5 Marketing Strategies Concert Venues Can Use to Keep Patrons Engaged After the Show Is Over

The long-anticipated talent you booked so long ago finally came, rocked the house, and exited stage left. Now that the show is over, how do you continue to stoke the flame of the night’s excitement?Post-performance, if you feel like you’re left with nothing more than some smoke-machine haze and a trash-confettied floor, you’re missing out on valuable marketing opportunities. Data collected from ticket sales coupled with the excitement generated by the live performance can do wonders in helping you to sell seats to future shows.Here are a few digital strategies you can use to help venue patrons stay engaged after any event, so you can continue to pack the house night after night.

Create a branded hashtag to use with an iconic selfie

Does your venue have a recognizable statue, mural, or famous marquee? Why not implore your patrons to do something they’re probably going to do anyway - take a selfie with it.

Selfie in front of the iconic Troubador in Los AngelesTo capitalize on this practice even further, designate a branded hashtag that will help boost your visibility on social media and ask patrons to use it when posting.By encouraging the use of a branded hashtag, you’re not only boosting brand awareness and engagement, but you’re also fostering the generation of valuable content you can use in future marketing. This type of user-generated content (UGC) has been found to be incredibly effective in attracting new customers.A few ways to use UGC include:

• Displaying the hashtagged posts in a gallery on your website or on a targeted landing page, 
• Reposting on your venue’s social media profile (with permission, of course), and
• Featuring them in print ads or within a comprehensive ad campaign. 

The visual impact of UGC does double duty. It 1.) instills FOMO (fear of missing out) among those who didn’t get tickets to the big show, ensuring that they won’t miss getting tickets to the next event, and 2.) acts like an online testimonial, advertising the incredible experiences to be had at your venue.

Create segmented email lists for like-events

Selling tickets to an event is not only a golden opportunity to collect an email address and an opt-in to a mailing list, but it’s also invaluable in knowing an important bit of information about your patrons - their taste in live entertainment.Collecting an email address is definitely something that can be done before an event, but afterward, it’s crucial that the email address does not go to waste. Create segmented email lists by music or performance type. In other words, if someone bought tickets to see Robert Plant, make sure you send them an announcement when the Rolling Stones roll (pun intended) through town.Studies show that segmented marketing boosts email success across the board. In a study conducted by MailChimp, findings showed that segmenting your email lists by type results in an increase in open and click-thru rates. Segmenting can also help reduce the number of bounces and unsubscribes.The benefits of segmentation go on. Knowing even a small bit of info about your patrons improves the quality of your communication with them, and therefore, the quality of your relationship.

Offer giveaways with referral incentives

When promoting an upcoming event, giveaways and contests are excellent in their ability to build hype. But what most people don’t realize is that this digital strategy is also effective in keeping engagement high after an event has already happened.

Host a post-concert giveaway[button size='medium' style='white' text='View and Create Your Own' icon='' icon_color='' link='http://m.lndg.page/F0CVvf' target='_blank' color='' hover_color='' border_color='' hover_border_color='' background_color='' hover_background_color='' font_style='' font_weight='' text_align='' margin='0 0 10px']If you’re wondering what type of prize would draw participants in after an event has come to pass, think no further than memorabilia from the performance itself. A pair of drumsticks used during the performance, a guitar pick, or even an autographed event poster would lure giveaway participants en masse.Engagement is great, but giveaways also hold the power to draw in potential patrons by enlisting the help of your current ones. To do this, put up a prize including tickets to a similar event and offer extra chances to win for referral entries. This way, giveaway participants will share the giveaway to social media, hoping to get their friends and family to enter. Not only will this earn them extra chances to win if their friend or family member wins, but they may also just get an invite to the show. And you’ll get additional leads to add to your marketing pool, thusly expanding your reach. It’s a win/win for everyone involved.

Create a VIP, inner circle, or rewards club

Businesses in every industry have found ways to incorporate a rewards/loyalty program into their customer retention strategy for good reason - they work. Evidence shows that consumers are likely to spend more with your company when they are part of a loyalty program. Not only do they spend more, 79% of consumers say loyalty programs make them more likely to continue doing business with brands, so they are retained as a customer.When you think of rewards programs, what comes to mind? I always think of a punch card at a coffee or ice cream shop. Earning a freebie of either is enough to make my day. Airline and credit card rewards are more valuable, but still lacking in the fun factor. Now, think of the potential rewards a concert venue can offer - discounted tickets, seat upgrades, backstage passes, or even meet and greets. Rewards like these would inspire the right music-loving fans to scale Kilimanjaro. In other words, getting these types to join your concert venue’s loyalty program would be an incredibly easy sell.

Offer patrons loyalty benefits

Build a quiz relevant to the event

Self-proclaimed fans love a way to quantify their loyalty, and there’s no better way to do that than with a test of knowledge. One way to keep concert-goers engaged is with digital marketing in the form of an online quiz. Build a quiz that includes questions related to the performance itself, or just to the artist. Either way, a quiz will be hard to pass up.I’m obviously not a member of the KISS fan army.

Fans can't resist a quiz[button size='medium' style='white' text='View and Create Your Own' icon='' icon_color='' link='http://m.shortstack.page/SNzch7' target='_blank' color='' hover_color='' border_color='' hover_border_color='' background_color='' hover_background_color='' font_style='' font_weight='' text_align='' margin='0 0 10px']Quizzes are an engaging strategy in itself, but you can turn the quiz into a giveaway to further boost participation and even to expand your reach. Winners can be determined by score, but if someone wants to boost their chances of winning, they can earn extra “points” with referral entries. Have them post the quiz to their social media profile and offer one or more points for each person that enters via their post.

In summary

When the lights come up after the big show, there is lots to do to help your event participants ride the high of an epic performance. A few ideas include:

• Generate UGC by promoting the use of a branded hashtag when posting on social media. Boost brand awareness even more by asking patrons to take their selfie in front of your venue’s recognizable statue, landmark, or marquee.
• Create segmented lists of event patrons based on performance type. 
• Host giveaways with referral incentives
• Create VIP groups, “inner circle,” or rewards clubs
• Host a quiz paired with a giveaway

Using one or all of these digital strategies is a sure-fire way to keep concert-goers engaged, helping to ensure your venue is packed night after night.