Bonnaroo Music Festival Uses their Fans to Influence the 2015 Lineup

emilievandijk    June 20, 2014

Organization Name: Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival

Industry: Music

Name of Contact: Rich Goodstone, Co-founder of Superfly & Head of Marketing Group

Bonnaroo_2014

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival has been held in Manchester, Tennessee for the past 13 years, hosting approximately 100,000 attendees this past year alone. The main attractions of this four-day festival are the multiple stages of live music, featuring a diverse array of musical styles; as well, showcases craftsmen and artisans selling unique products, food and drink vendors, a comedy tent, silent disco, cinema tent, and ferris wheel.

Following this years events, Bonnaroo used their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages to reach out to their previous and hopeful attendees asking which artists they would be interested in seeing for their 2015 year. As soon as this content was posted onto their social media platforms, there was immediate and major responses.

Facebook: 4.5 Star Rating on their page

Screen Shot 2014-06-19 at 11.59.28 PM

It has been two days since the post was created, reaching: 2,611 likes – 57 people shared the posts onto their personal timelines – 2,618 comments

Twitter: 

Posted on June 17th, 175 Retweets to users personal accounts, 527 Favourites saved to their account

Screen Shot 2014-06-19 at 11.23.34 PM

Instagram: 

Photo and caption posted on June 17th, 6124 Likes on their photo, and 2168 comments with input from their followers

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By doing this, Bonnaroo is using the technique of crowdsourcing using their social media platforms to generate ideas that would please the consumers and festival attendees.

“We’ve understood the value of marketing as entertainment, and that the only way a brand was going to really win the heart of a consumer and the lifetime value of the audience that would be at something like a Bonnaroo was to add value to the experience.”

– Rich Goodstone

Lessons Learned:

In order to put on a production the size on Bonnaroo you must take into consideration the attendees opinions and put value into the ticket being purchased. With the number of social media outlets it is not hard to reach out to the target market, and by doing so you also avoid social media disasters and bad press since everything on the platforms spread like wildfire as the majority of the content is open to the public to voice their opinions.

References:

Bonnaroo Facebook Page, Bonnaroo Instagram Account, Bonnarro Official Site, Bonnarro Twitter Page, Interview with Marketing Director

Submitted By
Emilie van Dijk, SMBP Student, University of Waterloo
To contact the author of this entry please email at: emiliebvandijk@gmail.com

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