Social Media Best Practices from Backstage Event Marketing

Basic Overview / Tips & Tricks

Stay Organized Plan ahead using a content calendar for events, ticket sales, announcements, e-blast schedules, social media contests, and blog posts to align efforts and avoid content overload.

The 80/20 Rule states that 80% of social media content should add value for followers, while 20% should focus on selling tickets. This will build a community and keep followers engaged without overwhelming them with sales pitches.

• Soft Sell: Find ways to say a show is coming without “saying a show is coming.” Examples:
  • Photo or video of you playing a record of the artist with a “BTW, this artist is playing at our venue on X (date)” or “Looking forward to seeing you in the crowd when X comes to our stage on X (date).” 

Words Matter

• Positive Language – Avoid negative words like “don’t miss,” “can’t wait,” and “don’t forget.”
  • Instead, use positive alternatives such as “you are going to want to be here,” “looking forward to seeing you,” and “remember.”
• Action-Oriented Calls to Action – Utilize action words when crafting your call-to-action messages.
• The text also matters – avoid using all caps unless you’re emphasizing a point, i.e., tickets are FREE. 

Take the time to tag artists in posts: tagging artists in posts can help with people’s “who are they?” questions. This practice also makes it more likely that the artists will share the post too, increasing your reach and potential ticket sales. 

When to mention the day of the week of an event: If the event is on a Friday or Saturday – ALWAYS mention the day of the week the show is. If the show is on a Sunday – Thursday, wait until you are a week away to start incorporating the day of the week into your posts. 

• The only caveat is if the show falls right next to a holiday that people tend to travel for. In which case start mentioning the day of the week 2-3 weeks in advance. I.e., the Thursday before Labor Day Weekend. It will be a tougher sale being up against a holiday and may help people make their plans around staying in town for your show. 

To use emojis or not? When you are using emojis also include the word the emoji represents. It is best practice if someone with technology assistance programs are using a computer to read a post. I.e., if you put 🚨TICKETS ON SALE NOW 🚨 – a computer software would read siren in a yelling voice “tickets are on sale now” siren. So, that can be jarring to some, depending on your demographic. 

The Big Look – how do you draw attention to your show when you’re competing against other announcements and media attention? Ideas: everyone wearing pink on the news stations to announce PINK is coming, chalk art, staff re-creating the show artwork, big looks throughout the campaigns – here’s the signature drink, here’s a look to wear, etc. 

When to talk ticket prices: depending on how well the show is expected to do and how well the show is doing we recommend: 

• It’s best practice to include the range of the tickets on the announcement, pre-sale, and on-sale posts
  • This also helps with resell sites and scammers 
• If the show has a cheap ticket, start mentioning the price on day one. A cheap ticket would be $40 and under. 
• If the tickets start at $40+ we suggest following the days of the week guidelines for events Sunday – Thursday (see above).

Platform-Specific Best Practices

Scheduling posts / Platforms 

• Meta Business Suite for scheduling posts – 30-day limit on scheduling 
• Planoly – 30+ day limit for scheduling
  • Can manage multiple accounts 
  • Regularly has issues with connectivity 
  • Can schedule out YouTube 

Facebook:

• Midlength posts with paragraph breaks
• Share excerpts from interviews and link to full articles.
• Upload native videos (vs using a link to YouTube) 
• Utilize Facebook Events for RSVP campaigns
• Showcase behind-the-scenes tours, employee interviews, and unique building projects.
• Use Meta Business Suite for scheduling posts
• Post photo albums of events the day after, crediting photographers

Instagram:

• Focus on visual content (90%) and concise captions (10%)
• Engage with fans through geotagged photos and relevant hashtags
• Partner with local influencers for event promotions and use the collaborator option to post the same photo/video and messaging on their page and yours 
• Do not use links in captions of Instagram posts: as of June 2024, links are not clickable in IG captions. Refer people to your website or link in bio. Anytime you reference a link to click in a post, follow it up with an IG stories post with an actual clickable link sticker. 

YouTube:

• Upload artist videos to repurpose for emails and other platforms
• Upload your TV commercials to your channel for additional organic awareness 

Spotify:

• Showcase playlists on IG/FB stories
• Create and share playlists to promote upcoming shows and introduce new artists.
• Add the playlists in the know before you go emails and monthly newsletters 

Recording Engagement

Monthly: Record the number of followers per platform and best-performing content. I use Whatagraph (https://whatagraph.com/) for reporting – it’s a set-it-up-once and semi-forget-it process. Our team sends out monthly reports for all of our clients and runs a report for our own socials. Whatagraph also connects to MailChimp and your Meta ad accounts so you can keep track of those stats too!

Yearly: Compile notable interactions, engagement metrics, and demographics of followers to recap the year’s social media performance.

Analytic Platforms:

• Native analytic tools within the social media platform 
• Whatagraph – combines all social media, Meta advertising, Google My Business, Mailchimp, and a ton of other platforms all on one report