Social Media and Announcement Guide
When Aloompa started in 2009, the idea of having a mobile app was new, and having an app dedicated to a specific live event was unheard of. Our client roster has grown exponentially every year since the company was founded, and we’ve watched the app market change from unexpected to expected. The growth has found the industry in an unfamiliar place where it’s not enough to just “have an app”. The product has to produce an incredible user experience and engage attendees in new and unusual ways. This change has also put bigger importance on how the event app is marketed. As we head into the next event season we wanted to share some of the great ways we’ve seen our clients market their event apps. Before we dive into some deeper concepts, you’ll want to make sure you have the basics covered:
The Basics
- Add the app to your website
- Make sure the app is prominently displayed on your website and links out to both the Apple and Google Play stores!
- Post about the app on social media
- After the app launch and leading up to the event be sure to share posts about the app on all social media.
- Add the app to email reminders
- For the highest engagement be sure to mention the app in your email blasts.
- Display the app on your ticket confirmation page
- Check to see if your ticketing provider can add a callout to the app on the ticket confirmation or purchase page!
Once you've got the basics covered, here are a few unique ideas to take engagement with your app to the next level:
1. Activate your influencers
At the core of live events are the influencers that drive your ticket sales. Activating your influencers on social media or on-site is a great way to spread the message of the mobile app. One of our clients, Air + Style 2016 worked with professional snowboarders to create videos that encouraged the attendees to download the app. The videos ran in between artist sets alongside sponsor videos and more.
2. Announce your lineup exclusively on the app
From the moment a festival ends, dedicated festival-goers anxiously await the announcement of next year’s lineup. We see festival lineup announcements all over our social channels, in our inboxes, and during our late-night television talk shows. CMA Fest is one of our partners who has seen huge success in downloads by announcing their lineup exclusively on their app. Every Tuesday morning, CMA revealed new additions to the lineup. Through engagement on CMA’s social channels around the app announcements, we see that fans rely heavily on the app to be their source for these exciting announcements.
3. Release set times and schedule through the app
Within each Aloompa app, users have the ability to create a “My Schedule” that allows them to create a personal schedule and track their favorite artists. Similar to announcing your lineup through the app, Insomniac events have historically announced the set times of artists through the app. This plan also increases the use of the personal schedule, something that can give value back to the event producers to understand which artists are the most demanded.
4. Increase on-site signage and displays
On-site activation is key in both increasing last-minute downloads of your festival app and encouraging engagement during your event. At C2E2, one of the premiere Comic Cons in the United States, signage was placed throughout the facility encouraging attendees to download and interact with the mobile app. Remember to tell people WHY they should download the app, not just do it!
5. Incentivize your users
When your app is centered around the actual event experience itself, you need to get creative when it comes to encouraging users to download your app during the downtime. Through app-exclusive sweepstakes and giveaways, potential users are incentivized to download the app and actively participate for the opportunity to win prizes. The National Finals Rodeo did this by creating the Get Tagged game, which included a Native Form that users signed up for a chance to win tickets to the event.
