Spread the Word of Mouth
The best way to sell out your Fringe Show still via word of mouth.
Up until recently Word of Mouth was entirely organic, like people sharing show ideas with friends down the pub. I once overheard someone raving about a Korean Adaption of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ which remains one of the best pieces of theatre I have ever seen!
But when the internet began to take over the world, marketers realised they could begin to encourage the generation Word of Mouth themselves.
How?
Social Media of course!
So here are 10 pieces of advice to help you spread the word!
1. Make your show the best possible experience – people want to talk about experiences good or bad. Obviously, we’re looking to spread the positive but remember: no publicity is bad publicity (Unless you’re Harvey Weinstein)
2. Ask people to post – Most companies are doing this now so if you’re not buck up! It’s the norm. At the end of the show simply ask your audience to give you a social media shout out if they enjoyed it! Afterall, if you don’t ask you don’t get!
3. Share the fun – people love sharing jokes, gifs and interesting content they can relate to so don’t always keep it serious! Don’t just spam people with your flyer. Think outside the box and share the bants!
4. Don’t be afraid of gimmicks – or as I would like to think of it: Instagramable Promos! So, give out those condoms covered in your show branding! Share those cheeky pin badges! Your audience loves a freebie and you’ll get a bit of free advertising!
5. Think interactive posts – Hitler’s Tasters do some awesome tweets requesting people to reply gifs with how they’re feeling. It gets all the action! So think quizzes, polls, puzzles, questions, challenges, competitions, ticket offers, whatever will get people to interact!
6. Do your hashtag research – what’s trending, what’s hot, what are people searching for. The Edinburgh Fringe always create hashtags that get a lot of action so use #edfringe #edfringe2019 #MakeYourFringe and find some that suit your show and genre!
7. Go Live – Whether your streaming the backstage gossip and grabbing audience at the end of your show to get their opinion live on video or sharing hilarities throughout your day on stories, audiences love these ‘DVD extras’.
8. Never be missed – stick your social media branding on everything! Flyers, Posters, T-Shirts, Websites, Reviews, toilet doors with a sharpie! Make sure the public can’t miss you!
9. Real Life Interactions – shocking, I know, but not everything needs to take place online! Think about those photos taken at the end of escape rooms with hashtags and branding all over them! Take this idea and make your own experience when you flyer out on the mile!
10. Make Friends – are you an all-female acapella group? You know you probably have a similar audience and similar interests to other female acapella groups so use your posts to tag companies like you.
Viral Marketing can make sure your show ‘gets around’. Plus, all of it improves your credibility in the eyes of the algorithms of social and circulates the word!
Have you had some awesome social campaigns that have spread the word! We want to know! Tell us in the comments!