Digitial Inititives Are Key Part of CMA Music Fest

Chris Young hosts a virtual meet and greet with fans.

• CMA’s aggregate digital audience totals over 1.4 million fans.
• Nearly 165,000 fans have joined the CMA MOB by opting-in to receive text alerts.
• More than 31,000 tweets and 22,500 texts were sent to the Jumbotrons at LP Field during the nightly concerts.
• The CMA Awards & Music Fest App was downloaded 17,000 times for the 2012 festival.

Digital media is an ever-growing component of the CMA’s initiatives and was an important part of last weekend’s CMA Music Festival. The organization reports it engaged more fans than ever before with online, mobile app and social media tools, with CMA’s total aggregate digital audience now exceeding 1.4 million fans.

On the social media front, CMA utilized Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest to connect with fans. This year the organization launched a Social Media Team, which in addition to tweeting and posting live happenings at the Festival, held daily games and contests to give away prizes—a key way to engage fans. CMA’s social audiences were notified of times and places of games, and contestants were selected from the crowd through activities such as dance-offs and Country Music trivia. Games included “Dancing on the Stars,” CMA’s version of a cakewalk; “What Was I Thinkin’,” CMA’s take on “The Newlywed Game;” and “Man! I Feel Like a Woman,” in which contestants played dress-up using household items including table cloths and toilet paper.
Among the prizes were Luke Bryan and Scotty McCreery meet-and-greet passes, LP Field Gold Circle seat upgrades, and Fan Fair Hall CMA booth Fast Passes. Each night, the Social Media Team capped off the evening by passing out LP Field Fan Photo Line Fast Passes at random locations revealed via Twitter.

Nightly text-to-screen and tweet-to-screen promotions at LP Field were a hit during pre-show and set-change periods, resulting in more than 31,000 tweets and 22,500 texts sent to the Jumbotrons. Winners of text and tweet promotions won prizes including upgrade to the front row Chevrolet Best Seats in the House, and backstage meet-and-greets with artists including Brantley Gilbert, Hunter Hayes, Faith Hill, Jana Kramer, Jake Owen, and Blake Shelton.

Through these promotions, CMA’s MOB of fans who opted-in for text alerts climbed to nearly 165,000 members by the close of the Festival. CMA’s Twitter (@CountryMusic) followers increased nearly four percent over the course of the event.

Chris Young hosted a unique virtual meet-and-greet with fans at CMA Music Festival. Even though he spent more than nine hours meeting music lovers in person on Thursday (6/7), Young wanted to continue the connection. He spent the weekend in Indianapolis, Chicago and Detroit with Miranda Lambert’s On Fire tour, but employed Netwave Technology so that he could host a virtual meet-and-greet Friday with fans at the Festival. While waiting to take the stage in Indianapolis, the singer video chatted with individual fans and signed digital photos. He later announced via Twitter a surprise Skype session with CMA Music Festival attendees for Saturday (6/9) from Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

Apps and websites were another key component in the CMA’s digital strategy. The CMA Awards & Music Fest App was downloaded 17,000 times for the 2012 festival. It allowed fans to find event details and create customized schedules of activities. The website CMAfest.com offered a similar tool. There was also a mobile phone-optimized counterpart, CMAfest.mobi, as well as an official blog.

Young's fans at CMA Music Festival talk to the singer via Skype. Photo: Caitlin Selle/CMA