5 Top Tips to Promote Your Event on Social Media
By Rick Herd
Events represent one of the best ways to engage new and existing clients, employees, and other businesses. One of the best things about running events is that they’re not subject to any changes involving remote working. Of course, you could hold something in person, but you could just as quickly invite everyone to get together on Zoom, Teams, or the video conferencing platform of your choice.
Organizing a live event is often the easy part. As long as you have the right people in place and the right venue or technology, delivering an event is the most enjoyable aspect of the whole process. However, the main challenge is to build awareness around the event and encouraging people to attend.
You’re probably acutely aware of the potential of social media for driving leads. Many of the same principles apply when the goal is to encourage attendance and build buzz around your event.
Here are five great ways to ensure that people not only know about your event but are massively excited to attend!
1. Make Sure Your Messaging is Consistent
No matter what you do on social media, there should always be a consistent message about the event. Every post on any platform, whether written content, images, or video, should include the most pertinent details. At the very least, this should include the date, time, and location.
Remember, some potential attendees might see your post once and never again, so it’s vital to capture their attention and tell them everything they need to know about being there.
2. Create Event Pages
Many social media platforms enable users to create dedicated event pages for everything they do. So it makes sense to take them up on this offer, especially if you have plenty of reach.
Facebook is the most obvious candidate for one of these pages as its event integration is arguably the most robust of any social platform. Make the event page pop with unique graphics, and remember to post regularly with the latest updates to build hype. Naturally, you also need to remember to invite your followers to the big day!
3. Make the Event Sound Like a Big Deal
Your event might be a big deal already. If you’re promoting Coachella, you stand a better chance of selling out than you do if it’s a networking breakfast.
Nevertheless, that’s no excuse not to make it sound like a big deal. When a new speaker or presenter signs on, make it sound like a coup. Even if people haven’t heard of them, they’re likely to find out more and, hopefully, the host’s credentials will speak for themselves.
Don’t be afraid to imply scarcity, either. It’s standard practice to claim that tickets are selling fast or that there are only a few spots left. Everyone else does it, and there’s no reason why you can’t join them!
4. Ensure It’s Easy to Get Tickets
Whether you’re selling tickets to an event or giving them away for free, you should make it as easy as possible for potential attendees to confirm their attendance.
There are plenty of options out there, many of which can connect directly with your social media platforms. You might decide to go for a third-party option like Eventbrite. Alternatively, you might want more control with your own event ticketing software.
No matter which approach you take, it’s essential to focus on ease of use. Nobody wants to fill in four different forms to attend an event, even if they really want to go. They also don’t need daily updates about your company and event in their inboxes. Don’t assume that a ticket purchase is automatic consent to join a mailing list – there’s plenty of time to encourage that kind of engagement at the event itself.
Naturally, whether you’re on Twitter or Facebook, where you can post as many hashtags and links as you like, or on Instagram, where there’s only a single link spot available, event registration should always be a priority.
5. Be Prepared to Engage
If you’re the kind of person that likes to adopt a set-and-forget approach on social media, it might be worth adjusting your strategy in the lead-up to the event.
You might be accustomed to scheduling posts and leaving those in the comment sections to fend for themselves. However, taking a more active role on social media can make all the difference to a successful, highly attended event.
People might have questions, or they may simply want to know more about what to expect. The correct answer to these questions can get someone off the fence and onto your attendee list. They will appreciate the attention of the organizer and have confidence that the event is worth their time.
Even if you go back to old habits once the event has finished, the time investment will have proven well worth it!
In Closing
Social media has been revolutionary for the events industry, and it’s a vast resource for getting the word out and building buzz. The best part is that it’s primarily free outside of the time investment. So you and your employees can create and deliver a strategy to ensure that people scramble to attend thanks to the buzz around the event and the knowledge that it’s something not to be missed!
About the company...
The team at Social Hire never just do social media marketing.
Our group of specialists are an organisation that helps our clients boost their online marketing by offering social media management services on a monthly basis.
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