If you are organising an event or trying to gain some publicity surrounding an occasion, social media can be crucial to spreading the word, getting the attention you need from the press, and getting bums on seats! This blog post will reveal some of our top tips, which we use in our very own social media event management package.
What audience do you want to attract?
Before starting to promote your event, do some research surrounding which platforms will be best for you to spend your time on. You will only want to use platforms where your marketing efforts are most appropriate so it is beneficial to take time at the beginning to decide which ones are worth your effort.
Include social media in your marketing strategy
After deciding which platforms to promote your event on, you need to put your social media efforts into your marketing strategy for the event. Make it part of your promotions rather than giving it a half-hearted attempt. Prepare a dedicated social media plan in advance so you know exactly what posts are going out and when. Decide what you are posting every day on each individual social media platform before, during and after the event and tailor your posts according to the audiences on the platforms you have decided to use. Being organised in this way will give consistent and well-planned messages to those reading them.
Build up anticipation
Give your audience something to look forward to and make them excited to attend your event. Don’t just tell people about your event, tell them why they should come to your event and what they are going to get out of it. Encourage people to interact with your posts, ask questions about your event and share your posts so more people see them.
Direct them to buy/sign up
Make sure that you are telling them where they need to go to buy tickets or put the date in their diary, whatever they need to do to go to your event. Give them a call to action. It sounds obvious to say, but sometimes I see event promotion on social media which give you no information about the location, date or purpose of the event in their updates. This then means that the reader needs to do their own research to find out more information. This dramatically lowers your chances of getting sign ups, you need to make it as easy as possible for your followers to find out more about your event or book on to it by including a link in your updates.
Get the right people to notice
Use social media to get others to hear about your event and promote it on your behalf. Follow others that could be interested or influential to your event and tag them in posts to make them aware of what is happening. Twitter is a very good tool for this and you can use it to follow local journalists who may be looking to promote local events like yours. If you are looking for exhibitors or speakers at your event, this is also a good way of targeting those that you think might be interested in attending or who you might like to attend.