That’s how many additional tickets sold at Fort William Mountain Festival following the social media strategy and activation project I led and delivered
Fort William Mountain Festival is one of the UK’s most established celebrations of mountain culture, bringing together films, speakers, adventure stories and community each year.
The festival already had a strong identity offline. The atmosphere, the people, and the sense of community were undeniable. But online, its social media presence had grown organically over time without a clear long-term structure.
Somebody from Fort William Mountain Festival committee found LOAM online after a google search and contacted us for social media support for the 2026 festival. This was already a mini win for me that I’m also chuffed about as I created the LOAM brand and it’s entire digital presence.
They wanted to increase event participation, get more bums on seats and work towards selling out festival events.
My approach
I started with a simple belief: people don’t attend events just for programmes or schedules — they come to feel connected. To feel part of something bigger than themselves. At its core, community is a human instinct. We’re drawn to shared experiences because belonging gives us comfort, confidence and a sense of place.
This emotional driver wasn’t going to be achieved by simply broadcasting the event schedule. We needed to use the power of storytelling to build emotional connection between the festival speakers and the target audience digitally in the run-up to the event.
Early in the project, I contacted speakers directly to gather stronger imagery and supporting material. I then researched interviews, past talks, and scraped transcripts from YouTube videos to better understand each person’s perspective and experiences.
I used direct quotes from these transcripts in the storytelling posts so the speakers’ voices came through naturally, rather than feeling like promotional copy. Wherever possible, I also invited speakers to collaborate on the posts themselves, which helped extend reach and made the content feel more authentic.
This approach worked really well. Most speakers were happy to collaborate, and their involvement helped the content reach audiences beyond the festival’s own channels. I even secured a collaboration with Pete Whittaker, a highly respected figure in the climbing community, which gave the campaign additional credibility and visibility.
From this, I developed a series of storytelling carousel posts built around meaningful quotes and narrative themes, designed to:
- Introduce speakers through relatable stories
- Build emotional connection ahead of the event
- Encourage saves, shares, and deeper engagement
- Move away from traditional promotional messaging
The content felt closer to editorial storytelling than event marketing, and audiences began responding positively to the new content strategy. As the audience warmed to the new direction, reach and deeper engagement grew alongside it.
Once I understood what audiences were responding to, I started shaping posts to draw people in with an engaging image, take them on a short emotional journey, and then gently introduce the festival and event details at the end. Instead of pushing information at people, storytelling allowed the festival to show up naturally in front of more people.
Considerably more people actually – we managed to increase reach Facebook views by 95% (almost doubled) and Instagram reach by 62% when comparing the months leading up to the 2026 festival with the months leading up to the 2026 festival.
Structure
Consistency comes from systems. Alongside creative direction, I built a practical framework the team could even continue using after the project ended:
- Content pillars aligned with festival values
- Repeatable content formats and templates
- Clear planning workflows
I managed activation through collaborative workflows using Figma, Trello and Google Sheets, ensuring the strategy was operational rather than theoretical.
Activation
Across a three-month period, I led the full social media activation in the lead-up to the festival, including:
- Content planning and scheduling
- Creative direction and messaging
- Storytelling content production
- Monthly reporting and optimisation
Social media was treated as a live environment. Content evolved based on audience response rather than following a rigid publishing plan.
Results
- Ticket sales increased from 2,087 to 2,697 — an additional 610 attendees (+29%).
- Facebook views increased by 95%
- Facebook follows grew by 118%
- Instagram reach increased by 62%
- Festival income rose by 10%
Alongside the quantitative results, there has been a clear qualitative shift: the Fort William Mountain Festival now presents a recognisable and consistent visual identity across social media. The festival has developed a distinct digital brand presence, meaning it is now as strong online as it is on the ground.
