Online Marketing Blog from metrocafe311

Oxegen 2010 harnesses the power of the oh-so-social-web

With Oxegen 2010 fever about to take over the metrocafe311 office we decided to take a look at what Europe’s favourite rock and roll weekend is doing to keep in contact with fans online. When is comes to social media and all things digital it appears Oxegen could not get enough. The festival is using Facebook, Twitter, blogs, vlogs, and an iphone app among others to communicate with Irish festival lovers. Businesses or event organisers looking for a way to create hype and buzz around their event should look to Oxegen for direction. With integration across all media types their social media efforts are definitely paying off.

In recent years Oxegen (previously Witness) has sought to make the festival more appealing to mainstream music fans. Along with the more pop based line-up Oxegen has introduced the use of social media to branch out to their fan base. This years’ Facebook campaign is a resounding triumph with the highest number of Facebook ‘likes’ (formerly known as fans) in the entertainment category in Ireland at 91,560 ‘likes’ to date. That’s more fans than there are tickets! Aside from fan growth they have done a great job with providing appealing, fun, conversational content on a regular basis. Fans appear to be answering each others questions regarding line-up, what to bring etc with little input from the managers of the page. However the rumour of cancellation by rap artist Eminem was contained quickly when an unofficial blog claimed that the rapper would be replaced by Paramore.

The festival’s Twitter has fewer than 4,500 followers, pointing to the lower number of ‘twits’ in this younger age demographic. Nonetheless their Twitter list of artists playing at the event is an obvious advantage. Followers of the list can see artist’s tweets and will no doubt be a serious draw during the weekend itself.

This bring us onto the blogs themselves, three of Oxegen’s organisers have posted blogs to the official website. Low frequency of posting and difficulty in adding comments leave the blogs lacking in appeal to the average fan. This is a shame especially as one of the bloggers, Duchess, had some really juicy inside information on shameful dressing room requests from bands.

The real win for Oxegen and their campaign is the development of an iphone application for 2010. Hitting number one in the itunes store in just 24 hours the iphone app offers content to fans that we would not have thought possible a few years ago. From the basics of a checklist of what to bring to the festival to the more useful twitter feed and interactive event schedule, this app really adds value to Oxegen’s offering.

Even more exciting is the site map and the extremely handy GPS feature allowing you to tag your tent etc. Never again will a lost camper wander into the wrong tent. Finally to top things off the app has solved the age old problem of losing friends at gigs. Connected via Facebook users can turn on the ‘share my location’ setting and allow updates on your friend’s location in real time. We not need to tell festival goers how quite brilliant this really is.

Overall Oxegen’s organisers seem to be set to have another cracking festival. The only drawbacks are the lack of the use of other links on their website. Sites such as Vimeo, LastFM and Flickr are listed on the site but have very little activity. Fans appear to only be interested in the conventional social media for now.

So what would the metrocafe311 office like to see at the festival next year? Well for all the office foursquare fanatics we would love to see some venues set up within the arena itself. We quite like the idea of being mayor of the main stage! A quick note as well on Glastonbury and Orange on their collaboration on the multiple tagging photo on Orange’s festival website. It would be great to see Oxegen do something similar and get facebook users to share the experience.

Our wellies are ready, are yours?