Saffire Blog

Contests to Increase Social Engagement!

While contests have been around for centuries, they have recently taken on a new life with the evolution of social media. Contests are not the answer to every marketing challenge, but you should consider making them a part of your social media plans. Whether your event, venue or destination is big or small, contests can … Continue reading “Contests to Increase Social Engagement!”

Contests aren’t always successful and don’t always magically drive engagement. The most successful contests are usually very simple, while the contests that fail are usually too complicated for the participants to understand and engage.

So, what is the key to keeping your audience engaged? Simplicity! Ease! Fun!

The most effective way to keep your contest simple is setting an easily manageable objective. What results are you shooting for? What do you want to gain from the post? Be sure to think it through logically by following these steps:

Set Goals: What are you trying to achieve? For example, do you want to gain more likes, comments, views on your video, or acquire new email addresses?
Consider your Audience: Who are you targeting? It is important to hone in on who your demographic is for the post. Are you trying to reach men or women, kids, teenagers or maybe basketball fans? It will be easier to generate your contest once you have narrowed down on who you want your message to reach.
Determine the Contest Time Frame: For small contests where your only objective is to receive likes and comments, we suggest that you run daily contests. For a more complex contest that you want to acquire more personal information or a lengthy submission, we advise that you run the contest for a longer period.
Create a Prize Package: Everyone wants to win, especially when they can win multiple prizes in one giveaway! The bigger the prize, the more information you can require from participants. Plan a budget on how much the prize will cost your venue, event, or destination.
Execute – Plan the Fulfillment: Know how you can deliver the prize and how to execute the entire plan. Do you need to mail the prize to the winner? Do they need to pick it up?
Prizes: To have a great contest, you need to provide prizes. Everyone loves to win things. What is it that you can afford to give away? It doesn’t need to be expensive, but it does need to be relevant to your venue, event, or destination. You can work with local partners in giving away hotel stays, restaurant gift certificates, concert tickets, etc.

Here are 5 simple ideas to get you inspired for your next event!

Contest #1 – Likes and Follows

Facebook likes and follows are simple and easy contests to execute with hundreds of options and ideas:

Help us get to 12,000 fans! When we get there, we’ll give away FREE _____ (concert ticket, 2-night hotel stay, etc.)! SHARE this status for your chance to win!
Be sure and ALWAYS use compelling images.

Contest #2 – Caption This

Caption This Contests are always a hit! From our experience, caption contests generate more responses than any other contest. Find photos from your past event or images from around your destination. Make sure they are fun, a little goofy and generally aesthetically appealing. Fan favorites are usually animal photos. (explain what this is a little more. Maybe give an example?)

Contest #3 – Photo Comments

Generating interaction among your fans is a great way to build community. Posting a colorful photo will catch their attention in their News Feed. Here are a couple of easy examples:

FOOD! Everyone loves food. Post a photo of a unique food item.
KIDS! Post a photo of a young kid having fun at your event or destination.
HISTORY! Post an image of a historical building or spot.

Then have them post a photo in the comments with their favorite food, in front of a landmark, etc.

Contest #4 – Instagram

Instagram has become the social media platform of choice for many Millennials and Gen Zs (people born between 1980 and 2012). When engaging with this age group, make sure your prizes are things they would want to win and are “trendy”! Don’t be afraid to use hashtags.

Double tap and win: Post photos on Instagram. “Double tap this photo and follow us on Instagram to automatically be entered to win a prize pack. Winner announced Monday.
Tag three friends to win: “We’re giving away ____ (ride tickets, a hotel stay, gate admission, etc)!! Tag 3 friends to win. #Giveaway #Tag3 #Fun #Friends

Contest #5 – Re-Tweets

Twitter contests are super easy to execute and don’t take a lot of time. Here are few examples:

Re-Tweet: We’re giving away a 2-night getaway at our seaside hotel. Retweet to win #VayCay #Fun #GetAway
Creative Answer: Explain in 140 characters or less why you deserve to win free tickets to our event. Make sure you tag us to be eligible #TheEvent

So, there you have it, a few simple ways to get more social engagement. If you haven’t run a contest yet, give it a shot and let us know how it goes!

4 Inexpensive Ways to Go Above & Beyond for Your Sponsors!

By: Jodi Buresh So the other day in the office, we had a current client ask us if we know of any good ideas on how to report back to their sponsors after their event. This client was looking for presentation ideas and what to include to show a little more value in that … Continue reading “4 Inexpensive Ways to Go Above & Beyond for Your Sponsors!”

By: Jodi Buresh

So the other day in the office, we had a current client ask us if we know of any good ideas on how to report back to their sponsors after their event. This client was looking for presentation ideas and what to include to show a little more value in that sponsorship. That got us thinking about how all of our friends in the event, venue and destination industries have more than likely solicited sponsorship at some point, so we thought we would put out a post!

The standard basic recap report usually shows the typical statistics of the event, the demographics and how many visitors viewed their website or social media page. But this client was looking for something ‘different’, something unique that will set them apart from the other events that are trying so desperately to secure the dwindling sponsorship dollars.

For those of you that don’t know, before Saffire, I was the Assistant General Manager at the Red River Valley Fair Association in West Fargo, North Dakota. While at the fair, I helped generate thousands in sponsorships and without those dollars, our events would not have been successful. Below are my top four suggestions to go above and beyond the event recap:

Video – If you have a Day Sponsor or Event Sponsor, take a video on the day of the event. For example, we had the Electric Company as a day sponsor for Kids day at the Fair. On their day, I videotaped myself in front of kids on a carnival ride. The script read: “Hey Electric Company. This is Jodi Buresh and we are SO HAPPY that you are our sponsor for today at the Red River Valley Fair. As you can see, the kids are enjoying the great weather and are having a blast. We truly appreciate your support!!!” Throughout the day I took a few more short videos of people or photos of them. Later that evening, I combined those into a quick video using a video editor. I used Animoto.com to create the video. It was easy and took less than 15 minutes. I would then email it off to the sponsor before I would leave that night! Cost: $0

Photos – I am a visual person which means I like to show our sponsors what they are getting for their dollars. One year we had a major sponsor for one of our grandstand entertainers. To show them how much we appreciated their sponsorship, I made a sign with their logo on it. I got pre-approval from the Stage Management, and asked the entertainer to take a photo with the sign. That sponsor was so grateful for that photo that they have it framed and hanging in their entryway of their office. Cost: $10 for the frame.

Gifts – Sponsors appreciate small tokens of appreciation, but they do not want their sponsorship dollars to be spent on gifts back to them. If you are planning to give your sponsors an appreciation gift, be cognizant of the cost. One year we ordered small individual bags of cotton candy. Printed a label for the front of it using the Fair’s Marketing scheme for that year. When I went for the Recap Report appointment, I took along the cotton candy bag. Cost: $2 each bag.

National Sponsors – Sometimes National Sponsors expect more information from their sponsorship to justify the cost they are spending to be a part of the organization. The Farm Show that we hosted had free admission, so it was difficult to give an accurate count on how many people attended the 3-day event. We utilized aerial photos showing the parking lots and the grounds packed with people to help secure the sponsor for future years. We also had additional photos of people near their booth interacting with their sales people. Cost: $0

There are so many more ideas out there on how to engage more with your sponsors and being creative with the recap reports. We welcome your suggestions and ideas and will plan to share those in some upcoming issues of The Dirt. Please send those to us at info@saffire.com

Pokemon Go Proves to be a ‘Catch’ for Marketers

With more than 100 million downloads and 20 million daily active users, Pokémon Go became the biggest craze of the summer. Launching all over the world, Pokémon Go creates a whole new realm of advertising which, by now, should be in your back pocket. Pokémon Go is everywhere and is used by an overwhelming number … Continue reading “Pokemon Go Proves to be a ‘Catch’ for Marketers”

With more than 100 million downloads and 20 million daily active users, Pokémon Go became the biggest craze of the summer. Launching all over the world, Pokémon Go creates a whole new realm of advertising which, by now, should be in your back pocket. Pokémon Go is everywhere and is used by an overwhelming number of people; so initially you might be thinking, how can I use this trend to my benefit?

The gamer’s (typically 21 to 27-year-old men) goal is to catch all of the Pokémon, which are creatures of different sizes and types spread throughout your geographical location and will randomly pop up when the app is open. Users also take advantage of the “PokéStops”, which are points on the game map used to collect “PokéBalls”. You can think of “Pokéballs” as small, ball-shaped cages used to store each Pokémon you collect. Users also travel to Pokémon Gyms, used for battling other Pokémon and trainers. The “PokéStops” and Gyms, are normally located near landmarks, statues, parks, churches, etc. which are strategically place to attract many people. This is where the marketing comes in. PokéStops could also be used as a tool by businesses to turn their location into a huge, profitable ad in the virtual world of Pokémon.

One example of an organization using this app to its advantage is the Brown County Fair, located in Aberdeen, SD. Currently they have 8 PokéStops on their fairgrounds and have decided to put them into their marketing strategy. The stops are located anywhere from the Bunny Barn to the Grandstands, which are an easy way to get traffic to these fairground locations. The fairgoers have the opportunity to see parts of the fair they otherwise might have never experienced!

If your organization doesn’t have a PokéStop, and you want one at that location, you can request one. The request forms are here: http://support.pokemongo.nianticlabs.com

Additionally, if your organization would like a Pokémon Gym on your location, a suggestion can be submitted at http://support.pokemongo.nianticlabs.com

Tips and Tricks

Make sure a few people in your organization have a Pokémon Go account, so they can purchase lures, which will help attract Pokémon to your location
Put up signs that warn people to stay out of restricted areas.
Get a Pokémon logo at each building or monument that has a PokéStop. Signage is important!
If a gym is on your property, give the leader of that particular free tickets or prizes if he or she is a leader at a certain time of the day (Advertise this on Social Media to attract more people to battle in the Gym).
This could provide incentive for other players to take over your particular gym. The prize for the winner of a PokéHunt or Gym leader could also be PokéCoins.

Staying up to date with the newest tech fads may seem overwhelming at first, but whether it’s giving an extra jump to a small business’s finances or helping double revenue in big corporations, Pokemon Go is a growing force not to be reckoned with.

Pokémon Go is free and available for download through the Apple App Store for iPhone users and the Google Play store for Android users.

We want to thank Michaela Liebl for being our Guest Blogger! Michaela is currently a student at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. She is looking forward to a career in the fair or festival industries and is currently seeking internship opportunities. To contact Michaela about this article or about potential internship opportunities, please email her at michaela.liebl@wolves.northern.edu

Using the Facebook Events Feature

As we all know, Facebook is the biggest social networking platform in the world with over a billion users. Since its launch, Facebook has evolved and brought new features for users as well as businesses. One of their most improved features are Events, which give an opportunity to individuals as well as organizations to promote … Continue reading “Using the Facebook Events Feature”

As we all know, Facebook is the biggest social networking platform in the world with over a billion users. Since its launch, Facebook has evolved and brought new features for users as well as businesses. One of their most improved features are Events, which give an opportunity to individuals as well as organizations to promote their events on Facebook. Before this change, the Events
feature didn’t work very well for organizations and was a much better tool to invite friends to events such as your backyard barbecue.

After years of research and design, Facebook has improved upon their Events feature and made it a great tool for marketers. Today, over 500 million people search Facebook Events each month to find local events to attend, making the Events feature an important marketing tool to increase attendees.

During a recent presentation by the Facebook Events team, Facebook talked about the new success of the Events Feature with a case study on the event “Water Fight New York NYC.” In 2014, before Facebook started focusing on Events, the Water Fight NYC only had 1,400 attendees showing on their Facebook Event. Then, in 2015, after more features were put in place, the event skyrocketed to 64,000 attendees.

How to Market your Event

For a more guerrilla marketing approach, you can invite your friends list and ask your friends, relatives and event staff to invite their friends and share the event on their personal pages. You are also able to use the Facebook ads to target your desired audience. When someone says they’re “Going” to your event, it creates a story that may appear in other’s News Feed so that their friends and followers can see they’re going and then decide to attend too.

To grow your attendee list using ads, you’re able to specifically advertise your event. This has a different mission than normal facebook ads, which is to get more attendees and ticket sales.

Event promoters often get better results when they:

Set up a lookalike audience to show ads to people similar to your followers
Use a CPM bidding strategy to get more people to respond to your event and buy tickets
Create a conversion pixel to see which ads worked well and they can also measure performance
Create an ad with using the “Ticket Link” which will allow you to create ads that are optimized to drive ticket sales

What do I do after my event?

So you just finished your event and can finally relax, right? Not exactly. People have connected because they truly care about your event and what you share about it. Facebook’s research has shown that event attendees are wanting the following:

Professional pictures of the event action
Final scores for competitions
To be thanked for attending
To know about future events from your organization

We hope that this has inspired you to add Facebook Events into your marketing efforts. You can also explore some great Facebook resources by reading through Facebook’s Guide to Getting the Most Out of Facebook Events.

Events are about community, culture, experiences and fun and Facebook is the avenue most people choose to share this experience. One inspiring statistic is that within one week of the event, each event attendee, on average, befriends another event attendee on Facebook. Events bring people together!

The Three P’s to Gaining Sponsorship

Earning the Digital Sponsorship Dollar (& Keeping It!) Do you know what businesses and organizations are spending in sponsor dollars these days? Do you know what it would take for YOU to see some of those dollars? The fact is, sponsorship continues to rise! The amount of revenue is growing, but the problem is the … Continue reading “The Three P’s to Gaining Sponsorship”

Earning the Digital Sponsorship Dollar (& Keeping It!)

Do you know what businesses and organizations are spending in sponsor dollars these days? Do you know what it would take for YOU to see some of those dollars? The fact is, sponsorship continues to rise! The amount of revenue is growing, but the problem is the people who are getting that money are receiving less. More money is being spent, but it’s being distributed between fewer and fewer people.

“The sponsorship pie is growing, but being cut into fewer pieces.” – www.sponsorship.com. The largest slices are reserved for properties that can meet the high standards required by a new breed of corporate partner. These are the people who ask for SMARTER partnerships. Once again, the growth rate for sponsorship spending will surpass outlays for traditional advertising in North America. Projection for spending in 2015 is $21.5 billion!

At Saffire, we believe in the Three P’s to gaining sponsorship – Prepare, Personalize, & Provide. Preparing to work with sponsors in a digital age, Personalizing by coming up with creative ideas to market to your sponsors so they will want to partner with you and Providing them with results they need so they will want to work with you again.

Prepare to Partner with Sponsors

Consider yourself a salesperson because sponsorship is sales! Start early in the year, network, do your research, and understand your value! Be smart about what you’re offering your potential sponsor. Basic research before you meet with them is HUGE. Finding the right fit for your company can be a little tricky, but you’ll want to look for “natural fits” by things like: customers, products, geography, past sponsorship experiences and people who work there. Make it clear to them that you’re taking their partnerships seriously and you’ll do whatever it takes to gain their trust! Things like adding a logo to your site at the time of the sponsor meeting can make all the difference. How can you use your sponsors that will be the best partnership for everyone? Sometimes you’re paying them, using their product and they’re giving you sponsorship dollars. Find things you can do to support your sponsor’s business. Saffire’s tip is “People will find a way to work with people they like”. Leaving a good impression and creating bonds with people goes a long way.

Personalize your Packages tailored for each Sponsor

It’s important to make your sponsors feel special. A good rule of thumb with sponsorship packages is to give more than what they’re expecting. This will make them feel special, which will go the extra mile when your event comes around again and they are considering who to partner with. In order to do this, it’s essential to know the most basic components of your organization, which can be provided as benefits to sponsors. You can add value by offering year-round marketing, hospitality, and onsite event promotion

Put sponsors on your online! Create emails, social media shout outs, online advertisements or consider naming the event after your Sponsor. You can also have a dedicated Sponsors page on your website that features your list of sponsors. If you’re looking to get a new website and don’t have quite enough funding for it, this is a fantastic way to get it! Most digital marketing doesn’t cost you anything but time and effort. Give your sponsors space on your YouTube channel, add sponsor logos to print-at-home tickets or name your entire event after a sponsor. Other ways you can feature your sponsors offline are by creating sponsored charging stations on the event grounds, photo booths with sponsors or utilizing their services on fairgrounds.

Provide Measurable Results

Sponsors like data. Sponsors have to have that data to justify why they’re giving you so much money year after year. The best ways to show sponsor ROI are Google Analytics & Audience Survey. Audience Surveys assist and measure ROI, show recognition, attitude and the image you’re showing. Google Analytics is great, but it can be really hard to narrow down once you get it set up. Everyone should be able to get this data from your website. Show sponsors things like Total visits, Audience overview, visits on the Sponsors page of your website, engagement and clicks to leverage ideas for more success in the future.

We believe that the Three P’s – Prepare, Personalize and Provide will help you gain sponsorship (and keep it!).

Snapchatting your Events!

Chances are you’ve seen a Snapchat photo or “snap,” with their recognizable scrawled drawings announcing everything from the silly to the promotional. While it started as an easy way to electronically send the kind of messages one would want quickly erased, Snapchat has now become a tool for savvy event marketers. With Instagram, Facebook and … Continue reading “Snapchatting your Events!”

With Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, what does Snapchat offer that existing platforms don’t? First of all, the limited nature of the content means that only those who engage with your Snapchat immediately have access to your snaps, and only for a period up to 10 seconds.

So…how does that help marketing?

Particularly for event purposes, Snapchat’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it platform provides exciting opportunities for users to generate event-specific promotional tools and original content. The Association of Surfing Professionals utilize Snapchat to engage with their audience through snaps of real-time updates of surfing contests and will even have surfing professionals send through “autographed” selfies to fans.

Snapchat’s format also allows for real-time updates to event attendees and participants – imagine being able to let visitors know a special event will be starting soon, or about a last-minute change of venue without having to draft an email. Coordination with vendors can also lead to short-term special deals (10% off funnel cakes? Be right there!). Allowing celebrities or important figures to “take over” your account can further increase your reach, and allow attendees to feel like they are intimately connected with them, all thanks to your brand! The benefits of using Snapchat year-round can keep people talking about your event all year.

Like any social media site, it’s important that your selected username makes sense related to your organization – this isn’t your personal account. It’s meant to relate specifically to your organization or event needs. As a general note, it’s always a good idea to have synchronicity between your social media usernames to help with audience loyalty and engagement.

With Snapchat, you typically have to select users to send your snaps to, so it’s absolutely essential that settings are set to display content to “everyone,” so that you never have to manually select your list (which hopefully becomes too long to look through!). This way you’ll be sure that you’re never limiting your audience (of course this does offer specialized promotion opportunities for those extra-special followers).

Be sure to let your followers on other social media sites know that you are now on Snapchat. It’s also a good idea to provide content that you don’t post elsewhere. This ensures that the audience feels like they are getting special treatment as a reward for following you.

While new social media platforms seem to be on the rise every day, Snapchat provides a great current option for event marketing, specifically in delivering premium and exclusive limited-time content to loyal followers. Start snapping those behind-the-scenes pics and get people ready for your next event today!

Texas Festivals & Events Association Summer Shindig

As two members of the Saffire Austin Team were having a great time in Florida, the rest of us had an early morning start to attend the TFEA Summer Shindig in San Marcos, TX. We were honored to get to present a topic near and dear to our hearts “Online Marketing Measurement” and Kendra was able to engage the TFEA members attending with her wit, knowledge, and (shhh..this is just our little secret) DONUTS! We were able to reconnect with a few of our clients during the down time of TELP courses, Brackenridge Park Recreation Complex, Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show, Fiesta San Antonio Commission, Palomino Fest & TFEA themselves.

The day flew by quickly as everyone was eager to learn and by late afternoon we were ready to serve some of Texas’ best summer beers to the TFEA bunch as we boarded our school buses to head out to Three Dudes Winery just outside the city of San Marcos. This winery is set along the San Marcos River and is an open air venue that allows you to experience the outdoors in the shade with a breeze. While it was warm upon arrival the wine tasting began immediately and ice cold beer could be found in cow troughs; one bus even arrived a little late and had to catch up but our favorite drinks of the night were the Three Dudes Chenin Blanc & Ruby Redbird Grapefruit Shiner Bock. After tasting the best Texas has to offer for drink, it was time for more Texas dishes with some BBQ and we got our fill as the awards ceremony began.

We were thrilled when the Texas State Forest Festival and Fiesta San Antonio Commission won the Best Website Award for their categories and even celebrated afterwards. We continued to hang out with our friends, new and old, late into the evening and we sure are glad we stayed up late to catch up and talk about the future of these exciting festivals! Thanks for having us TFEA!