This document presents research on how festival organizations use social media to engage audiences. A survey was conducted of 446 festival administrators across Canada and the US. The results showed that Facebook and Twitter were the most widely used social media platforms. There was a relationship found between greater customer orientation and increased social media posting before and after festivals. The discussion considers how social media use could be improved to better facilitate engagement across the multi-phase festival experience. Next steps proposed exploring factors affecting customer relationship orientation and examining outcomes of this orientation.

1. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 1
Engaging Festival Audiences
through Social Media
(Research Note)
Christine M. Van Winkle
University of Manitoba, Canada
Christine.vanwinkle@umanitoba.ca
http://tourismandcommunity.com/mobile/
Jill Bueddefeld
University of Manitoba,
Canada
Elizabeth Halpenny
University of Alberta,
Canada
Kelly J. MacKay
Ryerson University,
Canada

2. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 2
Engaging Festival Audiences
through Social Media
(Research Note)
Thank you:
Student Research Assistants:
Jill Bueddefeld,
PhD Candidate
University of Manitoba
Geoff Fudurich,
MASc
Ryerson University

3. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 3
Introduction
 Global increase in social media adoption
 Penetration rates vary regionally
Social Media Platform Adoption

4. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 4
Introduction
 Social media to build relationships
Address customers needs
Enhance organizational
performance
Trainor, Andzulis, Rapp, and Agnihotri, 2014
 Customer orientation to build relationships
Jayachandran, Sharma, Kaufman, & Raman, 2005; Rapp et al, 2010;
Sashi, 2012

5. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 5
Introduction
 Understanding how customer orientation
and social media use are related can
provide insight into how organizations
meet their consumers’ needs
through online relationship
building.

6. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 6
Purpose
 provide insight into the current state of
social media use (and non-use) by festival
organizations, and to examine the
relationship between social media use and
customer orientation
(Jayachandran, Sharma, Kaufman, & Raman, 2005;
Trainor et al., 2014; Sashi, 2012).

7. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 7
Research Question
• How do festival organizations use social
media to engage attendees?
– To what extent is SM used from firm-centric
approach of pushing messages (grounded in G-
D logic) vs a relationship building approach
grounded in S-D logic approach?
– Does an organization’s relationship
building approach affect when and how
SM is used?

8. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 8
Method
• Online survey
• Comprehensive list of Canadian and
American Festivals (N= 2390)
• E-mail contact and initial follow-up
• Final follow-up through IFEA membership

9. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 9
Results
446 Festival administrators responded
(17.6% response rate)
senior administers (43%)
marketing specialists (15%)
producers and event management staff (9%)
and other staff/volunteers (12%).

10. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 10
Results
On Average Festivals were:
25 years years old
7.3 days long
76% of Festivals run by non-profit organizations
the majority hosted at a single site (62%) and
attracting a regional audience (48%)

11. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 11
Results
 Most Festivals were:
Music (27.9%) or other (35.8%)

12. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 12
Results
Social Media Management

13. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 13
Results
Social Media Management

14. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 14
Results
Most Used Platforms
24%
32%

15. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 15
Results
Frequency of Social Media Posting

16. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 16
Results
Social Media Engagement (Sashi, 2012)

17. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 17
Results
Customer Relationship Orientation (Jayachandran et al., 2005)
Please indicate to what extent you agree to disagree with
the following statements by selecting the response that
best describes your festival. N Mdn IQR
In our organization retaining attendees is considered to
be a top priority
358 7 1
Our employees are encouraged to focus on relationships
with attendees
315 6 2
Our volunteers are encouraged to focus on relationships
with attendees
342 6 2
In our organization relationships with attendees are
considered valuable assets
351 7 1
Our senior management emphasizes the importance of
attendee relationships
339 6 2

18. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 18
Results
• There was a significant positive relationship
between the number of social media
platforms used and customer orientation
(rs(302) = .121, p = .032).
• There was also a relationship between
customer orientation and the amount of
posting to social media during certain
periods.

19. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 19
Results
• greater posting the week before the
festival (rs(302) = -.220, p = .000) and the
week after the festival (rs(301) = -.127, p = .
028) were associated with a stronger
customer orientation.

20. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 20

21. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 21
Discussion
• Social media posting before and during
festival
• Need to consider the multi-phase
experience Clawson & Knetch, 2013
• Staffing may be a key issue
• Social-media automation may be
appropriate

22. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 22
Discussion
Facilitating Social Media Engagement

23. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 23
Conclusion
• Social media strategy should be considered
to alleviate demands on staff
• Next steps
– Explore factors affecting customer relationship
orientation
• What factors affect whether SM is used as a form of
CRM to enhance Customer Engagement
– Examine outcomes of customer relationship
orientation

24. ENTER 2018 Research Track Slide Number 24
ReferencesClawson, M., & Knetsch, J. L. (2013). Economics of Outdoor Recreation. Routledge.
Government of Canada, Industry Canada (2008). State of Logistics: The Canadian Report 2008 - Canadian Logistics
Industry [Reports: Statistical Reports]. Retrieved April 8, 2015, from
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/dsib-logi.nsf/eng/h_pj00458.html
Hudson, S. & Hudson, R. (2013). Engaging with customers using social media: A case study of music festivals. International
Journal of Festival and Event Management. 4(3), 206-223.
Jayachandran, S., Sharma, S., Kaufman, P., & Raman, P. (2005). The role of relational information processes and
technology use in customer relationship management. Journal of Marketing, 69(4), 177–192.
McIntyre, K.E., 2014. The Evolution of Social Media from 1969 to 2013: A Change in Competition and a Trend Toward
Complementary, Niche Sites. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 3(2).
Rapp, A., Trainor, K.J., Agnihotri, R. (2010). Performance implications of customer-linking capabilities: Examining the
complementary role of customer orientation and CRM technology. Journal of Business Research. 63. 1229-1236.
Sashi, C. M. (2012). Customer engagement, buyer-seller relationships, and social media. Management Decision, 50(2),
253–272. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251741211203551
Trainor, K. J., Andzulis, J. (Mick), Rapp, A., & Agnihotri, R. (2014). Social media technology usage and customer
relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), 1201–
1208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.05.002
McIntyre, K.E., 2014. The Evolution of Social Media from 1969 to 2013: A Change in Competition and a Trend Toward
Complementary, Niche Sites. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 3(2).
Nickerson, N. P. & Kerr, P. (2014). Snapshots: An introduction to tourism. Scarborough (6th edition), ON: Prentice-Hall.
We Are Social. (2017). Digital in 2017: Global Overview. Retrieved September 5, 2017, from
https://wearesocial.com/special-reports/digital-in-2017-global-overview
Van Winkle, C. M., & Comer, A. (2011). Festivals and information technology: Stages of diffusion of innovation. Canadian
Congress on Leisure Research; St. Catherine’s, Ontario.

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