Bold brand activations and experiential marketing tactics were the center of attention at SXSW 2024. Organizers tapped into visitors’ appetites for in-person and spontaneous live experiences, and the conference was flooded with attendees worldwide.
We’re starting to see more of the pendulum swing back to in-person events. But this time with a twist—curated formats that encourage more engagement and networking opportunities. To adjust to the changes, brands are looking to in-person events to build brand awareness and boost digital word-of-mouth by partnering with influencers and creating a sense of community.
The SXSW influencer marketing tactics seen in 2024 come with implications for the future of in-person events as a whole, as well as how brands can use influencer marketing to achieve their goals for events and conferences.
SXSW at a glance
South by Southwest (SXSW) is a conference and festival that celebrates the convergence of tech, film, music, education, and culture. Thousands of people visit Austin, Texas, every year to attend SXSW. This year was no exception.
However, this year, many brands went for unofficial activations rather than opting into ticketed conference events. The reason? Impact.
With the official conference ticket price coming in at $2,095—a sizable investment—some attendees opted out of the official ticket/badge and instead attended solely for unofficial events surrounding the conference. Aware of this emerging trend, many brands decided to meet visitors wherever they were—even if that meant having a presence outside the convention center where the official sessions were held.
That gamble paid off—even though they were “unofficial,” brands saw sizable foot traffic. By creating experiential activities and activations featuring influencers, known DJs, artists, and more, these brands created successful community hubs for people in town for the SXSW conference.
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Notable events and brand activations at SXSW
Curious about which brands executed off-site SXSW events successfully? Let’s look at a few of the standout use cases.
Poolsuite & Yahoo! – DISCO(NNECT)
Poolsuite & Yahoo partnered for a rooftop disco party. The party featured different DJs, and artists, complimentary cocktails, exclusive merchandise, and gifts from the Vacation sunscreen corporation. The highlight was a dress-up area for retro badge photo creation, with tons of offbeat dress-up props that allowed attendees to get hands-on (and a little silly) as part of the event. The DISCO(NECT) theme encouraged people to get off their digital devices and be more immersed in the setting. So the physical badge/name tag creation played into this as well.
Prime Video – Fallout
Amazon Prime Video created a post-apocalyptic world to promote its new series, Fallout, based on the popular video game. Visitors could get immersed in the experience by entering via what looked like a sewer tunnel where locals guide you to collect bottle caps, the town’s currency of choice. The activation also offered many different photo opportunities for social media moments, such as the one in a post-apocalyptic dentist’s chair. Among the VIP attendees was Elon Musk, who made a surprise appearance at this SXSW event.
The Delta Lounge
Delta embarked on a first-ever journey as the official airline of SXSW 2024. Delta’s SXSW debut featured exclusive experiences for SkyMiles members, including Delta Sync space designed to evoke Delta’s seatback in-flight entertainment screens, fan-favorite beverages exclusively available at Starbucks stores around the world, and limited-edition Delta x SXSW merchandise such as hats, tote bags and sweatshirts. Plus, the first 100 SkyMiles members to check in Delta’s SXSW Lounge received an exclusive denim jacket, which drummed up a long line for entry to this activation. Those who got one were even able to have the jacket personalized with a limited-edition vintage patch with unique name embroidery.
The LaCroix House
The sparkling water brand LaCroix welcomed SXSW visitors into an immersive LaCroix-themed space, where they could snap photos, enjoy unique LaCroix flavors, and grab exclusive merchandise. Visitors entered the experience through a LaCroix refrigerator door. From there, they could see an explosion of bright colors and enjoy different games, interactive photo opportunities, as well as branded swag.
Midwest House
Midwest House is a popular platform for the Midwest’s innovators and creatives. They’ve become known for their events and activations at SXSW, where they offer visitors the chance to connect, network, learn, and have fun. The results from 2024 speak for themselves—Midwest House had over 8,000 attendees and partnered with more than 150 organizations across 12 states and five countries.
Together with their sponsors, they brought 21 notable founders to Austin as well as 11 Midwestern musical acts. In addition, they organized several city-themed days (Chicago, St. Louis, etc.) where visitors could enjoy events like a female founders brunch, a food tech house takeover, a climate tech panel, a fireside chat with representatives from the Chicago Bears, several happy hours, and more.
How to Use Influencer Marketing to Spice Up Events
The rise of the creator economy and influencer marketing has completely changed the world as we used to know it. The influencer marketing economy is valued at $21.1 billion, according to McKinsey, and influencers and creators have become undeniable powerhouses with a strong influence on customer behavior. But their impact is not limited to social media marketing.
Innovative brands have already tapped into influencers’ power to promote events and create buzz. Brands that partner with social media influencers can reach new audiences and build trust, driving engagement beyond traditional advertising.
We see an example of this via a well-known Austin-based influencer who goes by A Taste of Koko. She has worked on over a hundred brand activations at SXSW since 2015 for brands like Amazon, Clarins, Shopify, HBO, Lush, and Dr. Martens. With more than 200,000 followers, having this influencer involved with event promotion helps brands reach relevant audiences and attracts attendees who want to meet her in person.
If you want to start capitalizing on in-person events with influencers and creators, here are a few ideas that can help you create a memorable experience for your attendees:
SXSW Ideas for Brands
- Dress-up photo booths – Photo booths are a great way to engage attendees and encourage them to capture your event. Aside from fostering user-generated content, you can also boost brand awareness by overlaying your branding across these interactive photo ops.
- Influencer styling sessions/Q&As – Influencers drive attention, and people enjoy communicating with them. That’s why organizing things like fashion influencer styling sessions or Q&As can help generate interest and more event attendees.
- Product giveaways – The try-and-tested recipe for success—giveaways always bring results. So whether you have a brand activation for a product launch or you are promoting your new product campaign, including product giveaways as part of your event can bring more RSVPs.
- Games – If you’re looking for more innovative ways to entertain your audience, adding a gamification element to your event can be right for you. From trivia to scavenger hunts, playing games fosters interaction and makes your event more memorable.
- Experience-based moments – Experience-based moments, such as sound baths or yoga classes, were especially popular at SXSW this year. Events like morning runs, cold plunges, and yoga series, are low-cost ways to bring people together around a brand or theme.
Benefits of Using Influencers for Events
Including influencers as part of your event adds a layer of exclusivity to the experience, making it more compelling, memorable, and impactful.
Build brand awareness
Influencers are popular among their followers. This doesn’t apply only to macro-influencers and celebrities, but works for micro and nano-influencers as well. The connection they have with their audiences translates into likes, comments, and shares, which ultimately increases reach. If one of your goals for the event is to build brand awareness, working with influencers can be the right way to do it.
Create hype and word-of-mouth with share-worthy content
Creating engaging content is influencers’ forte, and unlike professional content creation by agencies that are known for pixel-perfect photos and videos, influencers stand out by creating raw, authentic, natural content that customers can relate to. After all, this is the type of content that creates hype and often goes viral. If you’re looking for someone to create share-worthy content on the spot, influencers are a safe bet.
Target specific audiences (by choosing specific influencers)
Influencers can also be a great way to reach specific audiences. There are so many influencers out there with different interests, covering various niches. By strategically choosing the influencers you work with, no matter the size of their following, you can reach a very specific audience in terms of age, gender, location, interests, and so much more.
Boost engagement
Partnering with influencers for your next event promotion can help increase your social media visibility and engagement. While their impact is not only limited to social media, the ability to reach and engage a large audience is one of the biggest benefits of working with influencers to promote an event. Established influencers have already earned the trust and credibility in the eyes of their audience, which can make their followers more likely to perceive your events as worth attending.
Position your brand as a community hub
The future of in-person events will be all about creating a sense of community. Here’s where influencers can help. Building a community is another strong suit influencers and content creators have. From creating content and communicating to managing and nurturing a community, influencers have the necessary experience to support your efforts to position your brand as a community hub.
Maximize ROI
Working with influencers allows you to measure the success of your campaigns. From measuring engagement and reach to tracking conversions such as ticket sales and attendance, influencer marketing gives you a clear picture of the things you need to double down on but also the things you need to optimize. Influencers already have a proven track record when it comes to event promotion, which can give you a solid benchmark when you measure your results. Compared to traditional advertising channels, such as TV or print ads, influencer marketing doesn’t require a large budget for it to be effective.
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How to Find the Right Influencers for Your Next SXSW Event
Partnering with the right influencers can help your brand grow exponentially. The question is: how do you find the right influencers for your business? Opening up your social media feed to look for influencers can feel daunting.
The good news is that it doesn’t need to be that way. Here are six steps that will lead you to the right influencers for your next event promotion.
1. Understand your target audience
The first step to finding the right influencers to partner with is to understand your target audience. What are the people you would like to see attend your event or brand activation? Are you looking to attract people from a certain age group, gender, location, or niche? Having this information is a prerequisite to finding the SXSW influencers that will meet your needs. When you define the basic criteria, you narrow down the circle of influencers you can potentially partner with.
2. Search for potential influencers
One way to tackle this step is to dedicate countless hours to browsing social media and reaching out to influencers to see if they would be a good fit for your event promotion. The smart way to do it is to use an influencer marketing platform to find the right influencers while you focus on more important aspects of the event planning.
Tools like Afluencer help you find the right creators, manage your budget effectively, track your campaign’s performance, analyze results, and optimize your influencer marketing strategy. With Afluencer, you can access the profiles of thousands of influencers and filter results based on specific criteria. Using a platform like Afluencer allows you to meet verified influencers with real followers and communicate with them through a single platform. The best part is that platforms like Afluencer will enable you to scale your influencer marketing efforts without investing too much time and energy.
Another way to find the right influencers for your business is to attend influencer marketing conferences and events. These events can give you valuable insights into the ever-changing influencer marketing landscape. And they can be an excellent opportunity to network with influencers and content creators.
3. Evaluate influencers
When evaluating influencers for your SXSW event promotion, look beyond engagement and following. What is their experience with event promotion? Do they have a track record of brand activations and successful events? If you shift your mindset and start looking at influencers as partners, they can bring their experience to the table and contribute with creative ideas. Instead of using influencer marketing as a distribution channel for your ad, look at it more strategically and choose influencers wisely.
4. Create an influencer marketing strategy for the event
Having an influencer marketing strategy for the event in place can help you set the right expectations. Do you expect influencers to promote your event before, during, and after the event? Will you create affiliate links for ticket sales, or will you measure RSVPs? Share the information influencers need upfront, and consider including requirements in the contract.
5. Define a budget
Having a defined budget for event promotion will allow you to set realistic marketing goals and objectives. If you were planning to set up at SXSW, consider the number and type of influencers you would like to include in the event promotion. If you are dealing with a limited budget, you can always focus on micro and nano-influencers to spread the message. When creating your influencer marketing budget for event promotion, you have to consider that it will be a part of the bigger event budget you have in place.
Data from Statista shows that brands invest 10 to 20% of their marketing budget into influencer marketing. However, the final share of the budget you will decide to invest in influencer marketing will depend on the event goals you want to reach.
6. Measure results and optimize for your next events
To understand the impact and effectiveness of influencer marketing, you have to measure the performance of influencer marketing campaigns. The data and insights you gather through the process will become a solid base for future improvements. If you notice that certain types of promotions or content formats drive more engagement than others, you can agree with influencers to focus their efforts on those strategies.
Reinvent In-Person Events with Influencer Marketing
In-person events like SXSW have changed quite a bit in the last few years. While speakers are a huge part of any event, networking is one of the main reasons why people attend. Event attendees seek engaging experiences that will create a sense of community, networking opportunities, and fun. Here’s where influencers can help.
The convergence of event and influencer marketing can generate hype, capture customers’ attention, and drive more people to attend the event. Moreover, it can create buzz long after the event thanks to the share-worthy content influencers create before, during, and after an event.
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