We now reach the half way point in the PESTLE series. To recap so far we have addressed both the political and economic impacts facing the events industry. Be sure to catch up on these instalments if you haven’t already done so.
Now we move on to the next blog in the line - the social impacts on the events industry.
1) Diversity
Diversity couldn’t be more relevant for the events industry on the basis that every event audience has a different people from a variety of backgrounds. However, the events industry itself still tends to be dominated by white males. It is clear to see that due to the lack of diversity within the industry, it is impacting the type of people that both attend events and people who wish to go into the industry. This is a rising point of concern and some events can already be seen tackling these issues in different ways, such as; including a wider range of keynote speakers and panellists.
2) Social media
Social media has become a game changer when it comes to reaching out to potential customers. Using things like hashtags to target posts at people interested in specific topics is one of the many ways that social media is good for targeting an intended market. Therefore, if trust in a social media platform is compromised, it may discourage people from using that platform and decrease the effectiveness of marketing on that site. This is something we might start to see happening to Facebook, due to its recent data breaches. Polls that were undertaken after a data breach back in 2014 suggested that globally, many lost trust in Facebook. Since then they have been under attack on several other occasions, and with the recent introduction of GDPR, this does not look good for them. This being said, Facebook is still the most widely used social media platform across the world – meaning marketing on Facebook is yet to be affected.
3) Trends
Year on year different trends become popular, therefore it is important that events are aware of the ever-changing fads. As the millennial generation now start to become the majority of event attendees, it is important for us to read into what attracts them most. We have seen that over the past few years, people are becoming more health conscious at events. A report states that this is seen to be more the millennial generation - there are many reasons why this could be, such as; social media pressures, access to better education on the effects of a poor diet and changes in the food industry that has almost made it a necessity to be more aware of the food we eat. We can already see events becoming more conscious of the food they serve, e.g. UK produce only, free range, Fairtrade and so on. However, with trends like health consciousness on the rise, it could lead to higher prices events.
Written by: Paige Cradduck - Events Assistant for Grapevine Event Management
