← Back to work Case study · Sofar Sounds · 2022–2024

Sofar Sounds

Turning a one-size-fits-all global feed into a local social engine — sustainable at scale across 25+ city accounts and 400 curator cities.

The role

Sofar Sounds stages intimate concerts in hundreds of cities worldwide. I joined as Local Social Media Manager and was promoted to Senior Social Media Manager, moving from rebuilding the local strategy to leading Sofar's global channels.

The core problem: every city ran its own Instagram, but the system handed them broadcast global content, thin guidelines, and little room to sound local. I built a framework that let each market plan and publish consistently — while staying integrated with regional and global marketing.

+20%
sales from unpaid social (FY2023)
+33%
global organic engagement (H1 2024)
25+
city accounts directly strategized
400
curator cities supported globally

Rebuilding local social, at scale

Business case → solution → rollout

The goal was a local social strategy that could be sustainable at scale, with an operational plan for each market — without fragmenting the brand. I mapped the starting point, designed a revised Instagram strategy around it, and rolled it out with the tooling each city needed.

The starting point

Broadcast, not local

Cities received broadcast global content, limited content guidelines, and limited templates — with minimal localization. Engaged local audiences had little that spoke to them.

The revised strategy

A framework each city could run

A revised Instagram strategy centered the events timeline as the product and each show's key moments as evergreen content — paired with an optimized content mix, clear guidelines, templates, and local staff recruitment.

In execution, I re-prioritized the creative units within Instagram — Stories and grid, updated carousel formats to fit the conversation in each market, and Reels built to hold attention. Content guides, Canva templates, and content calendars were implemented across 25+ markets, keeping local publishing consistent while staying integrated with regional and global initiatives.

Brand partnerships

Social lead, alongside the commercial partnerships team

Sofar's partnerships team brought in the brands; I worked hand in hand with them to bring each campaign to life across our city communities. I planned the rollout and timing for every city account, wrote the initial social brief, guided promo and competition posts, and reviewed and scheduled the recap reels, so each post felt like Sofar first and a sponsor second.

Delta SkyMiles · 6 cities

Sofar Away

A travel-powered concert series for SkyMiles members, from New York to Miami. I shaped the social rollout across our city accounts, from timing and promo guidance to ticket giveaways and recap reels.

View the case study ↗
Sony · 4 cities

Summer Series

A summer tour of intimate shows in Chicago, Boulder, Austin and Miami, built around Sony's For The Music. I guided social for each city, from competition promotion and brief copy to recap scheduling.

View the case study ↗
Arc'teryx · 3 cities

Delight in the Detour

Free outdoor winter shows in Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle (one on a boat on Lake Union), with surprise Arc'teryx gear for fans. Three local posts drove 1M+ impressions.

View the case study ↗

Global artist engagement

Elevating the global handle
Teddy Swims at Sofar London
Collaborative posts

Artist × city moments

With thousands of micro-moments happening across the network, I targeted the meaningful performance moments and secured collaborative posts between the artist and the city account — bringing enhanced engagement and reach to the global handle.

Teddy Swims & Victor Ray · Sofar London
Platform-native format

TikTok “content trees”

Recognizing platform nuance, I adapted performance content for TikTok into "content trees" — drawing more interest from the micro-moments of a single performance, for an additional lift in video views and engagement.

Watch on TikTok ↗

More work

See the rest of the portfolio, or get in touch.