When you’re a small business, hosting an event is a great way to promote your brand, both within your community and afar. Launching a social media campaign for your upcoming occasion is guaranteed to create a buzz around the event, build anticipation for the day, and help ensure a healthy crowd is in attendance.
However, not all social media campaigns are created equally. As we know, engaging social media content is vital within the competitive digital marketing arena of today. Events deserve thoughtful consideration when it comes to your marketing strategy.
The following article will provide some useful tips on how you can leverage social media to successfully promote your upcoming event, whatever it may be. It’s time to get the social media galaxy excited!
Devise a hashtag: Hashtags can be used across your social media profiles as a way to group content together. Social media users can follow your event hashtag to stay updated on all event-related news, and can also use the hashtag when/if they post their own event-related content. Your hashtag should be informative and unique. We also love witty hashtags if and when they’re appropriate! Introduce your hashtag to your social media followers and encourage them to use it too. Be consistent with your use of your hashtag and ensure that anything related to your upcoming event is labeled with your hashtag.
Create a Facebook event: Once you know the details of your event, it’s time to start shouting it from the rooftops! Note: shouting things from rooftops can be dangerous and irritating, so please proceed with caution. We mean more along the lines of promoting your event in any way you can! Facebook has a specific “Events” feature where you can create and add information about your event, invite friends, post messages, and keep track of the guest list. You can link to your event page on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn. You may also wish to take advantage of a platform such as EventBrite, where you can publicize your event and direct followers for tickets and further information!
Optimize your profiles: As far as we’re concerned, your social media profile photo and cover photo are great places to display information on big events. They’re essentially like two big billboards on the social media highway..... or something like that. Get professional graphics made that advertise your event, and use these as featured photos across social media. This way, whenever anyone goes to look at your profile, they’ll be reminded of your upcoming event.
Run a competition: Competitions will always perk the interest of audiences. Who doesn’t want to win something? As such, they make fantastic social media content for the lead up to your big day. Whether you’re giving the winner free tickets to your event or offering another prize for the lucky person that emerges victorious, competitions will create a buzz around your upcoming event. Make sure that whatever you’re giving away is somehow related to the event itself. For example, if you’re hosting a cosplay convention, in addition to offering followers the opportunity to win free admission, you could also give away a makeup kit or other costume materials. Budgeting for a prize will be well worth the exposure a competition will give you.
Partner with social media influencers: If you want to spread the news about your upcoming event, consider partnering with relevant influencers in order to gain access to their followers and the attention that their status will bring to the event. Again, ensure these influencers are related to the event. To use the same example as above, if you’re hosting a cosplay convention to promote your brand, you may wish to speak to local cosplayers about becoming one of your spokespeople. Ask them to post about your upcoming event, complete with your chosen hashtag, to help get audiences interested. This will be a mutually beneficial relationship for both parties— with the Influencer either receiving payment for their efforts or other rewards, or simply benefitting from the publicity that their affiliation with your event will bring.
Post highlights from past events: Show followers just how fabulous your events are by featuring images and videos from events you’ve hosted in the past. If you host cosplay events, why not share some photos of the most interesting characters you’ve welcomed throughout the years? Or post some video clips from the past event so your followers will know what they can expect and just how much fun they’re in for! If you have testimonials from past attendees, now’s the time to share those. Audiences will be even more intrigued to attend if they can hear directly from their peers.
Share behind the scenes visual content in the lead up to the event: Sharing behind the scenes material (photos and videos) is a great way to connect with your social media followers and build anticipation for your upcoming event. Behind the scenes material is rewarding for fans and is engaging, personal content they’re sure to appreciate. Introduce organizers and the venue with video, show shots of preparations underway, interview key attendees about why they’re pumped for the event, and tease audiences with big reveals. This will generate exposure and heighten expectancy for the event.
Live stream your event: As you’ll know if you follow us, the team at Cosmarketing Agency understand the value of video, and more specifically, the value video can add to your event. Whatever your event may be, we suggest having an expert team on-hand who can capture your big day from start to finish in the most professional manner. Your live stream can be broadcast across your social media channels, and serve as additional content (youtube videos anyone?) down the line. Our videographers and photographers are guaranteed to give you the best possible coverage of your event and offer HD and 4K quality.
Are you ready to get started with using social media to make your event as powerful as it can be? Let the experienced team at CosMarketing Agency help you promote and manage your next event, however big or small (or geeky!) it is! We work with all different kinds of businesses across a wide variety of fields and would love to set up a time to discuss just what it is we can do for you.
Ellan Dineen is the Marketing Associate at Design Wizard. When she’s not hard at work in the Marketing Department, Ellan can be found en route to foreign lands with a book in her hand and a podcast in her ear. With a Master’s in English and Diploma in Social Media Marketing, she knows the importance of staying up-to-date with the industry’s latest trends and insights and is keen to pass these tips on to her readers.