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E-paper version: https://issuu.com/mariebuhl/docs/marie_buhl_b achelor_thesis_talk_tow Or scan the code:
Bachelor Thesis by Marie Buhl EITM14 Erhvervssprog og IT-baseret markedskommunikation 2014 Old student number: ei240113 New student number: 3001856 Problem statement: How can Talk Town stay present in their visitor’s minds throughout the whole year through social media? Handed in on the 2nd of January 2018 Character count: 67746 I have chosen to layout this thesis with font Calibri in point size 11 with 1,15 line spacing. I have chosen this to further the reading experience and avoid gaps in the text which can disrupt the reading flow
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Sammenfatning af Bachelor Opgave Events fylder mere og mere i vores hverdag, samfund og liv. Event markedet udvider sig stadigt og nye former for events kommer til med rivende fart. Events byder deres gæster en oplevelse i det virkelige liv, som de kan fordybe sig i og være en del af. Det kan give dem en følelse af at høre til, selvstændighed og identitetsudvikling. Mens markedet af events har udviklet sig hastigt findes der dog meget lidt specifik forskning i forhold til markedsføring af events. Det vil jeg derfor undersøge i forhold til festivalen Talk Town. Talk Town er en debat festival der finder sted i slutningen af maj i København. Den handler om emnerne feminisme, ligestilling, og køn. Den har fundet sted siden år 2016 og modtager omkring 2500 gæster hvert år. Talk Town har en struktur, der minder om Folkemødet på Bornholm. Det vil sige, at den fungerer som ramme for 90 enkelte events såsom foredrag, workshops, præsentationer, såvel som underholdning, mad, og musik. Eventen er gratis og kræver ikke at deltagerne tilmelder sig. Talk Towns formål er at være et inklusivt, mangfoldigt forum, der opfodrer til debat og videns udveksling men samtidig skal være et sikkert og trygt rum for en bred vifte af deltagere. De to medarbejdere der arbejder fast på Talk Town har så mange spredte opgaver bliver markedsføringen af eventen ofte nedprioriteret eller udsat. Det har resulteret i at Talk Towns sociale medie platforme bliver opdateret uregelmæssigt eller slet ikke.
Marie Buhl
Talk Town bruger for tiden Facebook og Instagram som deres sociale medie kanaler. Denne opgave undersøger derfor hvad Talk Towns værdier er, hvad de besøgende opfatter som de største styrker ved festivalen og hvorfor de vil deltage. Ud fra det vil jeg fastlægge deres værdigrundlag og redegøre for ressourcer. Ved hjælp af en SOSTAC analyse vil jeg argumentere for at indføre nye typer for indhold til deres sociale medier, redegøre for hvordan de kan producere så meget og så kvalitetsfuldt indhold som muligt med så få ressourcer og så lidt tid som muligt, og anbefale metoder at nå ud på nye platforme på. Dette er for at styrke deres online tilstedeværelse og sikre at Talk Town forbliver klart i de besøgenes erindringer, med det formål at få dem til at vende tilbage til festivalen næste år. Analysen viste at både festivalens organisatorer og de besøgende havde overensstemmende meninger om hvad festivalens største værdi ligger i – deres mangfoldighed, diversitet i emner og åbne og innovative tilgang til festival formatet. Dette er dog kun delvist reflekteret i deres online tilstedeværelse. For at bringe balance i deres online tilstedeværelse skal de sørge for at bringe materiale ud mere regelmæssigt. Opslagene og det visuelle kan forud produceres under selve festivalen, da det er den periode, hvor der er flest ressourcer i form af frivillige hjælpere tilgængelige. Ved at forud producere materialet aflaster det de to medarbejdere resten af året samtidig med at det giver et autentisk og ægte billede af at være på festivalen.
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Table of Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 5 1.1 About Event Marketing ........................................................................................................................ 5 1.2 What is Talk Town ................................................................................................................................ 5 1.3 Why does Talk Town exist? .................................................................................................................. 6 2. Problem Statement ....................................................................................................................................... 6 2.1 What is the current marketing situation at Talk Town? ....................................................................... 6 2.2 Problems and Goals .............................................................................................................................. 6 2.3 Problem Statement .............................................................................................................................. 7 2.4 Elaborating Questions .......................................................................................................................... 7 3. Method and Theory of Science .................................................................................................................... 7 3.1 Method ................................................................................................................................................. 7 3.2 Theory of Science ................................................................................................................................. 7 3.3 Data collection and error sources ........................................................................................................ 8 4. Theory ........................................................................................................................................................... 9 4.1 Situation: Where are we now? ............................................................................................................. 9 4.2 Objectives: Where do we want to be? ................................................................................................. 9 4.3 Strategy: How do we get there? ........................................................................................................... 9 4.4 Tactics: How exactly do we get there? ............................................................................................... 10 4.5 Action: Who does what and when? ................................................................................................... 10 4.6 Control: How do we monitor the performance? ................................................................................ 10 5.
Terms .......................................................................................................................................................... 10
6. SOSTAC Analysis .......................................................................................................................................... 10 6.1 Situation: Where are we now? ........................................................................................................... 11 6.2 Objectives: Where do we want to be? ............................................................................................... 14 6.3 Strategy: How do we get there? ......................................................................................................... 18 6.4 Tactics: How exactly do we get there? ............................................................................................... 22 6.5 Action: Who does what and when? ................................................................................................... 25 6.6 Control: How do we monitor performance? ...................................................................................... 26 7.
Summary and Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 27
8.
Bibliography and references ....................................................................................................................... 29
9.
Appendices .................................................................................................................................................. 31
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1.2 What is Talk Town
1. Introduction 1.1 About Event Marketing Events are becoming an increasingly bigger part of our lives, society, entertainment, and identity. The event-market is growing and becoming more diverse. It is evolving quickly and so far, there hasn’t been done a lot of research on marketing specifically for events. (Raj, Walters, & Rashid, 2013) Events can both be the final product in itself or be used as part of the marketing mix to promote another event. In either case, attending events can have a strong impact on consumers if planned, managed, and marketed correctly. Events both offer the consumer an experience as well as a memory. “In this increasingly virtual world, it is important to remember that events are happenings that people can become physically involved in. they involve human interaction. They give people the opportunity to be somebody and to be seen being somebody. They are fun, and they brighten up your day. The choice to become involved is ours. This gives consumers a sense of belonging and empowerment. “ Event marketing: How to Successfully Promote Events, Festivals, Conventions, and Expositions (Preston, 2012) I want to look at how to convey this strong sense of belonging and empowerment accurately and vividly through online marketing. In this case I will be exploring this in regard to a final-product event, where the experience is the product in itself and not being used to sell a different product.
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Talk Town is a 3-day debate festival that takes place in Copenhagen. The main topics of the event is feminism, equality, and gender. It transpires in the month of May and 2018 will be the third time it takes place. During the three days there are talks, workshops, debates, panel discussions, as well as food, music, and performances that all relate to the main topics. In terms of organization, Talk Town works a little differently than most festivals though. This is in the way, that they first and foremost create the framework for the festival. Instead of inviting and paying for the acts at the festival they offer slots that organizations, companies, speakers, bloggers, politicians or even private people can book for their idea, workshop, presentation, act, and so on. Talk Town then provides guidance and help in developing their ideas, production, network, facilities, as well as a stage master to help them on the day. This means that the organizers behind Talk Town do not dictate the topics nor do they set an agenda for what they want to be discussed and debated during the festival. The content is planned by its contributors who are interested in the main topics, and dedicated enough about them that they want to share their knowledge. This means that the contributors are already devoted and enthusiastic about their topics. This upcoming year there are around 90 individual acts and contributors throughout the duration of the festival. The entire event is free for all visitors and they can participate in as many or as few parts of the festival as they want. Each year there have been approximately 2500 visitors over the course of the festival.
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Talk Town has been described as the “Folkemøde” for feminists in Denmark because of its open setting, the focus on debate, and large number of facilitated opinions around one topic. (Steen Sverdrup, 2016)
1.3 Why does Talk Town exist? Talk Town started in 2015 when Denmark was hosting Women Deliver, a global conference which focuses on the health, rights, and wellbeing of women. For this conference women from all over the world and many different sectors, cultures, and experiences came to Copenhagen to discuss topics such as feminism and gender equality. However, the ticket prices to experience this conference started at 700 DKK upwards. The high price meant, that the conference was only accessible to a small target group of financially privileged visitors. This frustrated, among others, the people working at the culture collective Indgreb – a group of people working with, developing, planning, and facilitating cultural events. They contacted Kvinderådet – The Women’s Council in Denmark who expressed the same frustration. Together they came up with the idea for Talk Town. An open and inclusive event where everybody who is interested can go and learn more and discuss these topics without any financial restriction.
2. Problem Statement 2.1 What is the current marketing situation at Talk Town? There are two full time employees currently working at Talk Town. Their main tasks are getting grants, administration, planning the event, both the practical aspect but also organizing the content, together with the many contributors who speak, debate, and facilitate workshops or performances at the festival. Their task is also to do the marketing for the festival, however this is a task that often falls short due to lack of human resources. While they used to have an employee for communication they had to let them go as a result of insufficient financial funds for the position. (Samuelsen, 2017) Talk Town currently uses Facebook as their main social media channel. They, as of December 2017, have 2578 followers on their Facebook page which on average publishes post 1.6 posts per month. They also have an Instagram profile that was created for them by one of their volunteers during last year’s festival. It hasn’t been updated since the 18th of May 2017. (See appendix 8) Other than social media they have a website, a newsletter which they use in the months leading up to the festival itself and they print out posters and flyers that they distribute in the Copenhagen area.
2.2 Problems and Goals Talk Town’s main goal is currently to keep the current number of approximately 2500 visitors stable and keep the interest of them to make them return to Talk Town. While they also are very welcoming to new visitors the main goal is to stay steady at around 2500 and keep, as well as further the diversity of the visitors and presenters at the festival.
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The first year Talk Town took place they had a great pool of resources because of the Women Deliver conference which made it possible to have big-name presenters from all over the world at the festival. That attracted many visitors and jump started Talk Town to a very successful first year. Since then the pool of resources has been smaller and more local, focused on presenters from Denmark and some bordering countries. This is why the goal so far is not growth but stabilization of the number of visitors. (Samuelsen, 2017)
2.3 Problem Statement How can Talk Town stay present in their visitor’s minds throughout the whole year through social media?
2.4 Elaborating Questions How can they make sure the topics of the festival are reflected into their social media presence? Are the social media channels they are currently using the right ones? What kind of content should they create to achieve their goals?
3. Method and Theory of Science 3.1 Method To answer my problem statement, I contacted Talk Town’s festival leader Jan Samuelsen and set up an interview. I wanted to understand the festival better and understand how they work both during the festival itself and in the rest of year after and consequently before the festival. The interview took place in Copenhagen at Talk Town’s office on the 31st of December 2017 and took 1.5 hours. It covered many topics related to the festival such as the background of why Talk Town exists, what they want to achieve and how they are working on achieving them, and which of the employees work on what tasks. Here we also talked about what their current marketing efforts are and how they handle their social media as well as which goals they are working towards. This interview was based on the qualitative method. It consisted of many open questions to gain a descriptive scope of the situation and challenges Talk Town is working with. I then created a questionnaire for the visitors of Talk Town to gain an insight into their experience of the festival and how they perceive it. The questionnaire was also based on the qualitative method in order to make the respondents share their experience. It contained open questions and multiple questions related to similar questions in order to get in-depth and comprehensive answers.
3.2 Theory of Science This choice of method and data collection is based on the social constructivist epistemology. This theory maintains that any knowledge of the world is not based on universal truths but instead it is interpreted through the human mind. This means that all knowledge is a social construct.
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These are developed through personal interaction between people and by building own experiences in both social and cultural contexts. (Rønn, 2007) Talk Town is a festival and the whole product is the experience of going to the festival, which focuses on building an understanding and dialogue between its visitors. This is why I wanted to understand the visitor’s experiences from a personal and descriptive viewpoint, which led me to use a data collection method based highly on qualitative data.
3.3 Data collection and error sources I have encountered some obstacles in my data collection that have been slightly obstructive to my analysis. I first contacted Talk Town in the end of October 2017 where they agreed to work with me for this thesis. I conducted the interview with Samuelsen and in the final wrap-up he assured me I could always contact them again if I needed more information or help. In the beginning of December 2017, I tried to contact them again when I had created my qualitative questionnaire for people who had visited Talk Town. I wanted to hear about their experiences and opinions about Talk Town which is why sharing it on my personal social media would not have helped in my case because none of my friends have attended. I asked Talk Town if they would share it on their social media channels or if they had another connection to their visitors which they could use to reach them for me. I never got an answer to that e-mail and hence tried to call the festival and also here received no reply. As a result, I had to try to find my own way to reach some of Talk Towns visitors.
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Through Instagram I found some hashtags used in relation to Talk Town for the last two years. Under these hashtags I found people who had attended the festival and sent them a private message I sent the message to 22 different Instagram profiles with a brief description of my project and a direct link to my survey. The result was that I got four answers to my questionnaire. Ideally, I would have liked to receive between 10 and 15 qualitative answers to base my thesis on. The distribution of the questionnaire went less than ideal and not how I had hoped. The fact that it got sent out from my personal Instagram profile instead of being distributed through one of Talk Town’s official communication channels made it look less credible and trustworthy. I also had a much smaller reach than I would have wanted to have and I see this as a substantial restriction and error source in my thesis. For my analyses, I will therefore rely heavily on the first interview with Samuelsen as that is the source I have gotten the most information from. I will gather as much information as I can from the four answers I got and try to discuss the points in a sufficient and comprehensive way.
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4. Theory To answer my problem statement, I want to conduct a SOSTAC analysis. SOSTAC is a model that combines situation analysis, planning and strategy for online campaigns. It shows a logical order of the marketing process that can give the marketer an overview and highlight possible weaknesses or points of improvement. (Chaffey, Ellis-Chadwick, Mayer, & Johnston, 2009) The SOSTAC analysis is split into six points: Situation, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics, Action, and Control. Some of the steps in the SOSTAC analysis overlap from one point to the other and will be repeated in multiple steps. The individual steps cover:
Strengths describe the advantages that an event has, it is about what they do better than their competitors and what makes them stand out. Weaknesses is about points that could be improved, or areas that they still need to work on. Strengths and weaknesses are factors that the company, organization, or in this case event planners have an influence on. Opportunities and threats cover external forces that can be of advantage to the event or can harm the success of the event. This can cover trends in the field, funding option, laws, and competitors. Opportunities and threats are factors that the event planners don’t have an influence on. (Kotler, 2012) Since this thesis is about the use of social media it will be an online-specific SWOT analysis, focusing on the situation of Talk Town’s online presence.
4.2 Objectives: Where do we want to be?
Figure 1: SOSTAC analysis
4.1 Situation: Where are we now? This step includes defining what the perception of the brand is, and what both the visitors and the event planners see as the value of the brand. It also defines the current internal capabilities and resources of the event. A big part of this step is the SWOT analysis. That is a situation analysis which shows the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to a company, organization, or in this case and event.
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This is the vision for the communication channels used. Here I will answer the 5 S’s – Sell, serve, sizzle, speak, and save. The 5 S’s is a framework used to define the goals of a company with a focus on their online presence. These goals can be anything from generating sales, getting customers to sign up to your newsletter, or build a stronger relationship with the customers.
4.3 Strategy: How do we get there? The strategy describes how to achieve the objectives described in the previous point. This includes the customer journey map, a STP process – segmentation, targeting, positioning. This point is about defining the target group or target groups, define why you want to focus on this target group, and lastly about you present
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the product to them to make it most attractive to them.
4.4 Tactics: How exactly do we get there? This step describes the E-marketing mix, a model that describes the details of the strategy and gives the marketer and overview and a plan for how to carry out the strategy. The E-marketing mix covers seven steps to give the marketer an overview about how to carry out the strategy and reach their objectives.
festival. This leads me to using the following terms. Instead of customer I will be using the word visitor. Instead of product I will either use Talk Town, the festival, or the experience. Instead of sale and buy I will describe it as the visitor going to the festival.
4.5 Action: Who does what and when? This step consists of an action plan for who carries out strategy and tactics and when. It describes the internal resources and skills and who has which roles.
4.6 Control: How do we monitor the performance? Finally, to monitor the performance the marketer must set up some KPIs – key performance indicators that they can measure by weather their marketing efforts are working or not. This can be through web analytics, customer satisfaction surveys, and by looking back at pervious steps in the analysis and evaluate if they have been met.
5. Terms I want to briefly clarify my use of some certain terms in the upcoming analyses. As this will be about Talk Town festival there is no physical product, instead the experience of going to the festival is the product. This also means that the main goal of the marketing efforts is not to generate a sale but making the visitors go to the
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6. SOSTAC Analysis
at Talk Town last year, where we had a group from Askov Fonden, that works with fragile youths, they had their own section at Talk Town. […] Then we had people from Fed Front, a group of overweight people fighting against daily discrimination because of their bodies. […] And next to them a group of women wearing veils having a discussion about feminism in the Middle East. Seeing these three groups side by side, that day I felt really proud that I was part of making these three groups of people come to the same festival along with those 10% I talked about before.” Jan Samuelsen, main coordinator at Talk Town Interview the 31.10.2017 (appendix 1) Timestamp: 9:35-12:40
6.1 Situation: Where are we now? 6.1.1
Brand Value Perception
From Talk Town’s perspective To find out the brand value perception I first interviewed Jan Samuelsen, who is the festivals main coordinator, to see what they see as their own strongest values. (See appendix 1) He is very proud to have created a space where a broad variety of visitors feel comfortable coming and sharing their opinions, thoughts, experiences, and frustrations. They have achieved this by making sure the presenters at the festival cover a wide array of topics within the main topics to appeal to the many different types of people who identify as feminists. They have kept the format of the festival open and visitors can either just stop by for one presentation about a topic that interests them or stay a whole day and join as many as they can to get a diverse experience of many topics. This gives the visitor a lot of freedom to participate to an extent that makes them comfortable. To illustrate this further I want to quote Jan Samuelsen from this interview where he illustrates just how diverse Talk Towns visitors are. “I have worked with events for many years and there is a tendency that it is […] middle-aged, middle-class, welleducated, urban people who attend most cultural events. […] We just often forget how small a percentage of the population that actually is and my guess is that 80% of cultural events in Denmark are targeted at 10% of the population. […] I was especially proud
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Another one of their steps to make it as inclusive as possible is, that they offer a nanny-service. So, if somebody wants to attend Talk Town but have children, they can bring them along to the festival. While the parents then attend workshops or speaks, a group of volunteers will watch and play with the children. This makes it easier for people who either have a hard time finding a nanny, can’t afford one, or want their children to also experience an event like this. So, the people behind Talk Town see their greatest value as having created an open, safe space, where a diverse crowd of visitors can feel comfortable attending on their own premises. From the visitor’s perspective To find out what the visitors see as Talk Town’s greatest values I sent out a questionnaire to some of Talk Towns visitors and to see if it varied
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from Talk Town’s own perception. To gain this knowledge some of my main questions were: “Explain why you would or would not attend Talk Town again.” “Name three words or phrases you associate with Talk Town” “What made you participate or find interest in Talk Town?” “Is there anything you were missing or wish was different at Talk Town?” (See appendix 2) It was a pretty equal split between people saying they would definitely go again and people saying they were considering it, depending on if there were any presenters they found interesting. Many go for the experience but it is still important to the visitors that the topics appeal to them and are interesting enough to draw their attention. Between the three words or phrases one that recurred in multiple answers was innovative. This shows that the visitors also see Talk Town as a new approach to events. Also, they all either mentioned different branches of feminism or said that it covered a wide array of topics. Just like the organizers, the visitors of Talk Town appreciate the many different topics available during the festival. The only thing they wished was different that was mentioned was that they wish it would be bigger, otherwise most respondents didn’t have any points to add to that question. This shows that Talk Town is well perceived by its visitors. Brand value perception summary Generally, the perception of the values of the festival by the organisers and the visitors match well. They both see the diversity of topics as a great value and strength of the event. They enjoy
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that there is space for many different topics and branches of feminism within one event. The visitors are interested in attending again and see Talk Town as a new and innovative approach to events and appreciate that it is a safe space for many different groups of people. 6.1.2 Capabilities and Resources Talk Town currently has two employees who work on the festival all year, mostly on planning and organizing the event itself. During the event, they have 20-25 volunteers who help with executing the festival. The volunteers do jobs such as bartending and service staff, runners, keeping the venue tidy, nanny service, stage managers, and technical staff. They also have around 90 presenters at the event who host speaks, presentations, workshops, acts, exhibitions, and performances at the festival itself. 6.1.3 SWOT (See appendix 3) First, I want to look at the strengths and weaknesses that Talk Town have. These are factors that they have an influence on or have created for themselves. Strengths A big strength for Talk Town is that they have already established a strong product with the festival. As discussed in the section about brand value perception, they have a diverse and strong line-up of topics, which is appreciated by their visitors. The visitors, once they have visited, want to return to the festival. (See the questionnaire in appendix 2) This means that they already have the attention of their visitors and don’t have to convince them of the quality of the event. The fact that the festival is free is also a strength as it
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takes away a financial barrier that some visitors could have. Due to the format of the festival Talk Town has a large network. Talk Town works as hosts for many facilitators, companies, politicians, organizations, and private people for them to have presentations, workshops or performances at the event itself. Last year as well as this upcoming year they have around 90 acts, and in their first year they had around 60 acts. This big network of people can be used as a strength, and they have done this in their “Feminist Advent Calendar” that they had on their Facebook page in December 2017. This advent calendar featured a new feminist gift idea every day from the 1st of December 2017 until the 24th of December 2017. These gift ideas came from people who had presented at Talk Town before or will at next year’s festival. The advent calendar made good use of their existing network, it can inspire other visitors to learn more about different branches of feminism, and showcases the diversity in their line-up of acts. Weaknesses Looking at the weaknesses of Talk Town’s online presence the main one is the lack of resources in the marketing department. They don’t have any employees whose main task it is to do communication or marketing related tasks. Instead these tasks are divided between the other employees as secondary tasks. This results in that the marketing efforts can get neglected because the employees have other, main tasks to focus on first. This shows on their Facebook page. Looking at the 6-month time frame between the last day of the festival on the 20th of May 2017 until the advent calendar started on the 1st of December 2017 they posted 10 posts on their Facebook page that were spaced out very unevenly.
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Furthermore, in the time between the 6th of June and the 31st of August – a time frame of almost three months – there were no updates at all. (“Talk Town’s Facebook Page,” 2017) Their only other social media channel is an Instagram profile. As of the December 2017 this Instagram profile hasn’t been updated since the festival ended on the 20th of May 2017. The information in the description of this page is also still the event information from last year’s festival, and not the information about the upcoming festival in 2018.
Figure 2: Screenshot of Talk Town's Instagram description
This lack of updates still sends a message to visitors who look up Talk Town on their social media platforms. According to American communication theorist and philosopher Paul Watzlawick’s first axiom of communication it is impossible to not communicate. Even if you actively try to not communicate you still convey a message and it is important to be aware what message that is. (Watzlawick, Bavelas, & Jackson, 2011) Considering that Talk Town is a festival which facilitates open communication and focuses on debate and knowledge exchange, having social
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media channels with either outdated information or no information at all can send the opposite message to its visitors. Moving on to opportunities and threats, these are outside factors that Talk Town does not have influence on but that they can use either for their advantage or that might be of disadvantage for them.
insulting and offending each other. (Holmes, 2015) Talk Town is about respectful and inclusive debate and not about insulting and rude fights. So, this attitude towards the topic feminism can be a threat to Talk Towns aim to create an open and inclusive space online as well.
Opportunities Talk Town’s main topics are feminism, equality, and gender and the format is open communication and debate. These topics are have become a popular topic which is now also discussed more and more across mainstream media. (Steen Sverdrup, 2016) Talk Town noticed this trend and saw a need and an opportunity to give the festival a strong start when the Women Deliver conference was being held in Copenhagen in 2016. The people who attend Talk Town and identify as feminists are usually very dedicated to the topic and like to continue learning and discuss these topics because they are passionate about them. (Samuelsen, 2017) This dedication from the visitors is a strong opportunity Talk Town. The visitors are open and willing to learn more and expand their knowledge, which is an opportunity they can use in their social media presence. Threats While Talk Towns own visitors might be very open to learning about and discussing topics related to feminism it is also a topic that often causes unpleasant conflict and controversy when discussed online. When mainstream media post on their social media about topics related to feminism the opinions are often very divided and can result in the participants of the discussion
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6.2 Objectives: Where do we want to be? 6.2.1 5 S’s (See appendix 4) Sell – main goal The main goal for Talk Towns social media efforts is to keep their visitors interested and aware of the festival. They are not selling any physical product online, they don’t have ticket sales, or registration for the event online. The attendance of the visitors relies entirely on the visitor knowing when and where the event takes place as well as being interested in the topics presented and being part of the experience. This is why the goal is to create this awareness and interest for its visitors. Speak – how do we communicate where Talk Town currently have a Facebook page and an Instagram profile as their social media channels. The Instagram profile was created by one of Talk Towns volunteers during last year’s festival, even though the organizers were hesitant about it because of the upkeep. (Samuelsen, 2017) The Facebook channel is currently used as a communication channel between Talk Town’s followers and the organizers, and it goes both ways. They mostly use it as a way to send out practical information about the festival, such as dates, location, and registration forms for people, organizations or groups who want to facilitate any kind of presentation at the festival. In the weeks leading up to the festival they have a weekly, feminist calendar with event suggestions and they will occasionally have event suggestions throughout the year as well. Lastly, they also use the page as a communication tool, the opposite way, meaning from the visitors
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to Talk Town. Earlier this year they put out a Facebook post if anybody had contact information to reach philosopher and gendertheorist Judith Butler, because they would like to invite her as a presenter on the festival. And it turned out, that one of their followers did have said contact information. (See appendix 5) This shows that they are already using their Facebook channel both for communicating updates, news, and recommendations to their followers but also use it as a resource the other way around and see their followers as a broad, interested, and valuable network. Their Instagram was used during the festival to post pictures and impressions of the festival itself, but hasn’t been updated since the festival ended. The pictures and visual impressions uploaded to Instagram fit well with Instagram’s purpose of being a platform to share moments, and inspire others. (“About Us - Instagram,” 2017) These are the current social media channels which Talk Town are using and as discussed in the SWOT analysis in point 6.1.3 there a not many resources focused on marketing alone. So, adding new social media channels at this point would most likely be more stressful than effective and result in them not being updated frequently or properly, which again would lead to the theory of “You cannot not communicate” (Watzlawick et al., 2011). Badly kept social media channels leaves it up to the receiver, in this case visitors or possible visitors who visit the social media pages, to interpret the message. Which means they might read it as the organizers being busy with other work, which is the case here, but they could also read it as them being lazy, undedicated, or even completely absent, which would be a wrong message to send. By having
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unused social media channels, they lose control over which message they are sending, which is why they shouldn’t any more until they would have resources to update them properly. Serve – adding value to the customer experience The perceived value of Talk Town was determined in point 6.1.1 of this analysis. It is the wide variety of topics, the open and inclusive discussion and possibility of sharing and expanding knowledge. It is important that this value is also reflected in Talk Town’s social media content as well. They did this well when they hosted their advent calendar with feminist gift ideas.
Figure 3: One of Talk Town's 24 feminist gift ideas.
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This picture shows how they set up the posts for the advent calendar and it incorporates all of Talk Town’s values. These 24 recommendations cover a wide variety of ideas from books, guides, movies, concepts, gadgets and many more, which can inspire the receiver or teach them new concepts they can learn more about. The posts also showcase the wide network of people connected to Talk Town, as it is a new person every day. The post then links to both the person’s individual Facebook page as well as the organization, group, podcast, or company the person is active in. This not only shows the diversity of content connected to Talk Town but also gives the visitors seeing the posts the possibility to find new pages to follow and expand their knowledge. To sum up, the advent calendar showcases Talk Town’s values in every post and reflects the value of the live experience onto their social media. Talk Town should always focus on keeping this value when they are creating new content for their Facebook page. This gives the visitors an opportunity to expand their knowledge as well as getting reminded of Talk Town, to keep the festival in their mind. For their Instagram page, it is first and foremost apparent that the information in the description box is still the information for last year’s festival. It is not necessarily a given that if a visitor visits their Instagram page and sees last year’s information that they will then go and look up the right information elsewhere. There is a big chance, that they are not yet captured or convinced to go which means they are not motivated to look up the correct information themselves. However, if the information is already there and the visitor sees it, they will either remember the dates or remember that
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they have seen them on the Instagram page so they have a reference point they can go back to and find the information. In the interview with Jan Samuelsen, he said that it is difficult for them to keep up with their social media and that he was against the idea of having an Instagram account in the first place, because it would be extra work to keep up. (Samuelsen, 2017) So, creating new content for the Instagram page should require minimal effort but still show the value of the festival. If they are not able to update the profile throughout the year it should be made clear that the profile is on a break and will be made active again during the festival. Otherwise Talk Town could consider closing down the Instagram profile completely if it adds more stress than value to their efforts. Sizzle – extending your brand online As I described under the point speak in this analysis Talk Town shouldn’t currently extend to new social media platforms, as they don’t have the resources to update them consistently. However, I would suggest that they extend in the content they put out on their current social media platforms. As mentioned in the point above – serve – Talk Town could use their Instagram profile as a type of archive with pictures, snapshots, and impressions of the festival. This way it can illustrate the value of the event, to visitors who stumble upon it throughout the year. Another new type of content could be stories from Talk Town. This could either be in the form of photos with a written story in the description or as short videos. These stories or videos would convey both the message of the individual being interviewed but
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also show the mood and sensation of being present at the festival. That would both remind previous visitors of how it was to attend Talk Town and make them want to return, as well as show possible new visitors what they can expect from attending Talk Town. Multiple of the respondents in the questionnaire answered, that they listen to the podcast Third Ear (See appendix 2). Third Ear is a storytelling podcast which tells in depth stories about people, their backgrounds, situation, and lives. This interest in stories and insights about people gave me the idea for creating similar content for Talk Town’s social media channels. Lastly, I want to mention podcasts as a medium. Podcasts are gaining popularity in Denmark both as a source for knowledge and entertainment and more and more podcasts are coming into existence. Many podcasts also relate to topics similar to Talk Towns own, feminism, lgbtq+, equality, and enlightenment. They have also grown so popular, that Talk Town itself is hosting a workshop about how to create your own workshop. (Samuelsen, 2017) This shows that they are already aware of this medium and exploring options surrounding it. A new idea related to podcasts would be to have a podcast stage at Talk Town where podcasters can record a live-episode at the festival. This is a mutually beneficial option for both Talk Town and the podcasters. The podcasters can reach a new crowd at the festival as they will have a live audience and will be on the official program of the festival. This will expose them to a larger and new crowd of possible listeners. At the same time, once the episode gets released by the podcasters, their regular listeners will be exposed to, and hear about Talk Town. If the podcasts that cover topics related to Talk Town’s send these live-episodes it is a way to reach
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further within their own target group, as the listeners will already be interested in these topics. Save – save costs and time This point is especially relevant for an event like Talk Town because they, as previously mentioned, do not have a budget for social media nor for a paid marketing or communication employee. This means they will have to produce their social media content with as high quality as possible for as low a price as possible. A big advantage here is the large network of people connected to Talk Town both in the form of volunteers and presenters. They have already made great use of the presenters in the aforementioned advent calendar. All content for the calendar was created by Talk Town’s network. This is also in line with Talk Towns vision of wanting to facilitate and create the frame for presenters to bring their own content rather than making a set agenda on their own. They want the agenda of the festival to be set by the presenters, so it makes sense that they also have an influence on the content for their social media. While this both shows the network and variety of content present at Talk Town it also gives the content on their Facebook page a further reach. When they post content created by others – such as the advent calendar – they can tag the person who created it and/or link to their organization, company, or project. This means that the post will be shown in their friends or followers timeline as well, and there is a chance that the creator of the content or their friends or relatives will share the post, because they know the person who created it, which makes it even more relatable.
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Another possibility to both keep the time and cost factors as low as possible is to create and prepare content for the year at the festival itself. During the festival Talk Town have between 20 and 25 volunteers who help make the festival run smoothly. According to Samuelsen this is the amount they currently need to cover the tasks at hand, but they could get more if they needed it. (Samuelsen, 2017) If Talk Town created a small social media team of volunteers during the festival they could cover tasks such as taking pictures and snapshots of the festival which can be used throughout the year on their social media channels. This could be especially useful for their Instagram profile as that is focused on images and impressions rather that updates and written content. Other than pictures and images they could also have a video team or a video station set up, where they could film impressions or short interviews of visitors as well as presenters at the festival to use for social media, explained in the previous point – sizzle. Creating this content during the festival itself with the help of a volunteer team would mean that Talk Town already has a collection of material which they can use for their social media channels ready to schedule throughout the year. This takes part of the workload and time effort off the organizers shoulders and will also not add to Talk Towns budget.
6.3 Strategy: How do we get there? The STP-process covers segmentation, targeting, and positioning. It is a process which defines the target group and how to best communicate to them to convey the message and values of the brand. (Kotler, 2012)
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While I have already talked about the target group in previous points, as they are a big part of the value and perceived value of the brand, this process will help define them even more precisely. To fill out the STP process I will both look at the information I got from Samuelsen (See appendix 1) and the questionnaire sent out to Talk Towns visitors (See appendix 2). 6.3.1 Segmentation Segmentation covers four main categories to define your target audience. Not all categories are always equally relevant, as is the case with Talk Towns target audience, which will become apparent in this segmentation. Demographic This category covers statistics about the visitors, such as age, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and civil status. This category of segmentation is the least relevant to Talk Town. It is however still important, because it is actually the absence of this category which Talk Town uses to define themselves. They take pride in being a space where people, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and civil status, can be and feel welcome. And when asked if this is a goal or already the current state at Talk Town, Samuelsen said that, this is how it already is and has been both years Talk Town has existed. (Samuelsen, 2017) Geography Since Talk Town takes place in Copenhagen a large number of its visitors are coming from Copenhagen and the municipalities around it, because it is easiest to travel to. Some respondents of the questionnaire also said that they found the festival by chance because they
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were passing it and decided to go in and have a closer look. However, some respondents also said that they came from Jutland to visit the festival, which also matches with Samuelsen’s presumption. The visitors are willing to travel from other parts of Denmark to Copenhagen to participate in the festival. This shows that the value of the festival and the upcoming categories about psychographic and behavioural segmentation outweigh the obstacle of a longer travel time to the festival. Psychographic This category is very strong for Talk Town’s visitors as it describes personality, values, and lifestyle. Talk Town’s visitors are people who define themselves as feminists in one aspect or another. There are many branches, ideologies, and movements within feminism. Some of the current ones that are represented at Talk Town among others are third- and fourth wave feminism, red-stockings, anti-capitalist feminism, third-world feminism, trans feminism, and many more. This means that even though the visitors consist of people identifying as feminists there are still many varied opinions and approaches between the visitors. But no matter which branch of feminism you identify with many of the main points will be the same or at least similar, such as believing all genders should be equal and have equal opportunities in life. There are many different approaches on how to define, achieve, or create this equality though, which is the focus of many of the workshops, speeches, and other acts at Talk Town. This shows that while the visitors might not agree on everything related to them, the main topics of the festival still represent their values strongly enough for them to attend.
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It is important for people to define themselves as part of social groups to define their identities, and once an individual has defined themselves and feel part of a group this connection will stay quite persistent through many obstacles. “According to social identity theory, the individual defines him- or herself partly in terms of salient group memberships. Identification is the perception of oneness with or belongingness to a group, involving direct or vicarious experience of its successes and failures. […] Identification is associated with groups that are distinctive, prestigious, and in competition with, or at least aware of, other groups, although it can be fostered by even random assignment to a group. Identification can persist tenaciously even when group affiliation is personally painful, other members are personally disliked, or group failure is likely. “ Social Identity Theory and Organization (Ashforth & Mael, 1989) In this case the group is bound together and strengthened by a common cause and goal to create awareness about inequality and fight to enlighten others and create a society in which people have equal rights and opportunities regardless of their gender, as well as sexuality, ability, ethnicity and race. This is also strengthened by another strong value in the form of open debate and sharing and expanding knowledge. They like to expand their knowledge and learn new view-points and approaches.
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Behavioural The visitors of Talk Town are very loyal. Once they have seen the value of Talk Town and attended the festival they are very likely to return. All respondents said they were interested in returning again. Either they were completely set on going again or wanted to once they had taken a closer look at which presenters got announced. Like mentioned in the point above, being a feminist is part of their identity, and Talk Town is a place where they can show this part of their identity and be seen as a feminist. They use the festival not only to further their own knowledge but also to show others that this is a part of their identity. These others are both people at the event itself, where they can identify as part of a group, or even a movement, but also towards people who are not at the event. They can use it as a conversation starter or a way to bring up their identity to people around them. 6.3.2 Targeting Targeting is about choosing a segment and defining why you want to focus on this segment. This thesis is focusing on one specific segment already – the visitors who are already aware of Talk Town. The segment is very accessible since they are already aware of the festival and its benefits. The organizers of Talk Town want to maintain the size of the festival and by keeping the interest of the visitors who have already been visiting before they can sustain a steady and reliable segment. 6.3.3 Positioning Talk Town does not have a lot of competition in the form of other festivals about feminism. There is currently just one other similar festival in Denmark about the same topic. It is called “Femalefestival” and takes place in Odense in the
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beginning of March 2018. (“femalefestival.dk,” 2017) It has a similar format to Talk Town in that they also host workshops, talks, performances, and debates. It is however on a much smaller scale and has a linear agenda, rather than a large choice of events to attend. Also, since it is neither at the same time nor in the same city as Talk Town it is not a strong competition. There has also formerly been another feminist festival called “FLAB – En feministisk festival” which took place last in 2016, however they have recently rebranded to a collective and now have their own workshop at Talk Town as well. (See appendix 6) This means that Talk Town does not have any direct competition in the form of other events offering the same content as them. They do however have a different kind of competition. Since Talk Town does not require the visitor to buy a ticket or sign up beforehand the visitors can get distracted in their customer journey all the way up until they are physically at the event. This means the competition also comes in the form of all other events hosted on the same dates in Copenhagen. Searching in Facebook’s event-calendar for events in Copenhagen on Saturday the 26th of May there are already in December of 2017 a total of 26 registered events. (See appendix 7) And it is safe to say that there will be added more in the months leading up to the event. Here Talk Town can position themselves by showing the variety of events and experiences the visitors can gain from going to one place. Another type of threat comes in the form of any other activity the visitors could be doing on the weekend that could make them decide against going to Talk Town. This could be anything from the visitor getting an invite from a friend or
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family member to spend the day, going to the cinema, a weekend trip, or even an emergency situation they need to take care of. It could also be that the visitor does not feel like going out that weekend or even forget that the festival takes place during that specific weekend. This has been described as event-avoiding behaviour as a form of competition. Even if the visitor is not intentionally avoiding the event, they decide to spend their time otherwise instead of going to the event. (Preston, 2012) To position themselves against this type of competition Talk Town needs to make sure the visitors know the dates of the events and have access to that information easily if they search for it. They should make the value of the festival is clear throughout their entire social media presence. This should remind the visitor of the value of the festival every time they see an update from Talk Town and work to keep the awareness of the festival alive.
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6.3.4 Online Value Preposition Creating the festival’s online value preposition means that they are showing their visitors online what the value of Talk Town is. First of all, it should be easy to find the essential information about the festival through their social media channels. This is information such as dates, times, and location of the event. If the information isn’t available yet it should be made clear that new information will be coming soon. This makes the visitor feel safe and they are not left spending unnecessary time searching for it. If they need to search for a long time or don’t find any or outdated information this can leave the visitor frustrated and annoyed with the situation and might reflect badly onto their perception of the brand. Talk Town has a strong value in the quality of their event. They have a diverse range of events, which cover many topics that appeal to their diverse audience. This strength needs to be reflected on their social media channels and the content they put out on these. They should see Talk Towns social media channels as a place that inspires and motivates them to gather new knowledge and learn new facets of their own identity.
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6.4 Tactics: How exactly do we get there? 6.4.1 E-marketing mix The E-marketing mix covers the specific details of the strategy and will give an overview over the steps that need to be taken to achieve the social media objectives. The E-marketing mix consists of seven points and is meant to help the company see how they can develop themselves and grow online. (Chaffey et al., 2009) E-product Talk Towns main product is the experience of attending the event. To convince the visitors to attend this event or attend it again they need to remember the feeling they get from attending the event throughout the year. They have previously created content which has reflected these values and strengths, such as the advent calendar. The format was both inspiring, informative, and introduced the visitors to the network connected to Talk Town. However, now the advent calendar is over they need to focus on keeping this quality of their content high. In the spring month’s they are planning to bring back their weekly feminist event-calendar which suggests other events covering similar topics to their visitors. Once they reach the event itself Talk Town should focus on gathering as much content for their social media channels as possible. This will not only ease the workload but creating content directly from the event – which in this case is the product – will make the content seem valid and sincere. It will show impressions of the event and work as a type of product demonstration. This content could for example be videos or photos of people attending the event along with their stories.
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We have already established that the visitors at Talk Town have made a conscious decision and define themselves as feminists. This is a part of their identity. Using this strong sense of identity to create content is a way of showing the event and its strengths with the help of the visitor. During the festival itself, there should also be a team dedicated to documenting the event through photos and snapshots. This documentation of the event can be used to showcase it online through their social media channels. Another point in regard to the content of the social media channels is that Talk Town should never have an opinion, choose sides in a debate or discussion. They want to be the frame work which gives visitors a space to have open discussions rather than an opinion former. There are many debates within feminism that different branches of feminism won’t agree on. An example being the debate about sex workers. Some branches find it degrading and inhuman and want it forbidden by law to buy another person for sexual favours. Other branches of feminism will say that it is a woman’s choice what she wants to do with her body and if she feels liberated and wants to sell sexual favours she should be free to do so and be protected by the law and have rights, like any other worker. (Steen Sverdrup, 2016) It is not Talk Town as a whole’s position to take a stance in this discussion. They should be clear that Talk Town is a space to discuss such topics and that they are not opinionated. They should always keep this in mind when sharing any content on their social media channels to avoid any misunderstandings, accusations, or unnecessary arguments between Talk Towns visitors as this could reflect badly upon their opinion of Talk Town as a whole.
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E-price Talk Town is a free event and do not have any sales online. All its funding comes through grants and sponsorships. The visitor is not spending any money to experience the event. This could be communicated through their social media channels more clearly and more often. It should be clear to the visitor that they can be part of the value of this festival without suffering any financial worry. E-place Talk Town currently has two social media platforms they are working from; a Facebook profile and an Instagram profile. I have previously argued that they should currently not branch out to more social media channels because it would require resources that are currently not available. I do want to take a further look at why they should continue using Facebook. There are new social media platforms emerging constantly. But Facebook is still the most used social media platform in Denmark, and is being used by 67% of the population according to Danmarks Statistik. (Danmarks Statistik, 2016) This means that on Facebook there is still the biggest potential to create a wide reach for Talk Towns content. Another study conducted in 2013 describes that users will keep coming back to Facebook when they perceive value from the content they are engaging with. The factor of perceived value exceeds other factors such as perceived behavioural control, attitude and subjective norms. Furthermore, the visitors are more likely to continue not just following but also interacting with content on a page if they perceive value from the content. (M. Al-Debei, Al-Lozi, & Papazafeiropoulou, 2013)
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The mentioned statistic along with the study on when visitors will return to Facebook shows that, if following the right strategy and keeping the goals for the content in mind, Facebook is a valid and effective choice of platform to reach and interact with their visitors. The Instagram profile should be kept mostly as a visual representation of what to expect from the festival along with relevant, factual information. Talk Town wants to avoid spending time on the Instagram account during the year and since Instagram does not have a scheduling function it is difficult to keep up with if the resources are not there all year round. This way it will still be a visible channel with quality content representing the event if a visitor happens to find it in their search of information about Talk Town but won’t require upkeep or be used as a frequent communication channel. E-people Talk Town is an experience where 2500 people come together for a weekend. It is an intense and compact experience with so many events within a short about of time that it is impossible to see them all. This experience will be different for each person experiencing it. This manifold of people gives the visitor a diverse view of other people identifying with the same group as themselves. However online there is not necessarily a distinct person behind the messages and posts can seem very general and impersonal. It is therefore important that Talk Town remembers to keep the messages personal and focus on making the visitors on the page felt directly addressed. This is why I am suggesting the personal stories from Talk Town visitors to be shared on the social media platforms. It gives the message a clear
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sender whom the visitor can relate to. It also mimics the experience of the festival in the sense that the visitors will “meet” new people and learn about their viewpoints, stories, or ideas. Having pictures of the event, the crowds, and the acts will also help show the personal experience and what to expect from the event. These pictures can be posted together with announcements to make them more alive and dynamic and give an impression along with the information. There is also a bigger chance of catching the visitor’s attention in a social media feed if there is an appealing visual to go along with it that might even be recognizable to the visitor. E-promotion The strategy of using personal stories to promote Talk Town online will help bring a further reach to Talk Town’s social media posts. This is because if a visitor is interviewed for a short video for Talk Town’s Facebook page this person, their friends, or family are more likely to engage with the post in the form of likes, or comments, or by sharing the post to their own time line. The promotional efforts will be even more effective if the own social media content is combined with content on other platforms. (Chaffey et al., 2009) As another platform, Talk Town should consider giving podcasters the possibility to broadcast live from the festival. This would draw in new visitors from their network who are already interested in common themes from the podcasts. E-Physical evidence All these initiatives to further Talk Town’s social media efforts serve as physical evidence online of the value of the festival. It will show possible visitors a personal and honest representation of what the festival is about. This can serve both as
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a testimony of the quality of Talk Town to an interested visitor or work as a reminder of the mood and atmosphere at Talk Town to visitors who have attended the event before. The podcasts will be a live demonstration from the festival which will be accessible at any time as proof of the quality of the content at Talk Town. This will make the visitor feel safe and build trust in the brand as they can relate to the content.
6.5 Action: Who does what and when? 6.5.1 Resources, skills, and roles To create all this new content Talk Town needs a team. They have a network of volunteers and a good recruiting systems which can help them create a new team dedicated to documenting the event for social media. First of all, they need a social media coordinator. Since they do not have the funds to have an actual employee cover these tasks they should look for a volunteer or intern to look after this instead. This person should coordinate the types of content and define what needs to be done to actually create this content. These covers planning the amount and the extent of the posts, planning how often they should go out, finding the right equipment, such as cameras, lights, microphones, and software to edit it afterwards as well as human resources needed to create it. The volunteers should be dedicated and eager to work with photo material and cutting short sequences. Talk Town’s current employees could then supervise the process. This way they would still get new content done while the employees can focus on their main tasks. 6.5.2 Action plan Talk Town’s employees should advertise for a volunteer or intern to cover social media production during the festival as soon as possible. This way the new volunteer can create a plan, like the one mentioned in the point above, with good time until the festival starts. They should then advertise for a new team in their list of volunteer positions – a social media production team. The coordinator should brief their team about what type of content they will create and what the aim and value of the content
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is. They should discuss and coordinate techniques and equipment with them to make sure everyone on the team is on the same page about the quality. This team should consist of people dedicated to taking quality pictures and walking around the festival to interview and film visitors. Alternatively, this could be done at a fixed interview stand. This could secure a more consistent lighting and sound quality. This work will also require some time after the festival to sort, produce, cut, and schedule the content they have created. There should be enough content to bring out regular posts throughout the year. Once the content is created and produced the coordinator should re-evaluate with Talk Town’s employees if the efforts were worth it and the content satisfactory according to the goals.
6.6 Control: How do we monitor performance? 6.6.1 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) To monitor if the new type of content is doing well they should look at the reach of the new types of content and compare them to the reach of their former posts. They could sort their different types of content into categories, such as the event-calendar, the advent calendar, practical information, and testimony’s or interviews. They can then both compare the different categories to each other to see which category gets the furthest reach and the most interactions but they can also look at the content within the categories and look at which specific stories perform well. They should also look at if the page gains more followers. The number of followers should both be compared to last year where they didn’t have the new types of content as well as to before and after a new type of post has gone online to see if the individual posts attract visitors to follow the page. These goals should be monitored closely, especially in the beginning, to register any changes in followers, reach, or level of interaction or engagement from the visitors. 6.6.2 Surveys To get the input from the visitors directly Talk Town should consider creating user surveys to evaluate on their performances. They have existed for two years and are preparing their third festival and while the organizers are happy with the evolution of the festival it is important to also include the visitors in this evaluation. It is after all the visitors who interact with and attend the events throughout the festival. I think they should create two surveys to measure two different areas of their work.
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First of all, a general survey about the festival itself, similar to the one created for this thesis (see appendix 2). The purpose of that survey should be to find out what the visitors perceive as the values, if there is anything they wished was different, why they decided to attend the festival and so on. This would help re-evaluate the brand perception value, and generally create a more accurate analysis and strategy from. This might also give a different picture about what kind of content they should and could create to engage the visitors on social media. I would suggest handing out this questionnaire at the festival itself either printed or on an iPad or tablet. This would ensure you get a realistic mix of the visitors actually present at the event. Later, after a row of the new social media content posts have gone online I would suggest creating a social media specific survey. This one should be shared on their social media channels and should focus on getting the online visitors input. It should investigate if they have noticed the new type of content, if they like it or find it appealing. Also, if they perceive the same message as the one Talk Town is trying to send. This survey should be used in the evaluation of the new social media efforts to see if this is the type of content they want to continue producing or if they should create a new strategy.
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7. Summary and Conclusion This thesis only shows a limited analysis of Talk Town’s current situation, values, social media efforts, and strategy. If I should have successfully finished a full and well-defined SOSTAC analysis I would have needed a larger number of respondents on the questionnaire, as well as a better line of contact to Talk Towns employees after the first interview to ask follow-up questions and get data and statistics from their current social media platforms. I am aware that some points where made multiple times throughout the analyses. This is partially because of the missing information from my data collection. This restricted me in reaching either a more diverse variety of conclusions or one more defined and well-reasoned conclusion. Also, some points in the SOSTAC analysis are very clearly set to define, measure, and encourage targets like sales, growth, and conversions. Talk Towns goal is a more softly defined goal and there is no measurable end-conversion. The goal is to keep the visitors interested in Talk Town resulting in them returning to and visiting the festival. Since they don’t have any form of registration they can’t tell whether the visitors attending the festival are new or returning. But, from the information I have gathered and my analysis I draw the following conclusion. Talk Town is a strong brand which has created an innovative, inclusive, and diverse event. The event came into existence because of a frustration with the lack of such an event. Talk Towns visitors are aware and appreciative of the diverse, safe space where they can discuss, learn, and experience many aspects of feminism, equality, and gender. In regard to their social media presence Talk Town is struggling to keep it running smoothly
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and consistently due to a lack of resources and strategy. They currently have two social media channels, a Facebook page and an Instagram page. Branching out to more channels right now would not be wise because of the mentioned lack of resources. Any new channels would probably not be maintained well and effectively. The content posted to their social media channels should strongly reflect the values of Talk Town. They should inform and remind the visitors of these values. Creating content directly at the festival, such as photos, videos, and stories will help create content that is authentic and trustworthy. The aim of this type of content is to make the visitors either remember the experience of visiting Talk Town, make them see a new aspect of Talk Town, or make them relate content in a way that makes them feel part of the social group, feminists. In order to create this content and ease the workload throughout the year Talk Town should create a volunteer team that focuses on documenting the event for social media. This team should have a coordinator who briefs the members on the quality and purpose of the content. Another way of branching out to a new platform with a minimal work load is through podcasts.
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Podcasts are a medium of communication and knowledge which is currently gaining popularity. If Talk Town introduced a podcast stage, different podcasters could send from the festival itself. This helps create a bigger awareness about Talk Town while they only have to provide the stage and facilities during the festival itself. It is important that Talk Town watches how any new types of content are received. They should look at the reach of the content as well as any interactions with it from their visitors. Since they don’t have a strong, measurable end-conversion goal it is important to look at the communication process and if it is effective and well-received. Lastly, it is important that they make sure that information about the festival is easily available and that old information is deleted or updated. This way the risk of the visitors getting annoyed or confused is minimized. In conclusion, Talk Town has a lot of strengths and opportunities they can and already are benefitting from. Their brand is strong and wellperceived. If they focus on reflecting the value of the festival itself into their social media presence this will strengthen them even further online and make their visitors remember and stay aware of the festival and what the experience meant to them.
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8. Bibliography and references About Us - Instagram. (2017, December 30). [Social Media Channel]. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/about/us/ Ashforth, B., & Mael, F. (1989). Social Identity Theory and Organization (Vol. 14). https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.1989.4278999 Chaffey, D., Ellis-Chadwick, F., Mayer, R., & Johnston, K. (2009). Internet Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. Pearson Education. Danmarks Statistik. (2016). It-anvendelse i befolkningen 2016. Kbh. Retrieved from https://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/Publikationer/VisPub?cid=20738 femalefestival.dk. (2017, December 30). Retrieved December 31, 2017, from http://femalefestival.dk/ Holmes, L.-A. (2015, April 1). If you want to write about feminism online, be ready to take on the haters. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womensblog/2015/apr/01/if-you-want-write-abaout-feminism-online-be-ready-to-eal-with-the-haters Kotler, P. (Ed.). (2012). Marketing management (2nd ed). Harlow, England ; New York: Pearson. M. Al-Debei, M., Al-Lozi, E., & Papazafeiropoulou, A. (2013, October 1). Why people keep coming back to Facebook: Explaining and predicting continuance participation from an extended theory of planned behaviour perspective. University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan. Preston, C. (2012). Event marketing: how to successfully promote events, festivals, conventions, and expositions (2nd ed). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Raj, R., Walters, P., & Rashid, T. (2013). Events management: principles & practice (2nd ed). London: SAGE. Rønn, C. (2007). Almen videnskabsteori: for professionsuddannelserne : iagttagelse, viden, teori, refleksion. Kbh.: Alinea. Samuelsen, J. (2017, 10). Understanding Talk Town. Steen Sverdrup, A. S. (2016, 03). Folkemøde for feminister | Modkraft. Modkraft. Retrieved from http://modkraft.dk/artikel/folkem-de-feminister
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Talk Town’s Facebook Page. (2017, December 27). [Social Media Channel]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/talktowncph/ Watzlawick, P., Bavelas, J. B., & Jackson, D. D. (2011). Pragmatics of Human Communication: A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies and Paradoxes. W. W. Norton & Company.
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9. Appendices Appendix 1 Interview with Jan Samuelsen, main coordinator at Talk Town. Conducted on the 31st of October 2017 in Copenhagen. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kwg3vihqrslg6g1/AAAgybGZSO-92Xb6Stx2AXwVa?dl=0 Appendix 2 Questionnaire for Talk Towns visitors See both the questionnaire and the answers here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/perco9xvy36t9pc/AAAejpLwiwRsMoqi0i5cEwWua?dl=0 Appendix 3 SWOT analysis STRENGTHS - Strong brand value which matches with the perceived value - The visitors want to return and are already convinced of the value - Created a strong start in 2016 - They have a large network of volunteers and contributors they can use in their social media strategy
WEAKNESSES - Lack of resources for online marketing efforts - un-updated social media channels - old information on Instagram profile - Infrequent posting schedule - unclear message being communicated which can be interpreted in many ways and possibly interpreted wrong
THREATS - Feminism is a topic which can cause a lot of controversy online - Rude people and bad attitudes could be a threat to the inclusive space they are trying to build and host
OPPORTUNITIES - Popular topic - has gained mainstream media attention - Visitors have an urge to learn and meet other people who identify the same way - Visitors are very loyal
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Appendix 4 5 S’s Sell – the main goal • Make the visitors come back to Talk Town • Draw visitors to go to Talk Towns • Keep Talk Town alive in the mind and awareness of the visitors • Give information necessary for visitor to revisit Speak – how do we communicate • Facebook profile • Communication goes both ways • Practical information • Content in collaboration with Talk Towns presenters • Instagram profile • Pictures from Talk Town 2017 • Outdated information • Message unclear Serve – add value • Valuable content: The advent calendar, feminist event calendar, practical information • New content: • Stories from Talk Town visitors to illustrate and be relatable • Link and Tag people who contribute with content • Produce high quality picture material to visualize event online Sizzle – extend brand • Add new content to own pages • Humans of New York style • Podcasters Stage • Invite podcasters • Achieve wider reach Save – save money • Create as much content during the event as possible • Pre-plan content • Make volunteer team to create this content • Have a coordinator or intern to ensure quality
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Appendix 5 Talk Town uses their Facebook page to communicate both ways. They also use it as a connection to their visitors and ask them if they need help. In this case establishing the contact to a gender theorist they want to invite to Talk Town. (accessed in December 2017)
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Appendix 6 One of Talk Towns only competitions changed format from a festival to a collective. They now have their own workshop at Talk Town instead. (accessed in December 2017)
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Appendix 7 The video in this folder shows an overview of all the events planned in Copenhagen on the 26th of May 2018. Information accessed in December 2017. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4q2phcjom2616ni/AABLW5jSaDWiir14Iin_aD-wa?dl=0 Appendix 8 Screenshot of Instagram with outdated information. (accessed December 2017)
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