What Metallica at the Sphere Taught Me About Social Media
I am writing this blog from an airplane somewhere above the midwest, returning home from the eighth wonder of the world: The Sphere in Las Vegas. I was there for opening weekend of Metallica's Life Burns Faster residency, and it was everything I expected and more. The multimedia production is phenomenal, and few venues anywhere sound better. If you ever get the chance to see a show there, go.
I also returned home with something I didn't expect: over 780,000 views on my videos across three platforms in just a few days. I’ve been creating content for 20+ years now and the only thing I've ever made that came remotely close is a To Catch a Predator Spoof video back in 2007. I have been legitimately blown away by the attention my content received over just six days.
This is a marketing blog, so let's talk about how that happened, what was going on around the shows, and how your business can pull off the same thing at your next conference.
Metallica Took Over the City
The band turned a residency into a citywide brand experience. Between Wednesday and Saturday, fans could hit:
The Metallica Popup Shop: Exclusive merchandise and band-related activations at the Venetian. Basically a giant experiential marketing activation with the world's largest Metallica gift shop. Plus, they did 3 live broadcasts for the Sirius XM Maximum Metallica channel.
The Metallica Black Box: An immersive Metallica museum and cocktail lounge with artifacts, memorabilia, guest speakers, and exclusive merch spanning their entire career.
Blackened Cigars: A promotional event for their Blackened brand of cigars.
Exclusive drops: Posters, records, and apparel at the popup, the venue, and the Las Vegas Adidas store. Fans camped out for limited items, and some even donated blood to the Red Cross in exchange for an exclusive shirt and guitar pick.
Two shows at the Sphere: ‘Nuff said.
The concerts on Thursday and Saturday nights were the anchor but everything else gave fans more reasons to show up, spend money, and post about it.
For your business: If you exhibit at a trade show, your booth is the concert. What's your popup shop? A hospitality suite, a client dinner, an off-site event, a speaker session? Every touchpoint around the main event is another moment for people to engage with your brand and share it.
How I Turned It Into 780K Views (and How You Can Too)
Find your niche
Until about a month ago, my Instagram account was a random mix of unrelated posts. Shortly before these concerts, I started posting Metallica memorabilia content every few days. It performed, so I leaned in. By the time I got to Vegas, I had a growing audience interested in Metallica content.
For your business: Figure out what your audience cares about and commit to it.
Post while the moment is hot
The week I was posting, hundreds of thousands of people were searching for content about Metallica at the Sphere. And as soon as the shows were over, everyone was looking for highlight clips. I identified and leaned into that. My biggest posts were highlights of show day, uploaded before, during and immediately after the events.
For your business: Post before, during and soon after the trade show while the event hashtag is trending and your industry is paying attention. Post a recap 1-2 weeks later after everyone has moved on.
Make content worth sharing
It all starts with WHAT you produce. A dimly lit session about spelunking won't move the needle. Most conferences don't have a popup shop or a museum, but virtually every one has keynotes, breakfasts, dinners, off-site social events, and a few moments worth sharing. Find the most interesting opportunities and capture them in short clips.
My clips included recaps of both night 1 and night 2, walkthroughs of the Black Box and the popup shop, and a few individual songs.
For your business: Before the event, make a desired shot list. Pick three or four moments you know will be interesting and plan to capture each one.
Make it look good
Your phone is a professional-caliber camera. Don't produce content that looks like it was shot on a flip phone with Vaseline smeared on the lens. Get good light, hold it steady and get clean audio. When your social media manager puts 15 minutes on your calendar to explain how to shoot photos and video at your event, listen to them.
For your business: Your content represents your brand. Give whoever is filming a quick checklist: find the light, shoot vertical, steady hands, quiet spot for talking clips.
Keep it short and to the point
Edit yourself. A 10-minute video maybe makes sense for a case study or product demo. For social media, just give them the sizzle and use the built-in editing tools in each app or download something like CapCut or Adobe Premiere.
For your business: Aim for 15 to 60 seconds. Lead with the best moments, cut everything else, and save the deep dive for your website or a follow-up post.
Tag everything
On every video, I tagged Metallica, the Venetian, the Sphere, and the Vegas tourism accounts. I used the official hashtags the band was using and tagged my location as the site of the filming.
The result: Metallica's official accounts shared my content several times, and Spin Magazine and multiple other accounts asked permission to share my videos.
For your business: Tag the event, the venue, the speakers, the sponsors, and your partners. Every tag puts your content in front of an account with a bigger audience than yours.
Diversify: Repurpose across platforms
I started on Instagram. Since the content was already produced, I spent the extra 10 minutes to post on TikTok and YouTube Shorts, which collectively added another 129,000 views (95K on TikTok, 34K on YouTube). And finally, I will post this on Linkedin. Same event, same content repurposed for four audiences.
For your business: Post once, publish everywhere. The same clip can live on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and LinkedIn with a caption tweak for each audience. And always share your Instagram Reels to your stories as well.
Watch your inbox and the comments
I’m not an avid TikToker and wasn’t monitoring my inbox so I almost missed a media opportunity. And I wasn't keeping up with the comments on Instagram which almost led to me missing out on a discussion with Industrial, Light, and Magic. Posting is the most important part but don’t forget to monitor.
For your business: Assign someone to check DMs and comments on every platform during and after the event. A quick reply can turn a viewer into a lead.
What it turned into
Now that the week is over, I expect my views to drop but due to the number of new followers I’ve gained, I still anticipate ongoing engagement. And I fully intend on producing future content during upcoming Sphere weekends, even though I won't be there.
For your business: You don't have to be at an event to join the conversation. Post timely content, use the official tags and hashtags, and show up in the feed like you're in the room.
Your Next Conference is Your Sphere
Every conference your team attends is full of moments worth sharing: a packed keynote, a client dinner, a demo that draws a crowd, a Topgolf happy hour. Pick your niche so people know why to follow you. Show up prepared with a plan and a phone that's ready to shoot. Post while the event is trending, keep it short, and tag everyone in the room. Then watch your inbox, because that's where the opportunities show up.
If I did it with a rock band and a giant glowing ball in the desert, you can do it at your next trade show.
Want to see my content? Give me a follow:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sirchriscantz/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sirchriscantz/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EnterBrandman
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriscantz
