This article originally appeared on The Daily Rind.
Summer music festival season is almost upon us, and you know what that means: music, sunburns, bad festival attire, good food, and most importantly, more music!
As festivals are becoming more than just a music experience, though, it can be easy to get lost in the chaos, especially if you have a not-so-ideal time slot at the start of the day. If you fall into this category, below are a few simple steps you can take to ensure you’re making the most of your festival date and driving as many fans and soon-to-be fans to your set.
Note: some of these steps might seem like no-brainers to you, but a handy list never hurts when you’re on-the-go.
Okay, this one’s obvious: once you know you’re playing a festival (or multiple), start promoting it on your socials (but don’t flood your followers with tour-only posts).
Be sure to use the festival’s hashtag and tag the festival’s social account. Even share/repost/retweet if the festival itself has posted on their socials about your performance.
Once your set time and the stage you’re playing on has been announced, post that on each of your socials. Turn it up a notch and create a graphic for fans to share.
If the festival you’re playing has an app, they should have a section where fans can add your set time and receive a push notification before your show. Having a Facebook event created by your account, though, will allow people to share the event. People who have alerts activated on their phone will receive reminders to events they’ve RSVP’d to, so this little extra bit of promotion can’t hurt.
Also – you can now stream a live performance within a Facebook event, so those that have RSVP’d can see it, share it, and react to it (keep reading for more details below).
[How to Create a Facebook Event Invite People Want to RSVP 'Yes' To]
Have some bands you want to see at the festival, or listen to particular “road trip” music while on tour? Create a customized playlist for your festival and share it with your fans.
Videos are a great way to create and share unique content. Post short videos the day of your performance to remind fans what time you play and at what stage, or show them what you’re eating backstage to fuel yourself for the show. The key here is to get people excited about your show – or at least to get your name in front of a larger audience that you weren’t expecting to reach.
You can, and should, do this! Go Live on Facebook, Periscope, and even Snapchat. If you have even one person from your team in the audience, this will be easy to do. By live-streaming your performance, you can engage with people in other cities that just might want to catch you on tour after watching your video.
[5 Tips for Making the Most of Facebook Live as a Musician]
Sometimes, it’s worth going the old school route. If there’s budget for it, create small flyers and leave them around the festival grounds. You could go bigger and create stickers or other physical promo to entice people to come to the show as well. Promotional fans are great useful tools for those sweltering summer days.
Last but not least, if you have a room in the budget, create targeted Facebook & Instagram ads to promote your performance. The more people see your name, the more likely they are to show up to your show because, “Hey, I’ve heard about this band from somewhere…” You can get extremely targeted in your Facebook and Instagram ads these days, so use that to your benefit!
Good luck, have fun, and most importantly: give a killer performance so your band is what people are talking about at the end of the festival!
Allison Ullrich is the manager of college & lifestyle marketing at the Orchard.