in the world. It’s coming up on June 24-26 this year. They have a new app that features the festival lineup, event map, news, and other details, and allows users to share their own customized festival schedule with their Facebook friends.

Glastonbury Music Festival in England is one of the biggest music festivals in the world. It’s coming up on June 24-26 this year. They have a new app that features the festival lineup, event map, news, and other details, and allows users to share their own customized festival schedule with their Facebook friends.

Glastonbury Music Festival in England is one of the biggest music festivals in the world. It’s coming up on June 24-26 this year. They have a new app that features the festival lineup, event map, news, and other details, and allows users to share their own customized festival schedule with their Facebook friends.

The SXSW Music Festival app contains a show calendar, personalized recommendations (Amazon.com if you like …), in depth data on all the 2000 bands playing, and the ability to customize your own schedule. You can even listen to music from all the bands to test drive them before you go to the show. The cool thing about this app is what they call their “hotness” feature. It uses crowd wisdom on what the best shows are to see based on social media buzz.

QR stands for “quick response”. A QR Code is a 2 dimensional bar code that can be read with a special app on a smart phone. They are linked to a URL (preferably a mobile site) to get more information on something. There are lots of uses for them in the festivals and events world.

These billboards started showing up in New York last year – they replaced the racy Calvin Klein jeans adds. The copy reads “Get It Uncensored” , Calvin Klein jeans. If you scan the code you’d see a short video of overly skinny shirtless models wearing Calvin Klein jeans.

Downtown Grand Rapids, MI is working with some other local organizationsto do a GR Tag Tour using QR codes to drive people to audio podcasts. Thiswill give tour-goers some insight on what Grand Rapids was like back in the olden days by sharing stories from the past.

Rather than develop an app, the Rochester Jazz Festival used instructional posters with QR codes on them. Attendees scanned the code and were taken to a new mobile site with all the festival information.

It’s always challenging trying to integrate a downtown into a festival experience. This group may have figured out how. The Geneva Chamber of Commerce worked with downtown businesses and the Swedish Days Festival on a promotion that will help market the downtown merchants to festival attendees. Visitors with smartphones will get immediate access to featured specials and discounts exclusively during the event. When you scan the code, you go to the mobile friendly Swedish Days 2011 Hot Deals page that includes all the specials. Some are offering a % off, others are offering BOGOs.

Have you heard of geocaching? Well, this is a QR code geocaching excursion on the Isle of Jura in Scotland during the 2011 Feis Ile Festival. The Isle of Jura is where George Orwell wrote 1984 and the KLF set fire to $1 million British pounds.The island is also known for its whisky – or we would call it Scotch. Whisky drinking is a big part of this festival because of the Jura Distillery. So Jura decided to help get people out exploring the island a bit more during the event. They came up with the Juracache. Bad phone signals?“If you buy a dram at the bar of the Jura Hotel or ask Sue very nicely in the Jura shop (after buying something of course), they might – might! help you out …”

A QR Code treasure hunt or scavenger hunt might be a fun way to encourage people to explore your event venue and interact with exhibitors/ sponsors. Treasure – work with sponsors to offer prizes for the treasure hunt winnersChallenges – you could have them solve little riddles, answer questions, or gather some piece of information/objectQR – create a different code for each location on the hunt. When players scan the code, the scan could reveal a question or a challenge which will lead them to the next QR code if they answer correctly.This would be great for vendors at a trade show too.

Here’s cool application of location-based apps. I’m proud to say it’s my alma mater – Texas A&amp;M – who came up with the genius idea of doing a scavenger hunt on campus using Twitter and Foursquare. Their goals were brand awareness for their sponsors (Bookstore and Addidas, which is the official brand for Aggie apparel).

For results the organizers said this promotion increased their “cachet of cool” with students. During the 3 day event, they saw a 10 percent increase in the number of Twitter followers and grew their brand new Foursquare program to more than 6350 friends.

The Austin CVB just held a contest using Gowalla. They developed a trip in association with the Fun FunFun Fest held on November 6th in downtown Austin. Their goals were the following: 1) to get festival participants to venture out of the festival grounds and explore some other cool Austin places nearby2) To increase awareness of the festival3) Get people to come into the Austin Visitor CenterPeople who completed the trip were entered to win 2 VIP upgrade passes to the festival.They promoted in on Twitter and Facebook.

From Katie Cook with ACVB:We had 12 people complete our FFF Fest PIP Trip. The winner received 2 PIP (aka VIP) passes for Sunday’s festival. He was stoked and tweeted about it: http://drippic.com/node/10655 Twitter: We had 361 people click on our Gowalla trip link and 245 click onto Austinist.com article.We had 20 RTs of our 4 tweets on the contest. Facebook: We sent an update on our contest to our 5,500 fans and in that post tagged Austinist’s fan page (3,100 fans), Fun FunFun Fest (10,200 fans) and Transmission Entertainment (producer of the festival to their 1,800 fans).

Through this SMS promotion, they were able to measure the effectiveness of a previously immeasurable advertising medium.

Everybody knows about hashtags, right? Has anyone ever used them to follow along at a conference? A conference you’re not even attending? What about a Twitter chat? Tweetchat.com is an awesome tool that lets you monitor a hashtag in real time. Just sign in to Twitter and enter the hashtag you want to follow in the window.You’ll be taken to a “chatroom” where you can see tweets from everyone using that hashtag at that exact moment. If you tweet something, it automatically appends the hashtag to the end of your tweet.This chat is following the hashtag #coopext. However, they are promoting a Twitter chat called “#AgChat”. I participate in a chat called “#TourismChat”. Twitter chats are regularly scheduled discussions that occur over Twitter. Tourismchat has people “attend” from all over North America and several other countries. There is usually a pre-announced topic and everyone can participate. You might want to start a Twitter chat for festival organizers.

Much like groups on LinkedIn, you can now have private groups on Facebook. This “Tourism Geeks” group is one that I belong to. It’s populated with people from all over the country who work in technology and social media in the tourism industry. We bounce ideas off each other, share work horror stories, and share interesting articles, and ask and answer each other’s questions. It’s an invaluable source of knowledge for me when I’m drawing a blank. Could you put together a group like this with festival and events people?

There’s a reason they call it SOCIAL media. You can ask your fans and followers their opinions on any number of topics. They’re usually happy to provide the feedback. You’d be amazed at the response you’ll get. Think of the possibilities for an informal post-event survey …

4.
Smartphone User Statistics<br />31% of US mobile phone users have a smartphone<br />By 2015, 43% will use smartphones<br />69% of smartphone owners have downloaded an app<br />Smartphone users between 35-44 were most likely to download an app; followed by the 18-24 age range<br />Source: eMarketer; http://www.mequoda.com<br />

15.
DO<br />Educate your audience on “why” and “how”<br />Develop a custom micro-site that truly captures your audience “in the moment” to take your desired action<br />Provide an AWESOME experience: immediate conversion is key<br />Incorporate audio and video that can’t be duplicated on paper<br />Ask for email or a Facebook “like” in exchange for a coupon or exclusive information<br />Source: Tim Hayden (http://www.44doors.com)<br />

16.
DO NOT<br />Drive the audience to your standard website homepage<br />Translate web pages 1:1 from desktop to mobile: brevity rules the moment<br />Repeat information that is printed or published on the same real estate as a QR Code<br />Extend the moment for longer than 90 seconds<br />Source: Tim Hayden (http://www.44doors.com)<br />

30.
East Atlanta Beer Fest<br />Check in at various festival venues<br />3 brewers brought 3 special beefs that were only available to attendees who had checked in on Foursquare<br />Once 100 people checked in, they could win a free EABF koozie at the merchandise tent <br />

36.
Sasquatch Music Festival<br />Sponsor, Esurance, wanted to communicate their “green” initiatives<br />Built challenges on SCVNGR at the festival to enhance the attendee’s experiences while educating them on greening the Gorge<br />

37.
Sasquatch Music Festival<br />Challenges:<br />Cool to be Green: Find an Esurance recycling poster and pose for a photo next to it while holding something recyclable<br />Keep Hydrated: Snap a pic at a free water bottle refilling station<br />Prizes<br />Sasquatch Survival Kit<br />VIP upgrades for the weekend<br />4-pack of tickets to a 2011 show at the Gorge<br />$100 Gorge Bucks<br />