Social media is now a key driver of event participation. This year, Big Day Out is utilising social media sites even more with dedicated MySpace, Facebook and Twitter pages. For summer 2010 there will be seven Big Day Out (BDO) festivals across Australia and New Zealand – two of which will be held in Sydney - this is only the second time in its 18 year history a second show has been staged in any city.
Using social media, people can see what groups and pages their friends are supporting and this is the new ‘word of mouth’. By having a constant presence and reminder of a product, in this case, the BDO festival, it ensures messages are portrayed and are cutting through effectively.
The challenge is to embed your brand and message in a way that seems natural rather than manipulative. Fan pages on Facebook and Twitter represent an interesting approach. We’ve noticed a couple of interesting examples.
Cadbury is utilising both Facebook and Twitter. On Facebook there are two Cadbury pages– Cadbury (with over 272,000 fans) and Cadbury Wispa (over 801,000 fans). Of particular interest is the Cadbury Wispa page – brought back in 2009 for a limited time (particularly in the UK), Cadbury Wispa has been using its Facebook page to raise awareness of the product and to offer fans Cadbury Wispa’s advertising space – billboards all over the UK and Ireland. Fans were invited to submit thankyou messages to friends, loved ones or anyone worthy of a special thank you, which enables fans to pass on messages of gratitude while sharing their story en masse.
While not specifically targeting Youth, another good example of the use of storytelling is Jack Daniel’s. Jack Daniel’s is possibly one of the world’s greatest story tellers (INSIDE STORY has recently written about JD as a story teller on our Inside Brand Reputation blog). Jack shares his story online using mediums such as Facebook fan pages and now has over 354,000 fans. Fans are encouraged to learn more about Jack’s story on Facebook:
“While “labeling” people is never a good thing, “labeling” a bottle is a great idea! And when it comes to Jack Daniel’s, there are a lot of stories to go with that label. For a guided “tour” of our famous label just visit this link!”
They are also able to share experiences and viewpoints with like-minded fans by being able to connect over activities such as the recent 21st Annual Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue.
Twitter and Facebook are growing every day - figures from Hitwise tell us Facebook's Australian market share has climbed 101% since October last year and Twitter grew 1516%, further fuelled by bands such as Powderfinger who performed guerrilla gigs across Australia - only notifying their Twitter followers of the event. Hours spent on social media sites are also on the rise – according to Nielsen figures at June 2009, Australians spent 1.6 million hours on social media sites, up from 800,000 hours a year earlier. If the growth in social media continues, we can only expect to see more innovative and exciting examples in the months to come.
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