This document provides tips and best practices for using social media to increase engagement and attendance at Irish cultural festivals. It discusses strategies for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. The key recommendations are to post engaging content like photos, videos, and questions; use relevant hashtags; schedule posts in advance; learn analytics to identify top performing content; and complement social platforms with a website, blog, and mobile app. Case studies of specific Irish festivals are presented as examples.

1. Increase Engagement through
Social Media
Sara Kerr
Irish Fair of Minnesota Volunteer
St. Catherine University Marketing Professor

2. What are Your Goals?
• Capture Attention
• Entertain & Enlighten
• Increase Attendance
• Sell More …

3. Capture Attention

4. Three Methods:
Paid
Media
Traditional
Advertising:
Print, TV,
Radio, Direct
Mail, Web
Display
Owned
Media
Website,
Blog,
E-Newsletter
Social Media
Posts
Earned
Media
Media
Stories,
Citizen
Journalism:
(Blogs),
Social Media
mentions &
shares

5. Case Studies

6. September 17-20, 2015
Muskegon, Michigan
michiganirish.org

7. Social Channels
• Facebook: MichiganIrish
• Twitter: @Michigan_Irish & Meerkat
• YouTube mentions
• Pinterest: MichIrishFest
• Instagram: michigan_irish

8. Social Highlights

9. What can we learn from the
Muskegon Irish Music Festival?
• How do you manage your social media?
• Which social media…
–works best for you (or engages the most
fans)?
–is a lot more work than it’s worth?
• What would you like to try but just
haven’t got around to it yet?
• Do you have advice you’d like to share?

10. September 4-6, 2015
Kansas City, MO
kcirishfest.com

11. Social Channels
• Facebook: Kansas City Irish Fest
• Twitter: @KCIrishFest
• YouTube channel: Kansas City Irish Fest
• Pinterest: KCIrishFest
• Instagram: KCIrishFest
• Tir Na Blog (on website):
kcirishfest.blogspot.com
• An app vs. a paper program

12. Social Highlights

13. What can we learn from the
Kansas City Irish Fest?
• How do you manage your social media?
• Why focus on YouTube?
• Do you ever run out of things to say on
your blog?
• What do attendees think of your app vs.
paper programs?
• What do you want to try next?

14. August 13-16, 2015
Milwaukee, WI
Irishfest.com

15. Social Channels
• Facebook: irishfest.milwaukee
• Twitter: @MKEIrishFest
• YouTube channel: MilwaukeeIrishFest
• Pinterest: MKIrishFest
• Instagram: mkeirishfest
• BlogSpot: milwaukee-irish-fest.blogspot.com

16. Social Highlights

17. What can we learn from the
Milwaukee Irish Fest?
• How do you manage your social media?
• Which social channel is the most
effective for you?
• How do you use your blog posts in other
social media channels?
• How do you plan your blog posts?
• What do you want to try next?

18. August 7-9, 2015
St. Paul, MN
IrishFair.com

19. Social Channels
• Facebook: IrishFairMN
• Twitter: @IrishFairMN
• YouTube channel: IrishFairMN
• Pinterest: IrishFairMN
• Instagram: IrishFairMN
• Foursquare: Irish Fair of Minnesota

20. Social Highlights

21. BEST PRACTICES BY PLATFORM
What can you do next?

22. Facebook

23. Facebook: Need to Know
Recognize that Facebook is Paid Advertising
– Boost posts and/or buy ads
– Your fans won’t see your posts in their regular
feed because of how
Facebook presents
them

24. Facebook: Best Practices
• Prioritize Photos over Links
– They perform better
• Be concise: 40 Characters is the best post length
– Up to 80 is still very engaging
• Use the Event feature
– Invite people to your events
– Use awesome photos on the event page
• Post & Schedule via the native (vs. Hootsuite)
scheduling function
• Occasionally “Pin to Top” popular posts

25. Facebook: Posts
• Irish Quotes with a photo
• Engage with contests
– Limericks (we’ve had limited success with that)
– Photo caption contest
– Music and band trivia
• Ongoing Series
– Tea, Pub of the Day, Band of the Day, This Day in Irish
History, TBT with your old photos, Sponsor feature,
Odd Holidays
• Good Questions
– Fill in the blank: “The best beer I ever drank______”

26. Facebook: Knowledge
• Get to know the Insights Page
– When your fans are online
– Which of your posts are performing best
– Watch other pages that you follow
– Who are your fans

27. Facebook: Fans Online

28. Facebook: Your Post Types

29. Facebook: Study Your Best Posts

30. Facebook:
Study the
Posts
from
Pages You
Watch

31. Facebook: Who Are Your Fans?
The Irish Fair of Minnesota Facebook
page engages primarily Gen X and Baby
Boomer women.

32. Instagram

33. Instagram: Need to Know
• Very popular: 200 Million Users
• Authentic and uncluttered by
advertising
• Must post from a mobile device
– Create/edit photos on a desktop and
load them to a mobile device
• Permits Linked Accounts
– Post to Instagram and then
automatically to Facebook and Twitter

34. Instagram: Best Practices
• Gorgeous, square photos
• Relevant Hashtags (5 Max)
– Event specific
• #IFM2015
– Popular ones in your area:
• #Instagood
• #Picoftheday
• #Minstagrammers
• Repost your fans’ photos
– Use the Repost App

35. What to Post
• What’s happening
• Behind the scenes
• Quotes
• Video
• Throwback Thursday #TBT
• 30-Day challenges (#30DaysofBeer)
• Contests
• Tell a story over a series of daily posts:
#BookingABand #FestivalSetup

36. Instagram: Contests
• Identify a goal
– Attend an event
• Create a campaign hashtag
– Example: #DanceWithUs
• Have a clear call to action
– Example: Share your favorite Irish dance photo
• Make participation worthwhile
– Examples: Win tickets / Free dance lesson

37. Instagram: Complementary Apps
• Instaquote: Formats a quote over a generic
background or one of your photos
• Over: Overlays text on a photo
• Flippagram: Creates movies with music using
a collection of photos
• Collage apps: There are many to choose from
to create photo collages
• Hyperlapse: A time-lapse companion app
from Instagram

38. Twitter

39. Twitter: Need to Know
• Twitter requires a lot of effort (time and
frequent Tweets) to be heard amongst the
clutter
• Explore analytics.twitter.com to learn how
your Tweets perform
• Lifespan of a Tweet:
– 20 seconds to 20 minutes

40. Twitter: Best Practices
• Keep it short:
– The ideal Tweet is 70-100 characters to facilitate
retweeting with comments
• Use Hootsuite to schedule your Tweets
• Use 1 or 2 hashtags – never more
• Frequency:
– At least twice daily and up to 8 times
• Use lists to organize who you follow

41. Twitter: What to Post
• Share interesting, share-worthy information
– Not just about your event
• News about your attractions
– Bands that perform at your festival and in your
neighborhood
• Retweet from other Irish/Celtic accounts
• Tweets with links are shared more often
• Tweet photos (525 x 262 pixels)

42. Pinterest

43. Pinterest: Need to Know
• Visuals inspire people far more than text
• It’s designed to be shared on other social media
• It’s a visual search engine
• Share photos from your website
– This will drive web traffic back to your site
• Promoted pins are coming in 2015
• Learn about your followers with Pinterest
Analytics

44. Pinterest Best Practices
• Pin 10 times per day
• Describe your pin in 200-300 words
• Pin great photos and YouTube videos

45. Pinterest: Board Suggestions
• Dogs
• Recipes
• Baked goods
• Music
• Games
• Instruments
• Dancing
• Sports teams
• Fashion
• Weddings
• Quotes
• Jewelry
• Travel
destinations
• Tea
• Whisky
• Beer
• Cocktails
• Heritage
• Authors
• Language
• Castles
• Red Heads
• Names
• Fonts
• Holidays
• Knots
• Lace
• Limericks
• Blessings
• Humor
• Luck
• Branded apparel
(link to your web
store)