Did you know that according to Bizzabo, 24% of marketers believe that social networks impact their events the most?
Over the past 5-10 years, social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram have become important tools in an event marketer’s arsenal. We’ll walk you through some simple social event promotion hacks that you can implement before, during and after your next event to create maximum impact.
1. Before the Event
Before the event, your primary objectives are likely to be raising awareness of the event and generating event registrations, sponsorships and/or ticket sales.
The secret to accelerating social buzz before your event is simply to make it as easy as possible for people to promote your event for you. This goes for speakers, sponsors, exhibitors and attendees alike.
An easy way to do this is to create a dedicated hub on your event website filled with content that people can download, tweak to add their logos and publish on their own social accounts. Providing your audience with sample graphics and social post suggestions, as well as encouraging the use of an official event hashtag, will set them up to become your biggest advocates from the get-go.
Meanwhile, on your own social channels, you can maximise buzz by creating a “countdown” style content calendar. During the countdown, you can drip-feed attendees with important snippets of information, such as the event agenda, speaker announcements and more to keep anticipation levels high.
2. During the Event
When event day rolls around, your key aim is to make sure as many people as possible are talking about it on social. You want to make your audience feel connected to the community of people in attendance and to instil some serious FOMO (fear of missing out) in those who aren’t there, with the hope that they will join you for the next event.
An effective way to maximise social mentions and hashtag usage is to place a well-publicised incentive behind doing so. For example, you could host a competition where the most liked tweets from throughout the day receive prizes, or the most liked Instagram posts win free tickets to your next event, and so on. You could even take this a step further by having a “social feed” wall feature in a high-footfall area of your event space. This can create some nice, healthy competition and serve as a reminder for people to get involved with the online conversation.
Another simple hack is to make it easy for people to have their own “tweetable” or “grammable” experiences at your event. A red-carpet style photo backdrop board where people can pause to get their photo taken as they enter the event can be a nice, budget-friendly solution. If you have a bit more budget to play with, themed photo booths or timed meet and greet sessions with key speakers can be another fun way to help people create moments they’d be more than happy to share on their social profiles.
Finally, live tweeting and live streaming your event can be a great way to connect with your wider audience who may not have been able to attend your event this time around. Check out our previous post for some more ideas on creating content around your event. The possibilities really are endless!
3. After the Event
The afterglow period of your event is the perfect time to follow up with attendees and keep the buzz going a little bit longer.
Simply thanking those who were socially active throughout your event can go a long way. Furthermore, you can easily continue the conversation by asking people questions around their top event takeaways, favourite quotes etc.
You should also share any summary content (such as blog posts, infographics and videos) as soon as possible, while the event is still top of mind.
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Do you want to build a powerful event marketing strategy that will make your next event the most talked about in your industry? Get in touch with Philip Martin to discover how DMA Partners can help: philip.martin@dma-partners.com.
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