U2 Turn Their Marketing Machine To Social Media

I went to the U2 concert along with 240,000 others this weekend in Dublin and when I heard Bono say that “Ireland was the world’s biggest social network” I not only knew that he was right but that was also a very sure sign that the self styled “biggest band in the world” had their finger on the pulse and were embracing social media.

With music sales (an in particular their last album) tanking bands are having to re-invent their business model and one way the smart artists are doing that is embracing social media. U2 Have been at the forefront of music marketing for the last 20 years and have used every trick in the book to maintain their status as a massive band that can fill huge arenas. 10 years ago U2 would have filled the stadium by marketing their music globally and staying kind of aloof but the game has changed and they realize they need to be 100% transparent and engage with their fans in order to succeed. You only need to look at the amount of options you have below to see the options and help you have when making up your mind if you should buy one of the few remaining tickets for tomorrow night’s gig….

Twitter Search

With somebody talking about the concert every couple of minutes and 100s of reviews coming in from the stadium itself you would be very aware if something like the sound sucked. The pressure to perform
The real time reviews were all outstanding

Blogs

The big problem with traditional newspapers is that they have deadlines to make in order to get their papers to print and with the concert not finishing until after 11 their coverage was patchy at best. Bloggers on the other hand can publish at any time so reviews were popping up hours after the event…

Positive review from Leon with some cool pics of the stage
Good run through of the show by Ronan from a music perspective
Or I could check out the stage being built

The inside view

I remember going to see U2 in the old days and you would be there hours beforehand just in case they came on early or you missed something. Thanks to the Edge Twittering throughout the day I knew he was having a coffee over at Hanover Quay in the afternoon and even got a sneak preview of the play list from backstage just before the gig.

The Ultimate Preview

So you have heard all about the stage but you want to see what it actually looks like and see if the sound is up to scratch? Head on over to YouTube a couple of hours after the gig and you will be able to see pretty much every song from every conceivable angle.

All in all the music world is changing for the better and the fans are far better informed as to what is going on behind the scenes. The winners will be the bands that embrace the new technologies and talk and communicate directly with their fans. Don’t think that these principles are only effective if you are one of the biggest bands in the world as they will work just as well if you have a pub, hotel, small business or football team, get talking to your customers or fans and you will be a winner.

No Money For A U2 Ticket?

If all the amazing reviews above don’t convince you that you should be at the concert or you simply can’t afford it you can always crank the volume, turn the lights down and listen to it live on 1000 mikes here