Lindenwood University Lindenwood University
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Theses Theses & Dissertations
11-2023
The Psychological Motivations of Attendees to Engage and Share The Psychological Motivations of Attendees to Engage and Share
Their Event Experiences Their Event Experiences
Denise Matoushek
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THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOTIVATIONS OF ATTENDEES TO ENGAGE AND SHARE
THEIR EVENT EXPERIENCES
by
Denise Matoushek
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Master of Science in Digital Marketing
at
Lindenwood University
© November 2023, Denise Matoushek
The author hereby grants Lindenwood University permission to reproduce and distribute publicly
paper and electronic thesis copies of document in whole or in part in any medium now known
or hereafter created.
Denise Matoushek____________________________________________________11/30/2023
Author
Clayton Smith_______________________________________________________11/30/2023
Committee Chair
Andrew Smith_______________________________________________________11/30/2023
Committee Member
Krista Tucciarone____________________________________________________11/30/2023
Committee Member
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THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOTIVATIONS OF ATTENDEES TO ENGAGE AND SHARE
THEIR EVENT EXPERIENCES
A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Digital Marketing Department in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the
Degree of Master of Science
at
Lindenwood University
By
Denise Matoushek
Saint Charles, Missouri
November 2023
3
ABSTRACT
Social media usage, content creation and consumption has increased steadily throughout the
years. This facet has impacted the event industry and their audiences’ expectations of immersive
and high-end digital opportunities with the goal of memory capturing and user generated content.
In addition to providing digital event opportunities, meeting audiences on their psychological
level when in attendance at events heightens the likelihood of revisits, word-of-mouth, and social
media sharing. The two main psychological aspects to study are that of belonging and internal
motivation. In the event field, belonging is the feeling or association to a community of peers and
internal motivation is the desire to seek out positive and enjoyment-inducing experiences.
Keywords: immersive, psychological, social media, marketing, engagement, events,
audiences, selfie, belonging, internal motivation
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Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………. 5
Literature Review……………………………………………………………………...…………. 6
Methodology…………….…………………………………………………………………….... 17
Production………………………………………………………………………………………. 19
Conclusion………………….…………………………………………………………………... 20
Work Cited…………………………………………………………………………………….22
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1. Introduction
The scope of the research paper will be that of immersive photo and video engagement
opportunities at events and their psychological influence on the attendees, specifically related to
their drive to participate in the experience and then post the experience over social media
platforms. Ever since the development of easy internet access through in-home connections and
personal devices, reaching audiences online has become an increasing marketing tactic. This
seems to have expanded even more with the large-scale use of social media platforms which are
utilized by over 82% percent of the American population, which is around 223 million people
(Dixon). With the introduction of social media, highlighting life experiences to followers has
become increasingly popular. These highlights are shared through photos and videos with eye-
catching captions. As a result, this has brought about the rise in picturesque and immersive
locations at local and national events.
For this study, the focus will be of furthering the evaluation into the advancement and
effectiveness of different types of photo and video locations at events based on the psychological
drive of today’s audience. This study will specifically be answering the question: How has the
evolution of digital platforms advanced the need for the event industry to provide elaborate photo
and video opportunities to meet the motivations and psychological needs of their audiences in
terms of social media sharing and engagement? The first element examined to answer this
research question will be the background of social media. The second to be examined is the
mental state of attendees in terms of their motivation to seek fulfilling engagement opportunities
while at events. Finally, to be observed is the best practices for creating meaningful spaces for
photo and video sharing settings at events to meet these experience expectations for guests.
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2. Literature Review
2.1 Background on Event Social Media Sharing Platforms
Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the internet and online based
technologies, such as desktop and handheld computers and mobile phones, to promote products
and services to the public (Digital Marketing). One of the top digital marketing methods to
promote and share event content is through social media marketing. Social media platforms are
forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share
information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (Social Media). The Internet and
social media have designed that interpersonal interaction is no longer dependent on face-to-face
communication, abolishing time and space barriers (Santiago). Through the multitude of social
media platforms, each site provides its own unique attributes to its various users. According to
Voorveld, the main platforms are: “Facebook (a social network), Snapchat (an instant photo
messaging application), Instagram (a photo-sharing application), X (formerly known as Twitter)
and Threads (a microblogging application), LinkedIn (a business and employment-oriented
social networking service), TikTok (a short-video sharing application) and Pinterest (a “catalog
of ideas” or photo-sharing website)” (40). Each social media platform meets their users’ needs
through a variety of intellectual, visual, and emotional avenues.
The reason content is so popularly shared over these sites is because of their vast reach
and entertainment factor (Voorveld). Due to internal motivations, users choose to share over
social media sites because they believe if they find something enjoyable or amusing, then they
want to share the experience with their followers. Therefore, user generated content at social
events is so successful, especially among the highly digital Millennials and Generation Z
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demographics. The use of smartphones makes this opportunity even simpler. Most social media
platforms are application based and accessed through a digital device, most often, a handheld
smartphone. With the high-performance technology of photo and video, the ability to capture
real-time moments has increased exponentially. In fact, over 92.5% of individuals say their
smartphone is their main photo taking device (Digital Imaging Reporter). This combination has
helped construct societal experiences and expectations of the 21st century.
Analyzing an event’s target audience against each social media site’s demographics helps
increase the chance that the event marketing is reaching its intended audience on the site they
utilize most often. Event organizations have increasingly realized the added value of using social
media to favorably frame and successfully market events and places, build collaborative
relationships with users, and stimulate their advocacy (Pino). The creation of event organization
social media platforms has become a cost-effective and efficient way to reach an organization’s
audience. Social media uniquely allows event marketers the opportunity to merge organic
conversations, as well as brand engagement with their target audience.
The second use for social media to elevate an event is through participant contribution
and engagement. Contribution and engagement can be easily defined in the event world as
interactions between the attendee and event organization, either online or offline. This study will
mainly look at engagement in terms of online, specifically social media image and video posting
based on in-person engagement. The most basic way to contribute or engage is through likes,
comments, and shares. Having available interactive opportunities at events is an easy way to
increase engagement chances among participants and increase event attendance for future events.
Participants may directly impact the success of events by sharing, creating branded content, and
reviewing brands (Nikolinakou). Pino states:
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Social media platforms may initiate excitement among the potential attendees of a certain
event and offer event organizers and participants a platform to co-create value. Event
organizers can talk with their customers and listen to their reactions. Users can engage in
conversations with organizers and other attendees, share their photos and videos,
comment on the event, and recommend it to their peers. Thus, boosting online
engagement and facilitating the creation of relationships between organizers and potential
attendees has become vital for the event industry and may enhance the sustainability of
organizers’ strategies. (191)
Integrating social media into events is an easy was to drive digital engagement. Brands are also
focusing their efforts on motivating consumer content creation of photos, videos, or posts, as
they believe user-generated content can make their social media marketing campaigns more
authentic and relatable (Nikolinakou).
Tatiana Molina, the business manager for the Army Ten-Miler held in Washington D.C.,
states that their organization has witnessed huge success in capturing ‘moments’ at their events
and then sharing them over their social media platforms. Molina explains, “Event participants
know that we post in-the-moment and high-quality images, therefore, it increases our follower
count and page views, because everyone wants to feel special, everyone wants to see their image
posted. It builds a relationship when our organization can create that feeling”. In addition to
expanding organization and attendee relationships, the donor recruitment coordinator for DKMS
US, Olivia Haddox, says engagement through user generated content is also highly beneficial.
Haddox states, “No matter the platform user generated content always seems to be the most
compelling for our mission and demographic we are targeting. We strongly encourage volunteers
and attendees of the events to post about it on their stories which we then share on our stories.
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Unsurprisingly, 18- to 30-year-olds capture better quality content that we are able to use.” These
organizations are just two of many which have found success through incorporating social media
into their marketing plans. As of 2022, more than 93% of companies in the United States are
utilizing social media to reach their audiences (Dencheva).
2.2 Attendee Psychological Drive to Engage
With the rise of social media use and the popularity of smartphones, the relationship to
visual images has reached a level of ubiquity that is historically unprecedented (Wang).
Individuals, especially younger generations, have increasingly developed habitual smartphone
usage. This growth in smartphone usage has facilitated easier, quicker, and wider sharing of
photographs (Skinner) and videos. Coupling that with social media networks being an
opportunity for individuals to present themselves to a wider audience (Devin), society has
become visually accelerated. There has been a shift where understanding the environment is
being done, not through words, but through images. Social media image development has
become a dynamic process of selecting, reflecting, sharing, and experiencing (Skinner). In fact,
79% of people have taken more photographs since they started to use social media, 64% believe
that a visual post is more convincing on social media than a text-only post, and 85% prefer visual
posts to text-only posts (Wang). In addition, social media platforms place importance on visual
content by incorporating algorithms to increase the likelihood of these types of medias being
viewed by the users.
Some of this image focus can be attributed to the rise in selfies or groupies over social
media. The ‘selfie’ is defined as a photographic self-portrait, especially one taken with a
smartphone or webcam and shared via social media (Wang). A ‘groupie’ is the same concept as a
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selfie, but with multiple individuals in the image. For this study, the word ‘selfie’ will encompass
both terms. Selfies have been shown to increase social media reach through likes and comments
and have become a ubiquitous part of today’s culture (Holiday). The Georgia Institute of
Technology survey showed that a photo with a face receives more likes and comments than
photos without (Andrew). In fact, the number of selfies taken and shared online each day is 93
million (Bhushan). Subtly or not so subtly, people are constantly pushed by their social approval-
loving brains to tweak their work to gather more likes, to create art that will get more comments,
and to edit in a way which appeases the masses (Devin).
It has been found that there are four types of motivations behind self or group-posting;
which are: attention seeking, communication, archiving, and entertainment (Bhushan). Attention
seeking is related to affirmation from others. Communication is the two-way interaction of
sharing and receiving likes and comments on content. Archiving is the digital creation of a
memory. Entertainment is to highlight a fun life experience for self and others. In addition, it is
shown that extroverted individuals are more likely to engage in selfie sharing than other
personality types (Bhushan). This image sharing has been psychologically associated to social
interaction fulfillment needs. Holiday states that, “selfie users are more likely to take a photo not
to show off an outfit or express a mood, but instead to post to friends and family so they know
what the user is up to and where they are at (182). Selfie users want to provide the world with
their approved story of their life by sharing their self-photographs instead of keeping them
personal.
Furthermore, the rise in social media sharable photography and videography are
heightened and connected to designated photo and video locations at events, especially
immersive experiences. Immersive experiences incorporate visuals, sounds, and touch in an
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elaborate context to make the attendees feel as if they are living in the theme of the event. Event
coordinators are capitalizing on social media users’ love for photo and video sharing by creating
eye-catching and branded selfie sites. Social media has become an integral part of the event
experience because for many attendees, part of the fun of an event is documenting and sharing it
on social media (In It Live). The new theme is that: if there is not a picture, it did not happen
(National Event Pros). In fact, for many, a selfie is not ‘complete’ until it has been uploaded to
social media and viewed by others (Wang).
Being cognizant that event attendees seek to satisfy some intrinsic need that aligns with
their identity may help event coordinators design engagement opportunities that address those
specific needs (Hodge). One psychological avenue to explore is that of ‘belonging’. Belonging is
an essential basic human need for emotional health. As elaborated through Maslow’s Hierarch of
Needs, humans are social creatures that crave interactions with others; they need to feel like they
are accepted and a part of a group (Maslow). Events are intrinsically social areas. Being
immersed in a larger collective creates a sense of solidarity (Berkers). The marriage between
events and social media are two collectives that build community (MacKay). Events are the
immersion of similar individuals in the physical atmosphere while social media is the immersion
through the online atmosphere. The emotional experience is a reason why eventgoers keep
attending the same event over the years (Barriere).
Emotional needs to belong and not miss out on engagement opportunities are a push to
attend events with friends or family. This can be related to the feeling of fear of missing out
(FOMO) that has exploded since the creation of social media sharing. Fear of missing out is the
desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing, with fear that they are missing
out on having rewarding experiences. FOMO links individual differences with factors such as
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meeting psychological needs, general mood, and life satisfaction that may affect social media use
(Devin).
Eventbrite, an event internet company, polled participants about their association with
FOMO; 70% of participants said they regularly experienced FOMO in their life (1). One reason
for this is to keep up with “status quo” of their peers posting life aspects on social media. It is on
social media that experiences are projected to hundreds or thousands of followers to be seen. The
survey showed that over 60% of participants have posted about an event on social media within
the past year. One aspect that has been shown to intensify the association with FOMO is the 24-
hour access to these sites via smartphones. Social media sites can easily be downloaded as an
app to any smartphone. The average American spends 2.5 hours a day scrolling through their
phones (Ah-Heeti). Since belongingness is a key psychological trait (Bhushan) in FOMO,
keeping communication with others through image sharing over social media helps meet these
needs.
The second psychological aspect is that of internal motivation through enjoyment
seeking. Motivation is defined as a physiological and psychological need: a lust that arouses,
directs, and integrates a person’s conduct and activities (Krajickova). Enjoyment seeking
motivation is an important predictor of perceived value and attendee satisfaction. Perceived
value is defined as an overall assessment of the utility of a product or service made by a
consumer based on the perceptions of benefits and sacrifices (Ahn). Perceived value has been
identified as one of the crucial qualifications of behavioral intentions of customers. Event
organizers should develop and offer fun-inducing and entertaining activities that can appeal to
those who are interested in seeking enjoyment and enhance their perceived value of the event as
well as their satisfaction level (Ahn). This value impacts customer satisfaction, word of mouth,
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and revisit intentions. Whether a user participates in an event is also related to his records of
historical interactions. Different historical events have different effects on the next event, and
these effects include positive and negative effects (Liao).
Internal motivations also relate to social media usage as immediate external rewards of
likes and comments increase event attendees’ enjoyment seeking, perceived value, and positive
association of an event. Using social media for internal motivations and engagement has been
shown to be linked to emotion states. Social media use can be done through a passive mental
state or an active state. Passive is related to mindless scrolling, while active is associated with
content creation, which would be the goal state to reach with event attendees. It has been shown
that mood greatly depicts which state users will be in when engaging with social media.
According to Saleem, “When users are in a highly aroused positive mood state, production of
content occurs, which represents the highest level of social media engagement. Examples of
production during highly aroused positive mood state include posting vacation pictures or the
achievement of a ‘bucket list’ event” (75). Contrary to positive mood state, when users are in a
negative or low arousal mood, they are more likely to passively scroll. The content of videos,
blogs, and photos created by individuals and published has been shown to both entertain and
inform their followers (Saleem) about their life.
2.3 Creating Meaningful and Immersive Spaces
When incorporating the proper aesthetics into immersive opportunities, meeting the
audiences’ psychological expectations of belonging and motivation increases the likelihood of
engagement. Each type of event has a different type of audience expectation of engagement. A
successful event has the capability to link aesthetics with the social aspects of their attendees
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(Berkers), as aesthetics of an event can elevate attendees’ experiences. It is important to note that
when creating aesthetics for an event, audiences want more interactive engagement and less of a
corporate feel (Barriere). In addition, when creating these engagement moments, it is crucial to
keep a social media mindset, as 97% of event attendees will post their photo or video to social
media (Skinner).
Event audiences continually seek engaging experiences and ways to share their
experiences online with others; organizers need to learn to engage with this socially mediated
lifestyle of consumers (MacKay). The integration of appealing social media experiences across
all phases of event production and consumption benefits both the organizers and attendees as
lived experiences are constantly captured, displayed, re-told, and relived across social media
networks (MacKay). It is the memory of the experience from the event that is truly valued. It
can be argued that once an event loses it connection to place and people, it loses it originality and
meaning (Barriere). According to Kelley there are several ways to create an atmosphere that
encourages engagement, user generated content, and an overall memorable experience. Kelley
states:
Set the scene and know your audience when you are designing your event, consider how
you can craft impactful and visual areas that create engagement for them. Make the event
an entire experience for them and make photos and videos come alive. You want
something memorable, possibly just short of fantastical, so that your attendees’ photos
will create a world that lasts far beyond your event. (1)
Further, it is pertinent to analyze psychological aspects when creating environments,
especially ones that are immersive for audiences. The main aspects are belonging and internal
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motivation. In terms of belonging, when in attendance, audiences want to feel as though they are
a part of a community of their peers. A feeling that if they had not been in attendance that it
would cause a sensation that they are missing out on a fulfilling life situation, and the results of
missing out would cause negative emotions. Creating photo and video opportunities for this
psychological state needs to be focused on highlighting and making the personality and values of
the event come alive in a physical and tangible way. According to Mike Tatoian, the President
and CEO of Dover International Speedway who partners with Firefly Music Festival describes:
Attendees are not just there for the event at hand, they are there to feel as if they went to
an entire new world with their fellow peers. A world where every aspect is about the
music and the feel you get from listening to it. Festivals are different than standard
concerts; it’s not just a stage with a musician. We incorporate the theme into every aspect
like lighting, engagement points, relaxation areas, camping, memorabilia, verbiage, etc.
All pieces must work together for the theme to work”
These aspects are utilized to bring the attendees together into a community of belonging
and shared experiences. Experiences that can only be achieved and felt by attending the event
enhances the psychological aspect of communication among the attendees, as they can share an
understanding that outsiders will not recognize without attending the event. This feeling is
highlighted through photo and video memories at the event, especially if the moments are
captured in a way that cannot be achieved in everyday life because of its vastness.
In addition, with the extension of visual technologies, individuals are taking more high-
end photos and videos of themselves, so providing a high-quality atmosphere at events is
essential. Being able to solidify a positive experience and memory at an event will increase the
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likelihood of continued attendance and user generated content. Incorporating expected aesthetics
that create a memory or an intensified social experience are going to increase image and video
capturing, as well as social media sharing. Through the creation of excitement in these
immersive surroundings, consumers would be encouraged to share the experience on social
media sites and elongate the positive affect associated with the experience (Saleem).
Additionally, if brands want to engage customers in co-creating content, marketers should
provide resources to facilitate a highly positive affective state (Saleem). A positive affective state
can be referred to as a positive emotional experience that brings about feelings of joy and
enthusiasm (Saleem).
The analysis of internal motivation factors is a prerequisite for effective planning,
advancement, marketing, marketing segmentation, promotion, positioning, and long-term
sustainability (Krajickova). To enhance audience’s motivation to attend the event, marketers
need to reach this positive mood state. Not only will it entice audiences to want to be a part of
the event, but it will increase content creation and sharing from the attendees. Encouraging the
positive mood state and content creation increases the likelihood that attendees will have a
heightened perceived value of the event and find that the event provides more benefits than
sacrifices. To reach this state, aesthetics and theme need to be fun-inducing and entertaining to
the attendees. In addition, the aesthetics need to create an atmosphere of socialization, novelty,
and the feeling of escape (Krajickova).
Meeting attendees on an emotional level allows them to associate positive feelings with
the events (Neves). Interactive involvement helps increase the likelihood of positive emotional
levels. Some examples would be graffiti walls, responsive flooring, augmented or virtual reality,
intricate mazes, and three-dimensional music experiences. Incorporating sight, sound, and touch
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in multiple ways increases the involvement. It needs to be bold, daring, exciting, engaging,
interactive, and most of all encourage people to take to social media (Neves). According to
Tsangaris:
Hyperreality has come to significantly influence our minds and our behaviors. It is
believed that the world is going through an ultimate stage of simulations, in which
production has given its central role to the new information technologies, forming
processes of social organization that are based mainly on replication models. Virtual
reality, simulated environments and the reflection of existence in imagery spaces blur the
distinctions between real and virtual communities. (56)
The ability to highlight life experiences to the masses through these engagement opportunities is
one of the top driving forces in audience’s motivation to attend. Event spaces need to adapt to
this need in addition to the need of belonging for success.
3. Research Methodology
The methodology approach is that of qualitative research. Qualitative research focuses on
people’s beliefs, attitudes, experiences, behaviors, and interactions (Pathak). This research
focuses exactly on that. The topic interprets human behavior in relation to social media photo
and video capturing and user generated sharing during and after public and private events. The
project aims to provide understanding about what mentally motivates event attendees to actively
locate engagement opportunities and then proceed to share them digitally. In addition,
understanding this motivation helps event managers to develop photo and video opportunities
that will meet the needs of their attendees. This data aligns with real-world human conditions
which is in the qualitative research realm, and thus the avenue to be explored for the research.
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This research will be analyzed through primary and secondary sources of scholarly
research articles and current notable digital sources. It is important to obtain both first-hand
experiences for this research topic as well as second-hand analyzed data. The scholarly articles
have provided the foundation to understand social media sharing, human drive, and event
engagement. However, because of the fluid environment of events structures, the reputable
websites will incorporate more up-to-date and real-time data pertinent to the research.
There have been several studies on events and social media strategies in relation to
overall marketing and user generated content. However, there is still a considerable gap
explaining the psychology behind immersive photo and video engagement opportunities to
increase the likelihood of attendee interaction with these locations. Also of note, there are few
studies directly related to the best methods to creating and marketing said locations to best meet
attendees needs. Through the analysis and information collected from the research question,
readers will gain and expand their knowledge on the exact type of engagement opportunities to
incorporate into their events, how it will play over social media, and how to connect with their
audience on a personal level.
The main topic themes seen throughout the paper will be that of social media,
psychology, belonging, motivation, selfies, events, attendees, engagement, and photo and video
capturing. These themes are interpreted through the methodology of cultural studies and
psychoanalysis. Cultural studies were used in relation to social media sharing and event
attendance and how it allows individuals in a society to oversee their own cultural “art” and
“voice” by what is empowering or important to them. Social media can be analyzed for unbiased
cultural messages of the time and moment through online posts, likes, and comments. Social
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media platform varieties also allow for cultural preferences for communicating. Psychoanalysis
was used to interpret internal and cultural motivations for attending and engaging at events.
Human behaviors in relation to their conscious mind is used to understand what internal impulses
are activated to push individuals to want to attend events, and in addition, to be immersed in the
event. In addition, psychoanalysis was used in relation to active social media usage. Active
social media use is the conscious mind utilizing the platform to gather information and have
meaningful interaction with followers and other event attendees.
4. Production
The psychological motivations of event attendees to engage and share their experience is
visually comprehended through a project. Context for the project is generated from the literature
review findings of analyzed human psychological states when in attendance at events, and how
to market to those states to create a successful event. The project takes the psychological findings
and elaborates on event attendees’ drive in terms of belonging, internal motivations, selfie
culture, fear of missing out, and social media sharing to create an immersive engagement
opportunity to meet those needs.
The project is the execution of a pitch deck for a mock immersive event the remake of
the 1904 World’s Fair for its 125
th
anniversary in St. Louis, MO. This event, along with the pitch
deck, are both being created for the purpose of showcasing how to create a meaningful event that
targets human psychological behavior and the outcome of their social media usage and user
generated content from the event. The pitch deck creates the event parameters in terms of
immersive aspects, explains to the audience why immersive is necessary based on the research
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from the literature review, and is also a toolkit for future event marketers to base their event(s)
upon.
5. Conclusion
To conclude, it has been shown that social media and content creation is here to stay.
With the ever-evolving image capabilities on smartphones, audiences are capturing everyday
moments more than ever with ease. These images are then shared over social media with a vast
reach. Audiences are coming to expect high-quality experiences at events they attend. Not only is
it pertinent to provide these immersive opportunities, but the opportunity will only be successful
when event managers are considering the psychological drive of their audiences and what
aesthetics will meet those drives most effectively.
As seen through the qualitative research provided in this literature review, the top two
psychological aspects to focus on are the sense of belonging and internal motivations. Choosing
aesthetics and opportunities that positively play to these mental states will increase event revisits
and attendance, word-of-mouth, and content creation. Providing audiences the chance to enter a
positive mood state increases the feeling of community both in-person and virtually. In addition,
the more immersive the event, the higher the chance of the feeling of belonging and internal
motivations through the collective of multiple touch, sound, and visual opportunities.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the research question of How has the evolution of
digital platforms advanced the need for the event industry to provide photo and video
opportunities to meet the motivations and psychological needs of their audiences in terms of
social media sharing and engagement has been answered. Audiences are inherently social; the
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evolution of social media allows audiences to surpass time and space barriers to share their event
experiences among their followers. With the array of social events happening, there has risen an
expectation of over-the-top aesthetics to document and create a memory, as well as to showcase
it over social platforms. Events can be more easily compared to one-another which can affect
visit intentions. To increase the likelihood of user generated content from events, playing to the
psychological needs to belonging and internal motivations in an immersive world will provide
the most successful results.
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