But here we go anyway.. the next area I want to look at is how the two events use social media to connect, advertise and communicate with their target audience. So the obvious place to go first... is Facebook (FB), I was quite surprised to find out that the X-factor Live Tour didn't have a designated Facebook page to its event, however it did have a page for the TV show and general hype around it.
The first thing I noticed about the page is that it covers absolutely everything X-factor from the live shows, which I am interested in, down too how One Direction (third place in 2010s competition) done in this years Brit Awards. This must have been something the PR people at X-factor decided upon to include all information and updates in one single FB page and not to break it up into different years competitions and/or the Live Tour shows for the respected years!
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| Taken from the FB page 28 Feb |
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| Taken from the FB page 28 Feb |
With this single social media portal the organisers seem to have taken its no surprise that the FB page is overwhelmed with posts about different aspects of the brand. Having said that I took the time to flick back though the page and pick out the posts relating to the Tour. There was a large gap between posts up to three weeks, baring in mind that the live shows were due to start in Manchester on Saturday 25th Feb, I thought this was considerably late to still be pressing for ticket sales?? However only 5 of the 36 shows had actually sold out, and it was due to run until early April.
Apart from posts drumming up ticket sales the only other posts were links to articles on the main X-factor website with exclusive behind the scene material of the build up and rehearsals of the show, one other post that they did have was a picture of Little Mix rehearsing a couple of days before the live shows.
Another thing to notice about the page is the lack of media content it has, the videos posted on there are mostly from 2010s show and pictures and very limited as well. Overall despite having 4.5million 'Likes' I feel that the FB page is not a particularly a high priority for the marketing team at X-factor.
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| Taken from IHS website 28 Feb |
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| Taken from the FB page 28 Feb |
The number of 'Likes' are fairly dismal compared to the previous event standing at 2,190! The benefit of this page is that all the content is relevant to the event and I would expect anyone who has liked the page is generally interested in either attending or has at least considered attending.
The page appears to mainly be used to post additions to attraction lineup due to be on show are the event and extra information about current attractions. Not once has the 'Ideal Home Show team' posted with the intention of pushing ticket sales, however they have created an event which would have been sent to all its fans. But this suggests that they way they use the page is to add value to its fans.. and maybe they realise this is not going to be where tickets are sold?!
Earlier in january there were a few posts that caught my eye as they were advertising competitions that fans could get involved with and had the chance to win various prizes such as kitchens too other home products. These were all posted as links to the events home page on their website.
So to compare I don't think that the pages are fundamental to their respective marketing strategies, as they don't appear to be involving potential attendees as much as I would expect. By this i mean there are other features on Facebook such as the questionnaire feature, which were not used by either event, along with the lack in additional media content.
The Ideal Home Show appears to use FB to connect with attendees by commenting on their posts which range from questions about the event to just comments that they have purchased tickets. X-factor also have this interaction but due to the large number of fans, when they post something the comments turn into a mini forum where many people add their views and often this conversation stream spirals into other areas.
There should be another post coming by the end of this week so stay tuned!...
