Last week a few of the BostInno team went to the last show on the Budweiser Made in America Tour at the House of Blues. The tour featured Milkman, an innovative DJ in his own right (touring with an elaborate laser light show that he himself developed using a unique programmable interface, that allows him to control both the sound and the lights simultaneously) and YouTube sensation turned headliner, Timeflies. From an entertainment standpoint, check out our experience here. For an event marketing perspective, continue reading:

The doors opened at 8pm, and all guests were greeted with a complimentary Bud in their recently launched bow tie can, and escorted through a branded smoke screen. A bit disoriented, we were immediately grabbed for a photo from their roving photographer who shared that the photos would be on their Facebook page following the event. After my eyes adjusted to the camera flashes and fog, we took in what can only be described as Budweiser City. The. logo. was. everywhere. And I do mean everywhere.

It almost didn’t even look like the House of Blues, which is especially hard to do given the unique and intricate venue decor. The stage was glowing with the tour logos and LED branding flashing. It would have been nearly impossible to snap a photo without their logo in the background. Nice job, Bud. I like where your head’s at. With the branded shades, intoxicated twenty-somethings, and high-powered lighting shows, it was Budweiser meets Barstool Blackout. I didn’t know neon red existed, but Budweiser came pretty damn close.

We proceeded up to the VIP lounge and were greeted with even more beer, and even more branding. With a near perfect view of the live streaming tweets, the bartenders refreshed our drinks before they were even half full (staying positive here) and reminded us to share the hashtags and handles. As if we could have missed them. My question here though, is why so many handles and hashtags?

We were working with:

#BudweiserMadeInAmerica. That’s a long hashtag for a 140 character tweet.

#BudweiserMIA. Confusing. Is all the beer gone??? #GrabSomeBuds. I like it.

#MadeinBoston. For this particular party in the tour.

#Budweiser

To receive Budweiser swag, they took a little note from other brands leveraging swag in exchange for social media engagement.  Attendees had to follow @Budweiser (the handle currently has 22k followers) and tweet at them using a hashtag. Bud reps watched as some of us downloaded an app Bonfyre which enables social sharing and aggregates event photos. In event, I honestly didn’t want to download an app — especially one that makes you create a profile for yourself. I didn’t need the free shades that badly. If there was more beer involved, then maybe.

As we waited for the show to get started, a Budweiser babe came out on the stage three separate times welcoming us and encouraging concert-goers to drink responsibly. Reading from a card, she rambled off (some?) of the hashtags, told us to get our pictures taken on the elevated platform behind the stage to share on Facebook (as if anyone was moving in that crowd), and then left again. This is where it felt a-lotta-bit like Bud was trying too hard. By her third appearance, people began to boo and tell her to get off the stage. As a whole, we were all just standing around waiting, and every time she came out to make an announcement we expected her to welcome them — only to be left annoyed and disappointed. Not an ideal sentiment from event attendees.

The show was worth the wait, and red and white confetti fell from the ceiling not one, but two times, for some additional brand exposure that everyone loved. Check out photos here. The day after the event, we explored the Facebook page that we thought was going to show all the photos, only to find 18 from the previous evening in the album for the Made in Boston party. Upon a closer investigation, there are about 10-20 photos in the album for each city’s respective party (Made in NYC, etc.).

What’s with the disconnect? Tweets are driving followers to check out the photos, and there are only 18 to check out. Where are all of the photos that the roving photographer was snapping all night? Personally, I would have liked to see many more. For a brand that wants to increase social media engagement so badly, it doesn’t seem to me like they thought about post-event engagement at all. A few photos and a tweet or two, and you’ve just missed out on a huge opportunity for re-sharing, commenting, and engaging on social media — reaching not only those who attended but their extensive social networks as well.

On the following Monday, guests received a post-event email through Eventbrite with a link to more photos. I was excited to see all the shots from the evening, to find that about only about 50 more were shared here, and as of now these have not been uploaded to Facebook.

So what can we learn from this case study, class? For one, it’s probably best to stick to one hashtag and one or two accounts, and it’s probably even better to deliver on your side of the social media engagement equation by sharing photos from the event just like you want attendees to do. We’ve already explored the pros and cons of leveraging swag for tweets and likes, but event marketing doesn’t even have to be that complicated. A little encouragement with the right demographic and you’re on your way to tons of new page likes and hashtag sharing. Too much pushing for shares to benefit your brand, and attendees become annoyed, potentially damaging brand image in their eyes.

Bottom line, while social media engagement in-event is important, it should never be the focus of the event. Aside from the frustrations with Bud’s social media execution, the party was kickass and the branding was enviable, making everyone revved up for the Made in America Festival in Philly this weekend.

Update: To see the latest photos from the tour, click here.