How to Make your Event Stand Out with Event Marketing on Social Media?

Organizing an event is no easy task but the most herculean task of it all is getting people to attend your event. It takes a lot of effort as you need good promotional abilities to pull the crowd to your event. 

In the good old days, flyers and traditional means of advertising had their share of voice but, not anymore. Today, if you don’t showcase your event on social media, chances are you might not be seen by the audience. 

Even though you have the best event, and good content to follow, it will be an utter waste if you cannot promote it well. Promotions should take up a major part of your event planning. That’s precisely why you need to opt for social event marketing.

When you promote an event, it is not enough to promote it before the event. It is a continual job, which happens post-event as well, similar to app launch. 

We have curated a few techniques for social media promotion, which you can use before, during and after the event to maintain your brand’s reputation, and increase the number of followers for your brand eventually. 

Socials Before the Launch

#1  A Facebook Event Page

Facebook has a total of 2.375Bn active users as of 2018. Promoting your event on this channel will guarantee maximum conversions. The event page is something that you cannot ignore as a result. 

The event page should be engaging and should manage to capture the attention of the audienc.e there are a few things that you need to include in the event page

• The event title should connect with the audience. Make sure you give an interesting name to your event
• Include a modest yet all-inclusive introduction to the event. You need to mention what it is about, who is it for, and what to expect from the event. 
• Add a cover photo and the location for the event

The event page should offer teasers into the event, which will create anticipation and make people look forward to it.

• Sunburn festival often posts the early bird registrations and their details on the Facebook page. The idea behind having registration-related posts, and posting it often is to get maximum people to on-board the event. This idea creates the anticipation that you are looking for. You should also post when the registrations are about to end, creating an urgency that will make the people convert
• The other way in which the Facebook event page will work is by creating a discount offer or some other opportunity for those who fear missing out on the fun, as they are unable to attend. You need to create the offer depending on the type of audience you are dealing with, and how they are likely to react to the offer. 

 #2 Create a Winning Hashtag

Event promotions get the headstart when you have a good hashtag, especially in the social era. The hashtag should be your key to creating the buzz for the event. Use it in any way possible. Post using the hashtag. Make sure people connect with the hashtag, as that will help them connect with the event in the future. 

Ice bucket challenge hashtag grew so popular that it spread across countries, and people still remember it being associated with the promotion of ALS. The hashtag was part of the awareness program for the disease.

You need to create an event and the hashtag that people can recall immediately, and will use it in the future.

If you want, you can also create some kind of fun activity with the hashtag for better promotions. The activity and the hashtag should be part of the event you are sponsoring.

 #3 Go Viral with Videos

Don’t ignore the buzz creation, and what better way than to indulge in some video marketing. Create video teasers to increase the urgency for the event.

The videos could be pro-tips from the people who have attended the event in the past.

It could be testimonials about the brand from people who are part of it in some form or the other

You could also have a teaser video showing the lineup of the people who are going to speak at the event, and their background. This will increase the interest levels in the audience group and will get you traction for the event. 

Apart from creating videos that are event specific, you can also ask for user-generated content in the form of videos. Get your influencers to work on these videos so that your event reaches maximum people. 

You can even ask people who are participating in your event to generate content for you. 

#4 Go Live with Instagram

Instagram is an excellent interactive social media platform. It is the best way to reach people across borders, as everyone is present on this platform. How can you use it to leverage the audience count for your event? You could go live with the platform, and invite the people to ask questions to which you will give answers. The questions could be related to your brand or the event. In other cases, you can opt for the story mode of connecting with the people. You could get people to ask you questions on Instagram story. 

The different ways to use Instagram would be to create stories with questions that intrigue the people or use the live feed to get your influencers or the people conducting your event to talk to the audience.

 #5 Design Filters for Snapchat

A lot of people in your audience will be using Snapchat, and the best way to connect with them about the event is by creating your own geofilter. They are overlays that become a part of the photos and videos that you are getting the users to click. These overlays become a part of the photo you are taking. It essentially engages the people

 #6 Use LinkedIn Promotions

Whether you are a customer-centric or business-centric event, you ought to use LinkedIn promotions, as they offer an excellent user base that you can talk to. You can reach out to professionals, and partners through this medium. This is the best place to interact with guest speakers.

 #7 Behind the Scenes

Everyone loves faces that they can relate to, and what better way than getting the behind-the-scenes photos and videos to show what went into creating the event. It personifies the company and helps it become relatable to the viewers. The interest in the event increases with these photos and videos. Eventually, you gain the trust of your viewers as a result of these videos. 

During the Event

You cannot miss out on the opportunity to convert your audience into actual customers for your business during the event. The idea is to have influencers for your next event. Here are a few pro-tips to use social media for the same. Or else you can also have your own social media app, just like what Loop: Party with friends did.

#1 Have a Photo Booth

People just love clicking selfies claiming they were a part of the event. If you had a photo booth that went with the theme of your event, you would be able to engage the audience better. 

#2 Keep Updating the Feed

You should ideally sit through the event, mentioning the different aspects of the event as they unfold. Keep updating on the feed as and when something new and interesting happens. Those who did not attend this event might be lured into attending your next event. You are basically creating an audience base for the next events for your company. 

#3 Keep Interacting

You should keep interacting with the people on your event page and those who are using the hashtag. You can ask open-ended questions about the event, conduct polls to seek their thoughts on some parts of the event, and set the stage for engagement.

After the Event

Most often we think that the interaction is over once the event is completed. However, that is not true! You will find that the interaction and engagement need to be done even after the event is over. If you are an event planning company and organize events on a regular basis, then having your dedicated mobile app is always an added advantage.

 #1 Talk About the Press Coverage

If your event was mentioned in the press, make sure you talk about it on the event page. You need to tell how successful your event was, and what part of it was more engaging than the others. Make sure you had asked the press to be part of the event if you want media coverage.

 #2 Seek Feedback

Check with the audience what they felt about the event. You need to know if the event was good or not, and what did it lack. Apart from that, you also need to ask the audience about what they thought could really improve in the coming events. The feedback is essential when you start thinking about the next event. 

Key Takeaways 

When you are setting an event social media activity, you need a team that will specifically work on this part. It should be a focused effort if you want to achieve good results from it. 

Brainstorm through all the possibilities to make your social media activity thorough and tweaked for the audience. You need to enable every arm of social channels that you believe will sync with your event’s needs.

Don’t restrict to pre-event marketing alone; it is equally important to keep promoting during and after the event, so that you don’t lose out the audience you have just acquired. The idea is to use this base to seek more acquisitions in the future to make all your events successful. 

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This is a guest post by Sourodip Biswas. Sourodip Biswas is a Digital Marketing Professional at Space-O Canada, a leading web and mobile app development company that develops event management apps. He works closely with a team of experienced mobile app developers and regularly contributes on various websites. In his free time, he reads new technology trends and plays video games.

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