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Stay in the know, even if you can’t make it to Coachella

Stay in the know, even if you can’t make it to Coachella

By Gabby Cox

 

The first of two weekends to play host to the southern California-based Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a wrap but the buzz around the three-day festival will live on until weekend #2 comes to an end. If you are anywhere near the greater Los Angeles area, it is impossible to have a conversation right now without Coachella coming up at least once. For those of you who don’t know, it’s essentially the concert equivalent of the coolest party of the year, and if you have a few hundred dollars for a ticket, you’re invited.

If you can’t make it to the festival in Indio, Calif. you can still stay on top of all the updates you could imagine via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and the countless news stories around this epic desert party.  As PR professionals, it is impossible for us to attend every seminal event, however, it is our job to stay educated on what is a fit for our clients. For instance, if a client is looking into sponsorships, there is great value in getting their brand in front of the 100,000 ‘cool kids’ and tastemakers at Coachella.  And if you do a little digging, you’ll soon realize Coachella is about more than just music. Over the years it has become an enormous lifestyle event, so if a consumer-facing company is trying to reach a young adult demographic, this is definitely an event you can’t miss.

Whether it’s Coachella or CES, these events present a rare opportunity for PR reps to speak face-to-face with an audience. With this direct engagement, you can gauge public perception of a brand, educate those who haven’t heard of it, and foster a positive and lasting association between the brand you represent and their prospective customers.

 

However, if you don’t have the budget to attend these costly events, consider using social media to connect to attendees and jump into the conversation. It’s an easy way to get the attention of those already interested and you’ll stay up-to-date on the highlights without actually having to be there. Plus, if you know media attending, you can offer them a tip via Twitter, or use it as a conversation starter next time you reach out to them.

All this is to say that you shouldn’t underestimate the power of events. Do some homework and look at a calendar of festivals, tradeshows, and pop culture events coming up, and then follow the conversations around them before, during, and after the event. These conversations will keep you apprised of pop culture and industry news, and as PR professionals, we know that being a few steps ahead of the game is always something to strive for.

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