You can do everything right; you can have great décor, great food and the perfect activities planned for your event, but all your efforts will be in vain if no one shows up. That’s why marketing your event is so important.
There are many things you can do to market your event but social media is highly recommended. It is low cost and often times even free, it’s a time saving resource and it provides a way for you to reach several people without a lot of effort.
If you have decided that social media will be a good way for you to promote your event, there are several things you can do to make sure your marketing is as effective as possible. Here are some tips that will help you to create a social media campaign for your event that will get people in the door.
Become Familiar with the Different Platforms and How They Work
Social media has been around for quite some time and, as a result there are now several platforms out there. Although it may be tempting to use all the platforms to get the word out, you can save a lot of time and effort by creating a more targeted campaign. Keeping that in mind, here are some platforms that can help you promote your event.
- Facebook: This social media platform allows you to create event pages where you can invite guests and keep users updated. It also has paid promotion features that helps the event gain exposure with people you are not connected with.
- Instagram: Instagram also has paid features that allow you to boost posts to help your event gain exposure. It is an image-based site that is becoming very popular with younger generations.
- LinkedIn: LinkedIn targets B2B and industry networking and provides an ideal forum for promoting corporate events.
- Twitter: You can use Twitter to post adds about your event and use hashtags to create excitement.
- Snapchat: This is another platform that is popular with millennials. Posts are often available for a limited amount of time creating a sense of excitement and urgency. Snapchat also has options for paid advertising that can boost events.
Create a Hashtag
Hashtags are effective on sites like Twitter and Instagram. Users can search for content based on popular hashtags and can also follow hashtags as opposed to accounts.
Come up with a catchy hashtag that is relevant to your event to make it easy to find information concerning the event and your cause. Make sure your hashtag is also featured in your event’s signage and other elements of the décor. That way people will use the hashtag when posting live footage and pictures of the event.
This will be valuable in helping you promote your company, your cause and future events.
Upgrade Your Social Media Profile
If you are promoting an event, people will be curious, and they will want to find out more about who’s behind it. When they come across your profile, you want to make sure it looks as professional as possible. That’s why this is a good time to make any updates you feel are necessary.
Be sure to have a professional head shot as a profile picture. Use logos and images to give your profile a look that is consistent with your brand. Flesh out your bio. Interlink all your social media pages so you can publicize across all channels.
Tailor Your Content for the Channels You are Using
All of the promotional material you are releasing for your event should be as engaging as possible. Be sure to include lots of eye-catching images that show events you hosted in previous years or help educate people about your cause.
If your event was fun, you can show pictures of the band you hired and how they got everyone out on the dance floor. If your event was educational, you can show how your guests interacted with the displays and speakers.
You should also be sure to tailor the content so that it’s appropriate for the platform you are posting on. LinkedIn has a business focus so avoid being too cutesy or familiar. However, this type of language will be perfect on sites that cater to a younger audience.
You should also be sure to take things like word count and image format into consideration as some sites have specifications on what they will and won’t accept and how the content appears.
Run Contests
People love to get free stuff and running a contest can be a great way to get people excited about your events.
You can host ticket giveaways to your event or offer upgrades where guests can get VIP treatment. In return, social media users will have to share posts about the event using the appropriate tags and hashtags. Then select a winner or a group of winners for the grand prize.
This is a great way to increase interest in your events and get a lot of free promotion.
Work with Influencers
Influencer marketing is a very effective tool.
Influencers are people who are influential on social media platforms. They can be celebrities or just people who post often and are good at engaging others.
Send press releases to these people to encourage them to write or post about your event or cause. You can also send them tickets to your event so they can attend for free if they are in the area. Giving them other free items that are relevant to your business or cause can also be a good incentive to gain their support.
Record Live Video of Your Event
Most social media platforms provide a live video feature. This is a great promotional tool.
Statistics show that more users will engage with a live video than other types of videos. The feature is also free on most platforms making it cost effective. And the best part is, 30% of the people who watch the livestream of an event will attend the event the following year.
Measure Your Activity
There are plenty of tools available that will help you determine how successful your online promotion is. You can invest in these tools to find out how engaging your advertising is, how many people are clicking through to learn more about your event, how many are buying tickets when they click through your ads and what your ROI is.
Once you have this information, you can use it to make improvements on the promotion you are doing for this event and for future events.
If you are promoting an event, social media can be a powerful tool. Get familiar with how each site works and what material is most engaging to be sure you are doing all you can to get the word out. We wish you the best of luck in promoting a successful event.
