Somos ABQ
Case Studies Research


Summary:
SOMOS began out of a deep, abiding love for Albuquerque. The vision is to illuminate every good thing we know Albuquerque to be, with an eye towards cultivating meaningful opportunities for community connection. Though it was a one-day, end-of-summer festival, the impact was to be felt year-round. SOMOS ABQ was developed around the concept of a “block party” to have an economic impact on Downtown Albuquerque through art, technology, entertainment, food and culture.
Research and planning:
SiarzaSD was limited to ten weeks to research, plan, execute and evaluate marketing and communication tactics for SOMOS ABQ. The team researched marketing tactics from millennial-centered festivals like the Electric Daisy Carnival, Lollapalooza, and SXSW. It was also important for SiarzaSD to analyze event marketing for similar festivals in other cities to cross-reference key demographics with key messages. Data compiled by Albuquerque Business First on past Albuquerque events was analyzed to account for seasonal event attendance fluctuations and industry best practices with the highest ROI for event types similar to SOMOS.
SiarzaSD created a crisis communication plan to be put into effect should a catastrophic event have taken place during the festival. Thankfully, the team did not have to deploy it. SiarzaSD created a social media calendar and was responsible for posts including testimonials to add a human voice, important event information, key community engagement opportunities (e.g. running a scavenger hunt, photo contest, and ticket giveaway for followers). FB and IG stories were used to run polls and to add variety. The Siarza team worked to contact news and radio stations, news outlets, content creators, and other media professionals who worked with key target organizations in an effort to garner both national and local media coverage for SOMOS ABQ 2018. SiarzaSD created a media hospitality area for help and equipment charging.
GOALS:
- Increase awareness of the purpose, mission and vision by reaching 10 percent more people than 2017 by the end of the campaign.
- Increase social media engagement by 10 percent year over year by the end of the campaign.
- Increase day-of event attendance (total ticket sales) by 25 percent year over year.
- Maintain the reach and impressions of advertising with less advertising dollars from 2017.

RESULTS:
- For the SOMOS campaign, published Facebook content alone reaching over 1,323,904 people, split between organic and paid posts, with an overall follower increase of 63.66 percent. Organic Twitter content reached 86,113 people, with an overall 29.03 percent increase compared to 2017. Instagram saw a follower growth of 57.02 percent. The Snapchat geo-filter was seen by 176,900 people.
- In 2017, SOMOS ABQ’s social media accounts saw a total of 37,357 engagements across platforms. SOMOS 2018’s Facebook alone had 44,948 engagements (including reactions, shares, comments and clicks) – bringing an increase of 20.32 percent for similar periods leading up to the event, excluding Instagram and Twitter increases.
- Overall organic engagement increased by 54.92 percent YoY and event attendance increased by 67 percent (from 15,000 event attendees in 2017 to 25,000 event attendees in 2018).