6 Ways to Use Social Media for Promoting Your Event
When planning an event, it is not unthinkable that sometimes people forget to put into action certain strategies that get people to show up for the event.
When planning an event, it is not unthinkable that sometimes people forget to put into action certain strategies that get people to show up for the event. Some organizers are overwhelmed with all the things they have to do that they find themselves neglecting that side of things. Social media presents certain opportunities: event marketing on social media is easy to do and relatively cheap. Event planners can benefit a great deal from social media. The following are 6 creative ways you can use social media to promote your event.
Create a highlight reel from prior events
To convey the excitement and energy of a live event, consider using videos. With great visuals plus a catch audio, you can achieve a higher registration rate for the next live event you plan. The idea is to create a video that people will want to share on social media that conveys the fun and excitement people should expect to experience when they attend your event. Remember to ensure that the value proposition of the event successfully passes across to your target audience.
Additionally, upload the video to YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook. Then embed the video to your website, add it to your newsletter and talk about it in your articles. You can also do a shorter clip, perhaps 15 seconds for Instagram. To get people on Facebook to watch the highlight reel, upload it directly to the site instead of adding a YouTube video link. According to Socialbakers, this has the potential to give you as much as 10 times more visibility than using a YouTube link.
Use photos of attendees in social updates
Did you take photos of the people who attended previous events? You can leverage these fan photos to raise awareness about your next event. You can also scroll social media and find user-generated content like selfies and captions from the previous event and share this on your social pages. When adding fun photos, remember to identify the people in those photos, perhaps by tagging them.
Assuming that they enjoyed being part of the event, they are likely to leave a flattering comment on your status update once you tag them. For future events, consider having a photo booth where attendees can capture fun photos, which you will in turn use to market the next event.
Post behind-the-scenes images on Snapchat and Instagram about event preparations
There is something magical about posing behind-the-scene images of an event on Instagram and Snapchat: it makes your followers feel like they were part of the experience and makes them not want to miss the next event. This is one of the simplest ways to get your followers super-excited about your event. What’s more, this tactic is extremely easy to implement: just take your phone and snap a selfie (goofy ones do well), add an interesting or funny caption and post.
Create an event hashtag
Unique hashtags help people easily follow the goings-on at your event on social media with ease. A simple search of the event hashtag and they get to see everyone using the hashtag and the content they are publishing on their social networking timelines. Whether you are posing an image or a video, remember to add the event hashtag and encourage everyone talking about your event on social networking platforms to use the hashtag.
This creates some kind of community even before the start of the event. Search the hashtag on these social media sites and appreciate people for attending your event in the comments sections of the posts they will have published. This creates a personal connection that can get the person to feel even more connected to you and your event, enough to attend the next one and the one after that.
Welcome new Instagram followers with a video invitation to your event
If you already use Instagram followers hack like Social Growr to organically grow your Instagram audience, then it means you may be getting quite a number of new Instagram followers every day. One effective way of connecting with these followers is by sending them a “Thank you and Welcome” message via a video that also invites them to the event that you are planning.
The 15-second clip should be straight to the point but interesting enough to capture the new followers’ attention. The video can be especially helpful if the follower will be attending the event for the very first time. Conversing with them on Instagram makes them feel like they will be attending an event where there are a few familiar faces, an important motivation point when deciding whether or not to attend an event.
Host a contest or giveaway for a free event registration
People, regardless of social class, location, gender, etc., love free stuff. Therefore, you should consider giving out free tickets to an event that people can’t wait to attend. Some of the common event marketing ideas include hosting a contest on Facebook or Instagram where the person who gets the most shares and/or likes when they share your post image on their timelines gets a free ticket or two. These types of promotions have consistently yielded excellent results for event marketers and often reach potential event attendees that your other marketing efforts had not succeeded to get to before.