Covering live events is all about engaging your audience and making them feel like they’re in the room with you. To make sure that happens, preparation and the ability to adapt quickly are essential to your success!
When working with a client like Universal Music Group Nashville, we are lucky enough to cover some pretty exciting live events including CMA Fest! Some of these events, however, aren’t always accessible to the every-day fan. While I love a good concert, what I enjoy the most is being able to give country music fans a peek into some of the events they might not get to attend. Recently, we got to cover a party at the newly-opened Top Golf in Nashville to celebrate Darius Rucker’s single, “If I Told You”, going #1 on the country music charts!
WHAT WAS YOUR INSPIRATION?
Most of the live events I cover are obviously music-related. I definitely get inspired by listening to that particular artist beforehand. It always helps me get pumped up to cover the event (and maybe even sing along). While I try to plan most of my captions ahead of time, you may find a time when you need to write copy on the spot. Normally, this would be intimidating, but if I have the song stuck in my head from earlier in the day, a pun-filled caption is already at the tip of my tongue when it’s time to post! If I told you how many times I listened to Darius Rucker’s single in preparation for his #1 party, you may think that I went a little overboard. Unfortunately, Spotify won’t give me exact numbers, so I can keep that embarrassing statistic to myself.
WHAT WAS THE CONCEPT?
When attending any live event, it’s important to remember that you’re the eyes and ears for anyone who can’t be there. I wanted to make sure I captured a mixture of photo and video content that would work for all social media platforms where I’d be posting. In this case, that meant Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You want to film and photograph the main event, but capturing the in-between moments and other unique details can be really special for your social audience too!
HOW DID YOU CREATE / EXECUTE?
Planning ahead is always important when covering an event. Before attending, I make sure I review the artist’s current singles so I can recognize them as soon as they play that first note. I also make sure I have all of the social media handles, pre-written captions, and buy-links saved in my phone for easy posting. Having this information at my fingertips keeps me stress-free and allows me to stay distraction-free so I don’t miss any post-worthy moment.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THIS? ANY OBSTACLES?
At any event, you probably won’t have control of your environment so being able to adapt quickly and think on your feet is key. For some reason, whether I’m at a small, intimate venue or at the Bridgestone Arena, there is always a tall man in a baseball cap who wants to stand right in front of me. Not ideal. I’m always finding quick solutions whether that’s crouching down to find an angle sans dancing concert-goers or using text creatively to cover that person who walked by in the middle of your Instagram Story. Learning to work within the confines of your environment and problem-solve quickly is key to successfully covering an event like this!
On that same note, while I try to plan out what content I want to capture beforehand, performances can be super unpredictable! While Darius performed quite a few songs from his new album, I placed all my bets on crafting the perfect Instagram Story featuring the single we were all there to celebrate, “If I Told You.” When the performance ended and he hadn’t played it, I could have been left empty-handed. Luckily, I’ve learned that you can never have TOO much content so I had plenty of other fun videos and moments that I could use. Who doesn’t love to see Darius Rucker play the classic, “Wagon Wheel”?
WHAT WERE THE RESULTS?
On Instagram, our post had a reach of 3,240 people and our Instagram Stories from the event received a combined reached of 2,984. On Facebook, we reached 3,240 people and our post on Twitter garnered 1,511 impressions. While the venue would only be able to hold 600 people, we were able to invite a much larger audience to come along with us by way of our posts on social media.
Need advice on how to best cover lives event for your company? We can help!
