Hypebot’s Hisham Dahud is currently on
tour with CNTRL: Beyond EDM (on behalf of his digital marketing company Fame House), a 17-city college tour across North America educating
students about the origins and future of electronic music with shows at each
city featuring some of the genres pioneers including Richie Hawtin, Ean Golden,
Loco Dice and more. These are his stories from behind the scenes.
In my last tour post, I discussed the importance of nurturing your fanbase and ensuring that their best interests are always kept near and dear, being that they are the lifeblood of your business. A nurtured fanbase will always be more reactive when presented with a clear call-to-action, even if it has nothing to do with buying something and more to do with helping you in your time of need – exactly what the CNTRL team and I experienced on the road to Syrucause, New York.
In the scurry of our leaving the Buffalo area, as the beginning effects of the impending “super storm” began to make its presence felt, the crew somehow managed to leave behind a very important container needed for the rest of the tour. By the time we had discovered this, we were well on our way to Syracuse, so turning around would have caused us to lose valuable time and was pretty much not an option. But there was no way we could show up to the gig without that container.
So we turned to social media!
We went straight to our Facebook page and made an announcement to the Buffalo, NY area asking if anyone would be willing to pick up the container and then make the four-hour trek to bring it to us at our gig in Syracuse. In exchange for their help, we were offering them free entrance to the show, free merchandise, and free backstage passes for them and their friends.
We accompanied this plead with a photo of us looking pathetically desperate for help:
The post instantly got tons of shares and comments from fans willing to drive several extra hours from cities as far away as Toronto, Canada in order to make it happen. Luckily, one person who attended one of our daytime lectures in Buffalo was gracious enough to volunteer to make the journey down and meet us at the gig.
Once she and her friends arrived, they were greeted with open arms and were given all that was promised and more. While they were obviously excited about their VIP treatment, they were actually more excited at the opportunity to be a part of the tour and help us out. We brought them on stage where they met the artists, picked up their free merchandise, and danced the night away from behind the DJ booth.
Our rescuers - Wilson, Michelle, Owen, and Meghan:
The takeaway: You never know how your fans can come to your rescue, so contiuning to building a genuine relationship with your fans should be of the upmost importance. Plus it's never been easier to do than with today's social networks. Without the relationship that we built up with our fans through our own social channels (a relationship built on trust and transparency), we wouldn’t have seen such fan reactivity. Even several of those who couldn’t help out still shared the post to their networks in an effort to ensure we came out of this OK.
In the end, it was through the gracious help of our dedicated fan base – our community – that got us out of the bind and secured a smooth sail for the rest of our tour.
The CNTRL: Beyond EDM tour moves on to 15 more cities around protions of the northeastern United States and Canada. Hisham Dahud is on board for the entire ride, so look out for more posts in the coming weeks with updates from life on the road.
—
Hisham Dahud is a Senior Analyst for Hypebot.com. Additionally, he is the head of Business Development for Fame House and an independent musician. Follow him on Twitter: @HishamDahud
