Social media strategy for Classic Ibiza

The brief

Dialogue started its relationship with Revival Productions back in 2016 when the Classic Ibiza concerts first launched and the brand needed a strategy to build an engaged audience.

Social media played a big part in an integrated strategy which also included PR, roadside advertising, video and promotion in Archant’s local newspapers and lifestyle magazines. The following years saw demand for the concert grow and so Revival Productions expanded to seven venues across the Midlands and South of England.

Following the success of the first year’s concert, social media – specifically Facebook – was proven to be the channel which offered the best reach, engagement and traffic to the website. Over the next four years, social media played a key role in launching multiple new venues, reaching new audiences whilst keeping existing audiences engaged with unique content, competitions, giveaways and important event information.

The challenge

Classic Ibiza started as a single event in Norfolk, growing into an establish brand operating all over the UK. A large part of the social media strategy was building audiences and interest at the new event locations, ahead of driving ticket sales.

There was a limited budget for Facebook advertising, so all content had to be optimised and provide a good ROI, whether the goal was reach, engagement or driving website traffic.

Facebook, accompanied by Twitter and Instagram, were the main channels for promoting the events. It was important to focus on growth and engagement without being overly ‘salesy’, yet actively encouraging ticket sales.

The strategy for social media also had to accommodate sharing different content from the performers, sponsors and vendors. The lead time on this content could vary from months to days, so the digital team needed to work in a flexible and agile manner to meet tight deadlines and multiple stakeholder sign offs.

March 2020 saw COVID-19 have a large impact on the events industry, with Revival Productions being forced to cancel the six concerts that were due to take place over the summer. This presented a new, unique set of challenges both from a content and strategic point of view.

We needed to keep the audiences active on the channels in order to retain the followers for the following year. It was important the Classic Ibiza audience were regularly updated with key event information such as cancellations, refunds and concerts relaunching, but also to keep the audience engaged with the brand over the summer months to sustain its online presence. Due to the unknown nature of the pandemic, it was crucial Dialogue’s digital team were able to work in an agile way so that strategic decisions could be made and quickly implemented, and key content could be delivered to the audience in a timely and engaging manner.

The remit

Design
Editorial
Photography
Strategy
Social

The result

Since launching the social channels for Classic Ibiza in January 2016, the engaged audience has grown substantially, with Facebook, the main channel for comms, at over 20,000 followers. When surveyed where people heard about Classic Ibiza concerts, attendees cited ‘social media’ as either the number one or number two source along with ‘from a friend’. This response has been consistent each year since the concerts launched.

Facebook advertising played a key part in growing the audience and launching new venues. By using a mix of different advertising placements, along with tailoring Facebook goals and targeting different audience personas with tailored content, Dialogue was able to reach new audiences.

The role of social media was also key in growing the number of concerts. One concert grew to four the following year with two new venues added the year after. Revival Productions hold an average of six Classic Ibiza concerts a year.

The growth of the concerts is tied into the success of launching new venues. Paid content plays a part but creating engaging and shareable content was also key. Tickets could be bought nearly a year in advance of a concert, so it was vital to keep the audience engaged and excited about something so far ahead in the future. One of the most popular pieces of content was the audience mega-mix poll where followers suggested and voted for five songs they wanted to hear performed at the concerts. This was great for getting the audience to engage and discuss the songs they’d voted for, plus sharing and encouraging their friends to vote too. It also meant the audience felt part of the concerts too, offering them a level of personalisation.

Since the concerts launched, the digital team have pushed and exceeded the sales targets that have been set by Revival Productions. The target ticket sales for most venues was approximately 6,000 tickets, but often the venues proved popular and additional tickets had to be released filling the venues to their maximum capacity of around 7,500.

Understanding the audience meant that during summer 2020, the Dialogue digital team were able to keep engagement on the pages in line with the high levels that were expected. Using a mixture of performance videos, live DJ sets and exclusive performances from the orchestra and DJs, followers were entertained throughout the summer.