The Blair Witch
Project,
released in 2001. Low budget project lacked enough funds to promote
the movie. The movie company posted online a true story depicted the mysterious disappearance of three
students filmmakers in Maryland woods while attempting to the movie presentation of their own script at the
movie theatre. The company even designed a websites demonstrating the evidence from the case including
police reports, pictures, etc. As a result, this story generated buzz around the movie inspiring more than 20
fan sites, chart rooms, forums, a mailing list, etc. Finally, the $30 million movie was developed with the help
of viral marketing into $150 million blockbuster (Dobelea, 2005).
Historically, various forms of arts were promoted primarily by word of mouth. For example, Paganini,
the most brilliant violinist in the world of the 19 century, found that the created buzz around his personality
would increase his popularity. He launched the buzz to the public by wearing black suite on the black stage
with black horse at the back during the concert. After that the public talked about Paganini that he sold his
soul to the devil. The principle to create a buzz has not been transformed – to intrigue the public. Nowadays,
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social media technologies appear the right platforms to expose to the audience and spread the word about an
event (Haecker, 2009).
It is not an easy task to adapt viral marketing techniques to arts business. Buzz requires a remarkable
event or something new, intriguing, or thrilling to make it “buzz-worthy” and draw attention of the audience.
But in the case of classic music it is tricky, because traditional products have preservative nature allowing
only minor changes over the time. Haecker (2009) associates viral marketing tactics only with a product that
appeals to the audience. The author exemplifies the orchestral performance of Beethoven’s 5
th
as the classic
product which was played often for several centuries as an example. It is not easy to adapt viral marketing
techniques to classic performances for many organizations. Linking word of mouth only to product
representation most organizations with classical repertoire would prefer to stay conservative rather than
tolerate mixing classical composition with elements of popular music (Haecker, 2009).
Despite the fact that traditional art is considered by some marketing experts as difficult to convert to
viral marketing techniques, the relevance of this form of promotion should not be limited only by product
representations. There is a plethora of other tactics that can be applied to generate buzz around concerts. The
Louisiana Philharmonic used viral marketing techniques to spread the word about their programming. The
Philharmonic created its “Find and Phil series” using viral marketing tactics. The event was organized for
young and Web-savvy audience. The idea was to play a usual repertoire at various places around the city.
The clues and tips about where these concerts would be taking place were displayed on the official website.
Users referred that information with their friends via e-mails who in turn were encouraged to register on the
website. The viral campaign of the Louisiana Philharmonic was a great success. All visitors of the concerts
were registered. The example of applying viral techniques by The Louisiana Philharmonic was intriguing yet
did not involve a change to the original product. In other words to stimulate word of mouth a company
should provide the customers with updated information, offers, acknowledge referrals, rewarding customer
loyalty (Bernstein and Kotler, 2007).
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Venues across the country have come to realize the importance of a using social media for informing
prospective customers about upcoming concerts and events. Rothschild (2009)
emphasizes an importance
for small market venues and performing art centers to use social media marketing. The authors suggest
making use of web presence to inform customers of upcoming events. Using Web 2.0 tools such as social
network websites or blogs and social media applications as effective channels to reach the wide audience and
update the fans regarding upcoming performances and events (Bruno, 2009, Pacioal, 2010). Facebook and
Twitter are viewed by many marketing experts as the most effective tools to be used for promoting events.
Using social network websites, PACs create fan groups where they portray news and upcoming concerts
(EventBrite, 2010, Parr, 2009, PAC, 2009).
The most loyal and active online customers, called as brand advocates, become marketing partners for
companies in promoting events on the social media websites (Bernstein and Kotler, 2007). Brand agents are
hired employers who are responsible to find leaders of the discussions. These marketers express the
importance of giving first hand information to the discussion leaders who will “shout it to others” (Chapman,
2008).
Brand advocates should be given by the opportunity to share information with others and spread the
word about the events. The main task of the concert promoters is to find and help the brand advocates who
influence other users and convince them to adopt the services of the company (Gillin, 2007, Weber, 2009).
Building efforts to effectively communicate with brand advocates and encourage them to pass the
information and involve other people in the discussions will transform advocates into effective influencers
within the social community. Beth Kanter, during the presentation for a group of senior marketing people
from PACs on social marketing, stressed an importance of taking into consideration the fundamental aspects
as affinity while implementing influencer strategies. The power of influence is measured not only by the high
number of people brand advocates are able to reach. The powerful influencer should be able to make an
impact on the followers to inspire them to spread information further. In other words, strong interpersonal
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ties between the influencer/advocate and other members of the e-community play a crucial role and can make
a big impact on the target audience and to outreach the maximum number of people (Kanter, 2009).
Thus, social media marketing can be used for building relationship with customers of PACs.
Establishing long-term relationships with customers is of crucial importance for companies in an
entertainment industry. Social media tools and platforms may facilitate effective communication between
PACs and events’ visitors. While social media tools can be used for establishing dialogue with customers,
effective social media marketing techniques and tactics should be developed to increase a message visibility
and brand awareness.
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