Chalke History Festival is the UK’s leading live history event, attracting tens of thousands of visitors each year to a week-long celebration of history in Wiltshire. As a non-profit festival founded in 2011, it had a passionate niche following but sought to significantly broaden its reach and engage a younger, digital-savvy audience. In 2013, the festival’s social media presence was minimal – just a few hundred Facebook followers and a nascent Twitter account – limiting its ability to promote events and share the excitement beyond those who already knew about it. The festival organisers brought in Utterly Social to develop and execute a comprehensive social media strategy that would build an online community around the festival, drive attendance, and bring history to life on social platforms.

Challenges

Chalke History Festival faced several key challenges at the start of the engagement:

• Low reach: With under 500 Facebook likes and about 1,000 Twitter followers, the festival’s social media footprint was very small. Awareness of the event outside its local area was limited, especially among younger demographics.
• Resource & expertise gaps: The festival team had no dedicated social media staff or strategy. They needed a knowledgeable partner to handle everything from content creation to community management.
• Audience engagement: History festivals can risk seeming “academic” or niche. The challenge was to generate lively, shareable content that would excite a broad audience (from history enthusiasts to families and schools) and keep them engaged in the lead-up to the festival.
• Growing competition: Each year, more events and attractions vie for public attention. Chalke had to stand out in the crowded social media landscape of festivals and cultural events, demonstrating value to potential attendees and sponsors alike.

Solution

Utterly Social partnered with Chalke History Festival for a decade, providing full-service social media management that evolved with the festival’s growth. We crafted a bespoke social media strategy that positioned Chalke as a vibrant, accessible, and interactive celebration of history on all major platforms. Key elements of our solution included:

• Multi-Platform Content Strategy:We established and grew the festival’s presence on Facebook and X (Twitter), and later expanded to Instagram and TikTok. Content was tailored to each channel – from long-form Facebook posts and photo albums showcasing festival highlights, to snappy tweets driving conversations, visual storytelling, and fun historical facts and clips on TikTok to engage younger audiences. We ensured a consistent, creative brand voice that made history exciting and shareable, using a mix of archival images, speaker interviews and quotes, behind-the-scenes peeks, and interactive competitions and quizzes.
• Pre-Festival Engagement:In the months leading up to the event each year, we ran countdown campaigns, speaker spotlights, themed content series, and competitions to build anticipation and drive interest. These off-season campaigns played a key role in building the audience, keeping the festival front-of-mind.
• Live Event Coverage:During each festival week, Utterly Social managed a dedicated on-site social media team to capture the magic in real time. We live-tweeted marquee talks and debates, posted Stories and reels showcasing activities across the site, and shared daily highlight reels. This live coverage amplified FOMO for those not present, boosting online buzz and encouraging future attendance.
• Influencer & Community Collaboration:We collaborated with well-known historians, authors, and relevant social media influencers to extend reach. Engaging with figures such as popular history bloggers and content creators, we tapped into their follower bases for significantly increased visibility. These partnerships positioned Chalke as a must-attend event within the history and education community online.
• Targeted Paid Campaigns:Each year, we ran paid social campaigns in the lead-up to the festival to maximise ticket sales and awareness. Using precise targeting, we promoted key announcements and programme highlights. Modest but smart ad spend on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter yielded strong returns in traffic and conversions, effectively complementing our organic efforts.
• Competitions and Interactive Posts:We introduced fun social media competitions and interactive content to boost engagement. From caption contests to historical trivia, these campaigns created strong community engagement and significantly expanded the festival’s organic reach.
• Community Management & Customer Service:Utterly Social acted as the festival’s online frontline for audience interaction. We promptly answered attendee questions sent via social media, responded to messages, moderated comments, and helped maintain a friendly, helpful presence online. This attentive community management built trust and strengthened brand loyalty.
• Performance Reporting & Optimisation:We tracked what content resonated best and adjusted our strategy each year. Utterly Social’s all-in-one approach – strategy, creative content, live execution, paid promotion, and responsive engagement – transformed Chalke’s social media into a thriving extension of the festival itself.

“Sarah Ewen is superb. She has created a highly imaginative and effective social media campaign for the Chalke Valley History Festival and from a standing start has built for us an incredible following and brand, which has helped us to grow our festival enormously.

Creative, efficient and a joy to work with, I would recommend her work to anyone.”
~ James Holland, Chairman, Chalke History Festival