The events and entertainment sector has grown exponentially over the last couple decades. There has been massive growth in knowledge and innovation which has displayed capacity for the sector to grow even further in the near future. Events and entertainment sectors is distinctly separate from other relevant fields such as sports, tourism and hospitality. Various aspects of these fields may be intertwined in many circumstances but the distinction between them is certain. Knowledge and innovativeness is increasingly crucial in continued facilitation of strategic functions in events and entertainment.
In the recent times, there are themes that have emerged in the circles of event and entertainment management. These themes are responsible for some major developments that have occurred in the industry. The themes are diverse and impact the business in different ways. These include use of social media especially in customer engagement, corporate engagement in events through certain programs, community engagement and participation in event making process. In another example, there has been utilization of innovative environmental practices in music festivals to reduce the implications on ecology (Whiting and Williams 2013; Shaikh et al 2016).
The use of social media is growing in unprecedented fashion. People are regularly joining social media sites generating more traffic on the websites as has never been experienced before. Businesses are taking advantage of the situation that social media presents to the prospects of the business. This theme has propelled many businesses ahead and may more businesses can leverage the use of social media channels in realizing more business growth (Armstrong et al, 2015; Kaur 2016).
Social media is used in big part to engage with attendees of a particular event. The major impact has been the change in marketing communication environment. This has been massive just like most of the other developments mentioned. This is directly related to rise in popularity of the social media. Social media has become a core aspect in the integration of events marketing communication (Aral et al 2013, 3). An element that should not be overlooked is the high involvement of young audience in comparison with the rest of demography. The young generation is more hands-on with social media while the older generation are still more traditionally inclined. More developments have shown that the elderly are catching up with some technology. It makes sense that younger people are more involved as they represent the future of the businesses (Turhan 2013).
The main social media sites are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more recent sites such as Foursquare. These sites are part and parcel of many consumer decision processes. As such, researchers can incorporate the sites into models that are able to gauge the increase in engagement. The implications reach all stakeholders involved and gives more insight on consumer processes. Understanding the scope of the benefits drives the use of social media in driving brand awareness and loyalty, marketing and attendance (Tuten and Solomon 2017; Mergel 2013, 327).
The massive use of social media has led to numerous data surrounding this usage. Researchers have complied wide range of data that can be utilized to determine the impact of social media in the business environment of events and entertainment. The data shows different aspects that are relevant to social media segments and commercial outcomes (Smith 2017).
The number of adult social media users was 7% in 2005. The number rose to 69% after a decade (Smith 2017). This represent the workforce in all major industries or businesses. This increased usage by the primary workforce is central to the business strategies that events and entertainment management entails. The growth shows the shift in social trends. Social trends depict the significant themes the society is immersed in. As much as the young generations are proficient in social media use, the older generations are coping with the changing times. This ensures that the businesses in this day and age can fully embrace technology.
It is estimated that there are two million businesses using Facebook for advertisements in promotion of their products and services. This is a clear picture which portrays the importance of social media. The benefits of Facebook platform alone to millions of businesses cannot be understated. Thus, it is crucial that business strategies involve the utilization of social media in promotion to enhance the success of the organization (Turhan 2013; Shaikh et al 2016).
Social media advertising has shown its capacity to influence substantial financial returns. Figures show that Facebook raked in 9.16 billion in revenue from advertisements in the first quarter of 2017. This is a theme that is spreading like wildfire and it is here for a very long while. There are reasons to use these platforms in business advertising. Chief among them is the low cost of advertising on social media (Smith 2017).
Some current strategies depend on use TV, radio, print media advertising. These methods are still popular and important in our society. They provide great audience for businesses. They are, however, significantly more expensive than social media advertisements. Social media advertisements are also dependable. This factor affects advertising in events and entertainment management. The business can include social media advertising as part of strategy based on issues affecting global economy. Global economic issues affect revenues which tend to have more impact on the traditional business strategies (Aral et al 2013, 6).
Advertising in main stream media has a myriad of processes that have to be undertaken. There is a lot involved in reaching terms and contracts for the advertisement, compliance with laws and regulations and the procedures that need to followed before the content is ready to displayed. These processes require a lot of preparation, time and effort in ensuring the content suits both parties and conditions are agreed upon. There is continuous back and forth between all the people involved until the project is complete. Advertising in social media bypasses a lot of the involvements that can be observed from these scenarios. From the case study, we observe a reduction in email exchange by 30%. Social media advertising is not only cheaper but simpler.
Social media helps in reaching target audience. Traditional business strategies do not enable reaching out to target audience. Other means are based on blind approach which does not ensure returns are achieved. There are higher returns on investment when targeted audience can be reached out to (Kaur 2016). The plus in this situation is that responses can be availed which makes the whole process very efficient. It is relatively convenient as the attendees are known and their attendance confirmed quite easily. This condition enables keeping them informed and updated (Smith 2017).
Customer engagement adds value to businesses. The events and entertainment industry is very receptive of social marketing. Entertainment was estimated to have 37% industry open rates which was above other major industries. Many customers have expressed the important role that of social media in making entertainment decisions. There are high chances of attending events and entertainments when individuals have viewed or been involved in advertisement on social media. This was 31% for viewers of a video promotion on social media. In essence, video is becoming more preferable as advertising tool. People are proving to be more receptive to video over written or plainly oral material (Armstrong et al, 2015).
Engagement with customers ensures that businesses meet the desires of the customers. This means that there will be higher probability of attendance which translates to more success for the organization. When customers are engaged, they are more inclined to the event and entertainment involved. Social media enables industries to find their customers. Businesses do this through following the conversations based on the industry involved. In events and advertising, quality visual representations are used to catch the attention of the audience. The next step is to create a conversation with the audience (Turhan 2013).
Appropriate engagement with the customers will ascertain that they share news with other people on social media. One impressive outcome is that there is 71% more chance of purchasing a product if it is referred to on social media. The conversations that customers are involved in point out to other significant parties in the field. Important establishments receive be good ratings and reviews This is essential as it creates a connection with possible partners. This is a good business strategy to develop business relationships. Industry globalization has made it possible to connect with businesses from other regions of the world. Globalization essentially makes the industry be more associative and collaborative. Social media makes this connection relatively easier and more reliable and the partnership more productive (Whiting and Williams 2013).
Successful events and entertainment build loyalty among customers. A great way to instill loyalty is through ensuring that customers have great experiences. Great business strategies have ways of keeping people involved. This is a central to prosperity and continuity of the business. Social media provides tools that keep customers engaged and involved with the events and entertainments. Through livestreams and hashtags, millions of customers find the relevant material and participate or affect the process in some way. The content shared on social media does not disappear but thrives which makes it possible for other users to stumble upon and gain interest.
Important factors to note are the support for customers and feedback. Traditional strategies have been at fault over customer service. For a long time, services provided in some industries were delayed or lacking all in all. Customer service keeps clients satisfied and knowledgeable. This support ensures that they are able to receive the quality standards of services. A good relationship is built in this case whereby customers are able to gain timely and accurate response. Feedback provide the business with opportunity to make changes and improvements which helps the course of the business (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014, 705).
Social media gives insight on the preferences of people of different generations (Tuten and Solomon 2017). The customers under these segments have diverse likes and dislikes. This knowledge affects the content that is distributed for a certain target audience. This means that events and entertainment businesses get to use this information to tailor their content according to the market segment. The outcome is that the business involved captures diverse audiences. The data helps in retargeting demographics based on their response when marketing metrics are appropriately used in determining the developing trends (Tarut? and Gatautis 2014, 1220).
The use of social media will impact the governance and process of businesses that use the platform. This will entail setting up protocols for utilizing new technology and sharing of the information across the business. This also involves management of internal and external capabilities of the organization. Governance, people and the processes all need to ensure that technology performs accordingly for customers to cherish the experiences. Businesses need to determine ways to initiate new projects and how the various capabilities of the organization will be managed (Keegan and Rowley 2017, 16).
Spark Event Management has in place appropriate governance and protocols as relates to event organization. The entity has specific personnel that are involved with social media marketing such as specialist and marketing managers whose duties are to ensure that the company’s activities on social media run effectively (Sparks 2013, 1). These people provide the basis for using social media as relates to the performance of the organization. There are also established ways of assessing and sharing data across the organization. The data revolves around the effective use of social media, a point that should be emphasized going forward in other organizations for maximized outcomes (Keegan and Rowley 2017, 18).
An important step in the progress of social media use is paying attention to key performance indicators and measurements. Companies should have the ability to monitor and manage the marketing potential and performance on social media (Peters et al 2013, 283). There is need to use appropriate metrics to drive success. Metrics help deliver insights that the business can act upon. The metrics are involved in decision-making (Parsons et al 2014). Spotify and Tidal are major entertainment entities with business mainly based on streaming. These establishments use data from social media to gauge the performance of the businesses according to factors such as response that customers have displayed. The companies use the metrics to inform on business decisions (Spotify 2018, 1; Tidal 2018, 1). The Academy Awards also uses social media data to track the social and revenue growth of the elements involved in the event (Fanbridge 2018, 1).
The performance indicators and measurments are related to the customer insights. Going forward, organizations will be more involved in tracking and analysis of customer behavior. This is critical in targeting and shaping of content and optimization of delivery. There is need for extensive data and tools that aid the analysis of customer segments. Companies will need to put in place the necessary system and personnel to perform these tasks. The right processes and teams are required to collect data and make sense out of it. This should ensure quick delivery of the analysis in the appropriate form to the decisions-makers for deliberations (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014, 708).
The use of social of social media requires access to technology and infrastructure. Social media cannot be utilized without these aspects. Any organization that has the objectives of exploring the commercial benefits of social media will need to invest in the latest technology and the necessary infrastructure for the platform to run. Decisions will be made on the system needed to be employed for fully functional processes. Technology is an ever-changing aspect which means that virtually all organizations need to be keen to update their systems (Tarut? and Gatautis 2014, 1222).
Customer has always been vital. This aspect is bound to receive more emphasis. The organizations need to provide customer journeys based on the insights gained. Different functions or phases can be augmented to give a great experience. Most establishments ensure premier customer experience in different ways. With on-going developments, there are more factors that are considered in this situation such as technology, marketing, service and support. There are varying operations and decisions that are made and will need to be made in order to satisfy this course (Liebowitz 2017, 1).
The growth of social media has multiplied the amount of traffic on the internet 100-fold or perhaps much more. It was easier at the beginning to reach audiences that it is now because the traffic on social media obscures the pages of some marketers. There are numerous posts such that some are not observed by target customers (Michaelidou et 2011, 1155). It is recommended that instead of employing the use of large number of posts, fewer high-quality posts should be used. Videos are more preferable but it is better for the posts to be comprised of a small post and inclusion of video in the picture (Liebowitz 2017, 1).
Data management requires perusing through social data in understanding the audience or measurement of brand reputation. The data is in very large amounts. The data also has information critical to the performance of the companies. This can be quite time consuming. This is solved through time management. This helps address the most pressing matters. Centralization enables mapping out the calendar which enhances the efficiency of task performance (Parsons et al 2014).
A centralized system also helps in data management. Such a system unifies the data and presents them in blocks that display patterns or opportunities. There are data sources such as CRM that can be connected to social media management tools to help in collection and sharing of key customer information (Malthouse et al 2013, 270). Companies will need to use integrate marketing technology systems to seamlessly work through the data or exchange with other parties (Peters et al 2013, 286; Parsons et al 2014).
Return on Investment (ROI) consideration is crucial in all investments made by organizations. The value of social media is proven through timely performance reports to show the effectiveness of the platform. The investment should be attached to specific goals aligned along the investment made and the affected performance. ROI may be linked to revenue returns or brand awareness. Adequate evaluation of the impact determines the necessary marketing resources for social media and leads to better performance (Gensler et al 2013, 243).
Social media has many channels available for use in YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Content translation across all these channels is a great skill. What is needed is an effective multichannel/cross-channel strategy. This strategy will help create a cohesive unit that has in-depth knowledge on the different characteristics, preferences and tastes of individuals based on the customer behavior (Gensler et al 2013, 245).
Conclusions
In this age, there are different themes and trends that have emerged which have great implications on the running and performance of businesses. The event and entertainment sector has been influenced by some of the developments that have occurred. A major art of emerging themes is the social media. Social media has grown tremendously over the last decade and with it the effects on the events and entertainment management business.
Social media has brought about many developments in business. The use of this platform affects all aspects of event and entertainment management from organization of the event, promotions and progress of the occasions during and afterwards. Social media has shown major benefits in building brand awareness, marketing and engagement with customers. The outcomes are observed in traffic generated, revenue increase, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
The becoming of social media affects the business processes of organizations and the decisions that are made. In this case we are able to observe how social media as an emerging theme affects the business strategies. These strategies revolve around customer relations, advertising platforms and costs and infrastructure. It is clear that social media will continue being a core feature of businesses in the event and entertainment industry. It is important that organizations make the right steps as entail operational or strategic decisions so as to optimize the outcomes.
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