Bonnaroooooooooooooo
One of the best things about working at KickApps is watching our clients’ sites go live. Here’s one where you just go “WOW.” Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, is a “four-day, multi-stage camping festival held on a beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee every June. Bonnaroo brings together some of the best performers in rock and roll, along with dozens of artists in complementary styles such as jazz, Americana, hip-hop, electronica, and just about any contemporary music you can think of.”
Bonnaroo launched their KickApps site a few weeks ago and it has really taken off. The site was designed by Marina Del Ray based Threshold Interactive. You can get to it either by clicking ‘Community‘ on the homepage or by scrolling down to the site’s widget (powered by KickApps) at the bottom of the page. Widgets are a great way of contextually integrating your community with your existing site. In Bonnaroo’s case, they’ve created a widget that features photos of a bunch of happy, smiling people that represent the Bonnaroo community. This effectively acts as a banner that says to site visitors, “Hey, come check out the fun we’re having in this part of the site!”
Another smart thing that Bonnaroo did was what they did to get people to the site. They sent an email to their mailing list last week to tell people about the new community site. They’re also holding a Bonnaroo Community Member contest to get people to participate in the community. Members can win some great prizes, including VIP tickets, regular tickets and merchandise. In order to enter the contest, people have to create a personal profile, upload a profile picture and at least 5 pieces of media (photos, audio or video). Genius!
One of the tips that we laid out in our white paper, “9 Steps to a Successful Online Community,” talks about ’seeding a community’ and getting people to participate. Getting a community up and running can be challenging. It’s a blend of marketing and programming to give people a compelling reason to come along and participate. In time, the community will flourish on its own but more often than not it requires a push to get things going.
It’s obviously working for Bonnaroo. There are a TON of photos and videos that people have uploaded about their Bonnaroo experiences. Many ‘Roosters’ are really investing time in their profiles and interacting with other members (DelightfulTiffany joined today and already has 657 friends!). The message boards are buzzing with rumors about who’s going to play this year’s show. Word is that Led Zeppelin is heading to this year’s Fest–pretty damned cool.
Until we can get there in June, enjoy this video:
