If you’re not using social media to help market your event, you might hear crickets chirping the next time around. While traditional print outreach is highly recommended in order to be taken seriously, social media comes in as a required supplement to bolster attendance. It’s also considerate and practical; making it dead simple for your guests to keep updated is not only good manners but it also motivates attendance.
Crafting Your Event with Social Media
- Pre-Event: Sure, you’ll probably plug your event across your social media page. Why not go the distance and create a social media page that promotes your events, the company and the speakers? Be certain to accompany this specific campaign with custom content that keeps people interested. No one is interested in a stagnant digital billboard that keeps showcasing the same message again and again. While you’re at it, also try taking advantage of LinkedIn ads (and possibly even Facebook) to target your industry and demographic if applicable.Who said ads have to serve only one purpose? Some companies also focus on blasting giveaways during an event. This works fine if you’re a retailer. However, if you’re a business or a high end retailer, keep in mind that associations are far more valuable than goods. Give people the opportunity to hob knob with industry celebs. It’s so much more attractive to say you’ve met an exclusive “so and so” than to come back with some gadget just pretty much everyone already has.
- During the Event: Just because your guests are at your event doesn’t mean you should stop marketing your event. Any successful event marketer knows an event isn’t just about who’s there now, it’s about who’s going to want to be there next time. Do this by hiring at least two professional photographers to go around and snap pictures. Make sure each photographer has an assistant to take down names. Guests should be emailed or their photo tagged when it goes live – which ensures they’re more likely to share the file (and your brand) with their network. If you’re hosting a seminar or conference, please include key hash tags in your presentation and itinerary. You want guests tweeting about you with the right hash tags.
- Post Event: Assuming you invited or hired industry writers and bloggers to attend the event, follow up with them to see how their post event pieces are doing. These pieces should either be pre-approved for publication or bloggers will work to share it with their network. It’s another way to get post-event exposure that really details the value of your event, while building and maintaining positive relationships with influence builders. Go the extra mile by offering writers digital data they may need to help flesh out their pieces. Also send a small thank you goody box, flowers or some creative gift to help them remember your event (and brand) fondly.
Why You Need to Create Event-Specific Landing Pages
You’ve got an email campaign and a social media blast out to draw attention to your event. Have you ever asked yourself where you’re directing your traffic to?
One of the biggest and easily amended mistakes most events make is not creating a custom landing page. Custom landing pages should be just about your event. It should detail a clear call to action to purchase tickets or get involved, alongside a moderate space reserved to educate visitors on your company.
Keeping it simple helps direct visitors and makes the process easier for them. No one has time to hunt down information – nor will most people take the time to request the information. Should you offer it later via email or phone, you risk the possibility they’ve already lost interest and moved on. A landing page helps curtail these issues by creating a digital net for your directed traffic.