As the largest generation in the United States with 72 million people, millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) are becoming a driving force behind many of the world’s industries. Now entering their 20s and 30s, the millennial generation appears to be more educated, independent, and diverse than any generation before them. Furthermore, this massive generation is creating change in commerce by spending their time and money differently than their parents and grandparents did. If you’re an event planner, it’s time to take notice of the millennial generation.
If you’re organizing a music festival, you can make this type of event a highly successful one by catering to the preferences of millennials. Roughly 50% of millennials attend at least one concert per year — are you doing enough to tailor your event promotion to them?
For event organizers looking to tap into the massive potential of millennial attendees in the music festival market, there are several elements to consider.
Connect to Their World
When it comes to spending money, influencers on social media have a significant impact on millennials. This isn’t surprising, considering that over 72% of them use Facebook or Instagram every day. With its never-ending stream of both relatable and aspirational content, Instagram is well known for its influence on purchasing behavior.
Millennials’ connection to the digital world doesn’t stop with social media, however. They are also the generation that is most highly connected to mobile devices. Millennials use their mobile devices to find nearby accommodations, upcoming events, and the best products. For music festival organizers looking to connect with millennials, a solid online presence is a must.
Tactics for connecting with millennials in their digital world include:
- Creating a recognizable social media presence. Investing in your social media marketing strategy means maintaining active accounts that encourage attendee interaction. Take the time to create a social media presence that your attendees will recognize and continue to follow after your festival has ended.
- Use targeted ads. Well-targeted ads on Facebook and Instagram can help ensure that the right millennials in the right area see your event promotion. Targeted ads are often well worth the monetary investment. For example, Events.com EveryAd™ is a marketing platform that allows you to sell more tickets on Google, Instagram, and Facebook and thereby increase the return on ad spend for your events.
- Connect with influencers. By developing a strong affiliate program and connecting with impactful influencers, you can potentially earn more millennial attendees. Social media personalities often have a major influence on millennials. Therefore, make use of that influence by partnering with content creators who fit within the demographic you are trying to attract to your event.
- Consider micro-influencers. Successful affiliate programs aren’t all about landing the biggest influencer. Instead, it pays to carefully pick the influencers you choose to partner with for your festival. Micro-influencers have a smaller following, but their community is often intensely loyal and trusting of the influencer’s recommendations. Therefore, micro-influencers who align well with the vibe of your music festival can pay off in dividends when utilized correctly.
Keep Up with Your Guests
Another way to attract more millennials to festivals is to keep up with their taste in music. You can use online polls and social media campaigns to track what the latest trends are in the music industry. Which artists are engaging the most with fans? What kind of musician draws the largest crowds?? Who do millennials care about today? Be sure to keep your finger on the pulse of the hottest music for festivals. Keep up with millennials by interacting with them on popular music apps such as Spotify. Also, don’t forget to consider appealing to millennials’ ’80s and ’90s hearts by incorporating artists that trigger nostalgia into your lineup.
Create an Unforgettable Experience
Research shows that millennials value experiences over material objects. As a music festival organizer, you have the opportunity to offer potential millennial attendees an experience they will never forget. Your event promotion should persuade your millennial customers that your music festival is offering something fresh and exciting.
How can you show potential guests that your festival will be the greatest event of the year? Tips include:
- Using social media to showcase attendee experiences. When you encourage guests to use event hashtags and location tags at your music festival, you can mine excellent attendee content for your social media channel. Videos and photos your guests create are an authentic way to persuade potential attendees that your festival is worth the hype.
- Featuring experiences on your website and emails. Beyond your social media channel, be sure to include highlights of the event on your website and email newsletters. A well-crafted newsletter can drive subscribers to your social channels and ticket-purchasing portal.
- Partner with influencers to share past highlights. Prior to your event, partner with your affiliates to post content that generates buzz and nostalgia from your past festivals. Start resharing content from past events to get people excited about your return.
- Using behind-the-scenes content to create excitement. Use Instagram Reels or Stories to showcase the artists or events you’re planning to have at your music festival. Social media users are hungry for content that shows the authentic side of the music industry,including everything that goes into planning a concert.
- Connect with brands to create unique experiences. Attendees love a great brand activation at music festivals. Whether it’s an exclusive lounge, a unique food experience, or a fun giveaway, both festival attendees and partner brands are excited to interact at festivals.
Instill FOMO
For millennials, FOMO — fear of missing out — is a real phenomenon. As a music festival organizer, it should be your goal to instill a burning sense of FOMO in potential attendees. In simple terms, it’s important to make followers feel like they will miss out on the event of a lifetime by not attending your music festival. FOMO may seem like a fleeting quality, but you can achieve it in your event promotion by:
- Highlighting ticket scarcity. If you want to encourage millennials to buy your tickets, it helps to create a sense of urgency. Do this by posting about the limited number of tickets you have left, raising ticket prices closer to the event, or opening tickets up for exclusive pre-sale.
- Use tags. Make it exciting for your guests to use hashtags and geotags in their social media content. Seeing peer engagement on social media is a powerful motivator for future music festival ticket sales.
- Livestream. Another way to create a fear of missing out is through live streams. You can use takeovers, scheduled streams, and surprise livestreams to keep followers coming back for more content throughout your music festival.
Establish a Sense of Community
A sense of community is important to millennials because they don’t just value experiences over items — they value shared experiences over material possessions. Attending a music festival provides millennial attendees with a chance to connect more deeply with friends, their music community, and the music festival world at large.
As an event planner, you can create a strong sense of community by:
- Interacting with guests online. An essential part of your online presence should be organic interactions with past and future attendees. Your social media team can do this by commenting on tagged photos, responding to DMs, and liking fans’ interactions with your event.
- Highlight your guests. Millennials love to see user-generated content, so take the time to highlight content from your attendees’ perspectives to build a fun sense of community both before and after events.
- Use surveys and polls. Millennials know that their voice matters. Therefore, affirm that they are being heard by using surveys and polls, either on social media or via email. Ask attendees what they like to see at music festivals, what their favorite part of an event was.
- Host a party. Host a pre or post-show party for loyal followers of your music festivals. An inclusive gathering will reward guests for their loyalty and strengthen their bond with your music festival brand.
Finally, all of your community-building strategies are reliant on your brand persona. Millennials are savvier than ever because they can sense when a brand’s online presence is authentic and values their patronage. Consequently, be sure to spend time nurturing an approachable, recognizable, and appealing online presence. Be sure that this matches your values as a music festival organizer.
Partner with a Cause
Research shows that millennials are more invested in social responsibility than the generations before them. Therefore, to create a meaningful connection with potential millennial attendees, consider donating a portion of ticket sales, leftover food, or extra merchandise to a worthy cause. While music festivals are ultimately about fun, taking the time to contribute to a cause will endear you to your millennial followers.
Ready to Market Your Music Festival to the Millennial Generation?
Now that large-scale music events and festivals are making their way back to the public landscape, you have the exciting opportunity to reshape the music festival scene. In short, by planning festivals around the interests of millennials, you can tap into a truly influential market.
If you’re ready to change your event promotion to appeal to the future of music festivals, visit Events.com today. Specifically, Events.com makes it simple to manage your music festival from ticket purchasing to post-event surveys, so whether you’re looking for tools to help with event marketing, management, or sponsorship, your next event starts with Events.com.
