EDM: Powered By Social Media

EDM EVENTS POWERED BY SOCIAL MEDIA Electronic dance music (EDM) has risen in popularity to become the genre of choice for millennials, and social media has emerged as a key driving force in its increasing popularity. EDM artists, promoters, and labels use social media to engage with fans and fans use social media to spread the word about new music and upcoming events. Ticketfly, the social ticketing platform, recently conducted an in-depth study to quantify and better understand the unique and explosive trends in the social and buying behavior of EDM fans. EDM ON TWITTER @davidguetta 6,000,000+ 5,000,000+ @skrillex 4,000,000+ @tiesto @deadmau5 3,000,000+ 2,000,000+ 1,000,000+ 900,000+ @diplo 800,000+ 700,000+ 600,000+ 500,000+ 1,310,256 1,847,625 615,484 1,366,399 5,895,407 The most successful EDM artists and promoters understand that building a following on popular social networks is critical to creating community and establishing a strong direct to fan communications channel. SOCIAL TICKETING SELLS 6X more ticket sales for EDM events Facebook on a mobile device drives 3X more ticket sales for EDM events Social media drives OTHER EVENTS EDM EVENTS OTHER EVENTS EDM EVENTS fE fE f f When fans are avid social media users, event announcements spread quickly, so it's no surprise that promoters also turn to social media to promote their events. Fans not only buy tickets after discovering events on social media, but also share the event multiplying ticket sales. EDM fans love social media and access their favorite social networks anytime, anywhere. MORE SOCIAL, LESS SEARCH 2X more ticket sales than search for EDM events 13% Sales From Search 23% Sales From Social Media Drives Search ft Search is less important for EDM ticket sales than social media, which is not the case for other types of events. Typically, search drives 5x more ticket sales than social. EDM fans discover events based on recommendations from their social graph and go directly to the purchase from links on social networks, bypassing search engines. Fans of other genres are far more reliant on search. NO + 1? NO PROBLEM! MEN LOVE TO DANCE TICKETS PER ORDER EVENT TYPE 1 58% MALE TICKET BUYERS 54% MALE TICKET BUYERS For some EDM venues, men buy up to 70% of the tickets. But, in general, women are more active on EDM fans likely buy fewer tickets per order because of the inherent communal qualities of a shared EDM experience. EDM fans are part of a community, which makes them less inclined to pair up in advance of an event. social media: 58% and 64% of Facebook and Twitter's users, respectively, are female. Since EDM ticket sales are driven by social media, it is surprising that so many men are buying tickets. TAKEAWAYS So what does these mean for EDM promoters and venues? Follow these simple guidelines to create a socially successful event. SELL WHERE THE FANS ARE DONT STRESS ABOUT SEARCH f Enable fans to purchase tickets directly from social networks and their phones While SEO and SEM are still important, social media drives more ticket sales for EDM events LET FANS BE THE PROMOTERS EMBRACE SOCIAL MEDIA Let fans be the promoters; provide tools that make social sharing simple Recognize that social ticketing sells! ticket/ly Sources: Sales and demographic data from Ticketfly reports from 1/1/12-7/31/12. Facebook and Twitter demographic data from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2012/07/04/men-women-social-media/ II