If you're an event planner and you're not using social media for your business, then you are missing out.
We've been talking about how to use social media marketing to grow your business for quite some time now, but it's not enough to just talk about it—you need to get out there and actually do it!
In this post, we'll outline the steps that will help ensure that your strategy is successful.
The importance of a social media strategy
Social media is an important part of any business, but especially for event planners. You can use it to market your business and build relationships with customers, as well as find new clients.
For example, if you're looking for a venue for a wedding or corporate event, social media will help you reach out directly to venues and ask them about their services.
You could also post photos from past events at specific venues (or other properties) as an endorsement--this lets potential clients know that the location is great for hosting their event!
What is a social media strategy?
A social media strategy is a plan of action. It's not just a wish list or an idea, but rather an organized set of goals and tactics that you'll use to grow your business through social media.
A good social media strategy will be based on three things:
1. Your business goals: What do you want to achieve through social media? The goals you set will help determine the type of content you create, how often you post and when to share it.
2. Your audience's needs and wants: What do your customers want? What are their pain points? This will help you determine which types of content to create, who to share it with and how often to post.
3. The competition in your industry: How can you use social media to stand out from the competition? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How can you leverage your brand’s unique position in the marketplace to connect with your customers? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you create content that resonates with your audience and helps you achieve your business goals.
How to create a social media plan for an event planning business.
Creating a social media plan is one of the most important things you can do as an event planner. It ensures that your business is using social media in the most effective way possible, and it allows you to track your progress over time so that you can analyze how well your posts are performing.
To create a social media strategy, start with these steps:
- Decide which platforms make sense for your business--and why.
- Make sure that all of your tools are up-to-date and compatible with each other (e.g., if you're using Buffer, then make sure that Buffer works with the blog platform where all of your content is posted).
- Create goals based on what kind of content will be published on each platform (e.g., posts about upcoming events).
Social Media Marketing Goals
Social media goals are specific, measurable and achievable. They allow you to measure the success of your social media marketing efforts by establishing clear targets for each campaign you run.
For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness by 10 percent over the next six months (a common benchmark), then it's important that you can track this number from month-to-month so that it's possible to see whether or not the strategy has been successful.
It also helps if there are other key performance indicators (KPIs) related to this goal such as:
- How many new followers did I get?
- What was my reach on Twitter?
- How many people did my video reach?
Best Social Media Platforms for Event Planners
The best social media platform for your event marketing strategy depends on your goals and the type of event you are planning.
A good place to start is by asking yourself these questions:
1. Are you looking to create brand awareness or generate leads?
2. Do you have a budget?
3. What channels do prospects use most frequently?
The answers to these questions will help determine which social media channels you should focus on when creating your marketing plan.
There are a number of different ways to approach this, so let’s take a look at some of the best options!
- Facebook: Facebook is one of the best social media platforms for event marketing. It’s free to use and has more than 2 billion active users, making it a great place to reach prospects. You can post events directly onto your Page, which will help drive attendance and build awareness. Facebook also offers great targeting options with their Custom Audiences feature, so you can easily reach the right people at the right time by using this tool.
- Instagram: Instagram is another great platform for building awareness of your event. It’s a visual-based social media platform, so it’s perfect for sharing pictures and videos that give people a taste of what to expect at your event. You can create an Instagram Story to share more information about the event, or create a collection of photos from previous years’ events to show your audience what they can look forward to in 2023!
- Pinterest: Pinterest is a great platform for sharing images and videos that can help people visualize what your event will be like. Use Pinterest to create boards with images of previous events, as well as pictures from other events that use similar themes or styles. This will give people who haven’t been to your event before a better idea of what you're capable of and will give your attendees a chance to see what they can expect. You can also create a board specifically for your event, and pin images that show off the theme or style of the event. This makes it easy for people who might not be familiar with Pinterest to find what they’re looking for!
- TikTok: TikTok is a social media platform that lets you create short videos and share them with the world. It’s great for creating event-specific content, like highlights of your event or behind-the-scenes footage from the planning process. You can also use TikTok to post pictures of your event as it happens, so people who aren’t able to attend will feel like they're still part of the fun!
- LinkedIn (for corporate event planning businesses): LinkedIn is a business-oriented social media platform that’s great for promoting your corporate event planning business. It’s an excellent way to show off your portfolio and demonstrate what you can do for clients. You can also use LinkedIn to connect with potential clients and get in touch with the people who will help make your next big event happen!
Time Commitment & Frequency of Posts
It's important to remember that posting frequency depends on your goals, audience and available time.
If you have a small budget and are trying to build awareness for an event, consider posting every day until it's over. If you're trying to drive ticket sales or sell sponsorships, posting once per week might be better.
It's also worth noting that the more frequently you post, the less time each individual post will have in front of your audience before they scroll past it or move on to something else.
A good social media strategy will help you grow your business and save you time.
Social media is an essential part of any event planner's business. It can be used to reach your target audience, build trust and increase sales.
A good social media strategy will also help you save time, which is important when you're trying to manage everything else that comes with running an event planning business!
Using the tips in this post can help you to create a social media strategy that will work for your business.
Conclusion
The good news is that social media is a great way to reach new customers and grow your business. By creating a plan and following it, you can make sure that your time spent on social media is well spent.
At this year's Event Planner Expo, we'll be talking about how to use social media in your event planning business. Click here to join us and learn how you can use these platforms to grow your business!
