Social Media Marketing and Festivals

This assignment examines the role of social media in the success of UK music festivals. Students will analyze how festivals utilize social media for marketing, engagement, and crisis communication. The ethical implications of social media marketing within this context are also explored, emphasizing responsible practices and audience well-being.

Running head: PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public Relations
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Identification of the Issue................................................................................................................2
Plan Brief.........................................................................................................................................3
Industry Convention, Justified Strategy, Objectives, and Tactics...................................................4
Identification of the Audiences, Key Messages, and Online Communication Channel..................5
Activity Schedule.............................................................................................................................6
Evaluation Methodology.................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Public relation is one of the most efficient sources of communication between the
company and individuals through public and media. The effective communicational transparency
is essential for the PR specialists to communicate with the target audience through direct or
indirect mediums (Lowenthal and Dunlap 2014). The public relation method becomes essential
even when any issues are needed to be communicated through mediums or any awareness
program is to be established. The report derived from the PR Census 2016 highlights that the
industry is widely focusing on establishing the media relations, appropriate strategy planning,
and communication through social media (Spence et al. 2015). The study would thus develop the
effective public relations by communicating via online media channels. The identification of the
issues, planning, and scheduled activities would be discussed further.
Identification of the Issue
The study deals with the online communication marketing for creating awareness for the
festival goers in UK Festival Market. This festival market welcomes the young visitors for
spending the vacation and cheerful time with their closed ones. The festival goers are aware of
the risks of drugs, drinks, and unprotected sex, but they are little less aware of the risks created
due to the emission of carbon monoxide (Festivalinsights.com 2018). However, it has been
observed that almost 25 people died due to the emitted carbon monoxide gas in the last year
festival market (BBC News 2018). Even many of the people were taken to the hospital for
rescue. It is noticed that almost 60% of the people going to this festival are under the age group
of 30 among which some of are the first timers (Campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk 2018). The
source of the emissions of carbon monoxide is the nearby barbecues brought by the campers and

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the fuel burning heaters into the tents. In fact, many people brought generators that were running
near the tents. The carbon monoxide emitted from these sources was creating the fatal
consequences for the campers (Festivalinsights.com 2018). Camping and Caravanning Club
arranged a generic campaign for making the campers aware of the dangerous effects created due
to the emissions of carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is the odourless and colourless gas that
has the poisonous effects on human body by giving them the symptoms of vomiting, nausea,
drowsiness, weakness and headaches. The report of these festival campaigns provide the
instances of the fatal accidents caused due to CO consumptions.
Plan Brief
The public relation plan is scheduled to develop an awareness program by establishing
the concerns regarding the fatal consequences created due to the CO emissions. This campaign
development is quite effective for the people who are attending such festivals and spending times
with their friends or families. The PR planning would include the industry convention,
justification of the strategy, and the tactics applied to meet the objectives. In order to develop a
sequential plan, it is essential to identify the target audience, key messages, and the online
communication channels. The systematic activities would be performed to schedule the plan in
an effective way. The social media tools and social networking sites, such as Twitter, Facebook,
Bespoke Social networks, and LinkedIn would be used for sharing the information regarding the
life risks caused due to the excessive consumptions of Carbon Monoxide. The videos including
the shared experienced of the victims would be presented through YouTube, Vine, and Keek. In
order to make this awareness plan more effective, the messaging services via SnapChat,
Whatsapp, and Telegram will also be included.

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Industry Convention, Justified Strategy, Objectives, and Tactics
The objective of this public relation plan is to develop the awareness regarding the effects
of CO emissions on human body. The severe accidental reports are already presented in this
festival market. Therefore, it is now essential to develop a suitable strategy that can make people
aware of the issues that may create life risks for the campers. We shall conduct an industry
convention in every weekend from 1st March, 2018 to 25th April, 2018. In this meeting, we will
discuss the subject of this awareness campaign that will be promoted through the online media.
In this meeting, we will discuss about the following aspect:
 The social media use for posting pictures of the devastated scenario due to the accident
occurred by CO emissions.
 Collecting the videos of the interviewees sharing their experiences.
 Creating the pages of social media and daily monitoring the reviews.
 Discussion on the progress report.
The strategy used in this program is to communicate with the public by creating the
Facebook page. Majority of the people spend the quality time in browsing internet and surfing
the social media sites. Therefore, creating a social media page and sending the invitation of this
page to the target audience would be much beneficial in such context. The posts would contain
the safety tips, list of do’s and don’ts, precautions, and disclaimers. The audiences are free to
present their concerns and reviews on the posts. These reviews and discussions through online
sources would influence the cautiousness among the target audiences.

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Identification of the Audiences, Key Messages, and Online Communication Channel
It is reported that almost 60% of the campers are under the age of 30
(Campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk. 2018). They spend quality time by enjoying this market
festival with their friends and families. Therefore, the people between the ages of 18 to 45 are
the target audience for this awareness campaign. The key message of this specific campaign is
to develop the safety concern around the tents for preventing the risks of consuming carbon
monoxide. This campaign development is quite effective for the people who are attending such
festivals and spending times with their friends or families. The PR planning would include the
industry convention, justification of the strategy, and the tactics applied to meet the objectives.
The following safety tips are needed to be followed:
 Do not take the barbeque into a tent, caravan, awning, or motorhome. In fact, the cooling
barbeque emits more CO gas, which is dangerous to the respiratory system.
 Do not use a fuel-burning appliance for heating your awning or tent.
 You should not run a gas, diesel-powered generator, or petrol inside a motorhome,
caravan, awning, or tent.
 Do not cook inside your awning or tent.
 Do not use any charcoal, gas, solid fuel, or liquid fuel appliances inside the tent.
The online communication channels used for this campaign are as follows:
 Twitter (Social Media Tool)
 Facebook, Bespoke Social Networks (Social Networking sites)
 Instagram, Fickr (Photo sharing sites)
 YouTube, Vine, Keek (Video Sharing Sites)

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These social networking sites will be used for creating the buzz among the target audience to
present the concerns regarding the safety maintenance at the UK festival market.
Activity Schedule
The entire plan will be formulated in a systematic format by availing the coherent timing.
The schedule of the activities is presented below:
Time Schedule
Activities Start Date End Date Week (s)
1. Arranging PR Plan
Meeting
1st March, 2018 25th April 5 weeks
2. Creating Accounts in
different online channels
2nd April 1st May 4 weeks
3. Gathering the lists of
the target audiences
5th April 1st June 7 weeks
4. Sending Invitation for
the social media pages
3rd June 30th June 2 weeks
5. Sharing pictures,
blogs, articles, and
contents in different
social media
1st July 18th August 5 weeks
6. Posting video links on
the pages
7th August 6th September 6 weeks
7. Reviewing and
Replying to the
comments and queries of
7th September 1st October 4 weeks

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the audience
.Table: Activity Schedule
(Source: Created by Author)
Evaluation Methodology
The public relation method is chosen by developing the awareness campaign through
social media. This festival market welcomes the young visitors for spending the vacation and
cheerful time with their closed ones. The festival goers are aware of the risks of drugs, drinks,
and unprotected sex, but they are little less aware of the risks created due to the emission of
carbon monoxide. The social media sites provide the continuous information regarding the risks
created for carbon monoxide emissions. The carbon monoxide emitted from these sources was
creating the fatal consequences for the campers (Campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk 2018). The
experiences of the sufferers are also shared through videos and articles. This campaign
development is quite effective for the people who are attending such festivals and spending times
with their friends or families. The PR planning would include the industry convention,
justification of the strategy, and the tactics applied to meet the objectives. These reviews and
discussions through online sources would influence the cautiousness among the target audiences.
The reviews and replies are monitored, but it lacked the proper measurement process. It was
necessary to measure the progress report whether the target audiences were convinced with such
safety tips. In fact, it was also necessary to measure whether the audiences took such advice
before they visit the festival market. Hence, the method of using this social media
communication method was quite limited.

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References
Allagui, I. and Breslow, H., 2016. Social media for public relations: Lessons from four effective
cases. Public Relations Review, 42(1), pp.20-30.
Ashley, C. and Tuten, T., 2015. Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory
study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1),
pp.15-27.
BBC News. 2018. Family saved from poison gas tent. [online] Available at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-14713397 [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].
Best, P., Manktelow, R. and Taylor, B., 2014. Online communication, social media and
adolescent wellbeing: A systematic narrative review. Children and Youth Services Review, 41,
pp.27-36.
Campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk. 2018. Carbon monoxide (CO) can kill - The Camping and
Caravanning Club. [online] Available at:
http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/helpandadvice/camping-safety/carbon-monoxide-
poisoning/ [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].
Chang, Y.T., Yu, H. and Lu, H.P., 2015. Persuasive messages, popularity cohesion, and message
diffusion in social media marketing. Journal of Business Research, 68(4), pp.777-782.
Festivalinsights.com. 2018. Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. [online] Available at:
http://www.festivalinsights.com/wpcontent/uploads/UKFA2013_SHOWGUIDE_MarketReport.
pdf [Accessed 20 Jan. 2018].