Marketing Events On Social Media

5
Mar 2013
Orange County Social Media Consultant, Katie Wagner Social Media
Photo courtesy of @fiadarmafia

If you are looking for a new way to promote your events – beyond fliers and print advertising – you should consider using social media.  Social Media is a reliable, inexpensive and effective way to get the word out about events.  But HOW do you successfully promote an event on Social Media?  Here is a breakdown of how to promote events using YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

YouTube

Create a concise and compelling video about your event (90 seconds or less).  Stay away from a sales pitch and focus more on explaining the event.  Let them know what value they will get out of it – what they will learn, items they will receive or opportunities they will discover.  Also be sure to tell them where they can register for the event.  Share this video as many places as you can (Website, Registration Landing Page, Social Media, etc.)

Great event marketing campaigns rely heavily on video content to spread the word.   Video content engages users in an emotional and visual way. Video is also one of the most consumed and shared forms of content on Social Media. Because of this, it can be one of the most effective ways to reach your target audience and increase event registration.

Twitter

Two effective uses of Twitter are by creating a hashtag for the event and installing a ‘share link’ Twitter widget on your registration page.

When you create a hashtag, be concise and think in terms of what’s easy to remember.  Long hashtags can be difficult to remember and will consume too many characters.  Consider abbreviations of multiple letters or single words for the hashtag.  For example, if we were to create a hashtag for our Social Media Bootcamp, we might consider using the hashtag #SMBootcamp, or using our abbreviated company name #KWSMBootcamp.  This gives enough information so people have an idea of what the event is about, without consuming too many of the 140 characters you are given in a tweet.

Hashtags are searchable, which allows users to search for the event with ease. They can also use the hashtag their own tweets about the event.

Twitter widgets embedded on the event website also can be very effective.  The ‘share link’ Twitter widget allows you to create a pre-made tweet about your event and add it to your site.  When someone registers and the share button is clicked, the tweet you create is tweeted to his or her followers. When adding the ‘share link’ Twitter widget, be sure to include your hashtag in the tweet so that when it’s posted, people can search for more tweets with that same hashtag.

Consider creating a tweet like this:  ‘I just registered for (insert event name here).  Join me?  (insert hashtag and link back to registration page)’

Facebook

Facebook has over 1 billion active users and is the largest social media network. Consider creating an event and running ads to tap into this network.

Facebook Ads provide the ability to target specific demographics and locations.  Think about who you are marketing to.  If it’s a local event, limit the audience to just your city and surrounding cities.  If it’s geared towards women, just advertise to them.  If it’s for baby boomers, set your age limits as 55+.  There are a lot of different ways to target your ad, consider your audience when you are creating your ad.

Setting up a Facebook event creates a sharable form of content.  It also is a place where attendees can stay updated with event details as well as post their comments.

You can create an event with a regular Facebook account.  Set up the event, fill in the description, add a picture and share the event with as many people as possible.  After joining, your attendees will receive notifications as you update the event and be able to post their own comments or questions.

Marketing your event on Social Media can be an extremely effective way to spread the word about your event.   Utilize these three channels to help your event become a success!

To stay up to date with social media news, join us on Facebook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fill out the form below to start your conversation with KWSM.

Core Values at KWSM a digital marketing agency