A successful event can increase profits and sales for your company, help you develop a strong brand, establish connections among customers and community members, and grow your brand awareness.
No matter what the event is, whether a concert featuring Maroon 5 or a seminar about marketing software, it is critical to your company and (even if your customers don't know it) to your clients.
Event promotion methods like email marketing and word of mouth still play an important role, but social media campaigns have shown themselves to boost attendance by a great deal.
When compared to more traditional forms of advertising, the results on social media are especially impressive because most promotions cost either nothing or relatively little.
Whether you're organizing a big party or a small event, here are three tips to use social media to encourage attendance.
3 Ways to Boost Your Event Marketing
1. Make a Facebook event. Then share it everywhere
First and foremost, you should always create a Facebook event anytime you have an event coming up.
There is no doubt that Facebook events are one of the most useful tools available. Utilizing this feature on the platform is an excellent tool for raising awareness of an upcoming event, provide users with invaluable information they need, and interact directly with potential attendees. The bonus is that Facebook events also allow you to accumulate social proof on the platform over time.
More visibility means more interest and attendance, which means everyone will want to attend as well.
2. Post Regularly (but in Limited Quantities)
It's critical that you actively promote your event on social media. Your marketing should begin a month in advance so that you have enough time to work on it.
It is a good idea to post about the event and share it across many platforms, but you have to be smart about it. A solid combination of quality over quantity isn't bad (though it's nice to have both).
In your event post, don't just ask, "Have you RSVP'd?"” without any further questions. You should create content that causes people to want to come to your website instead.
Provide a sneak peek behind the scenes at how it is being set up or how vendors are getting things ready; show them what the food will be like or speak to attendees. Put a CTA in the post to check out the event on Facebook and explain what you'll be offering and why this is the place to be.
The best results will come when you combine this with other regularly scheduled content (which is possible to do with Hootsuite). Posting too much will simply make your audience apathetic and not create interest.
To determine whether you should adjust your posting frequency, monitor your posts and make sure they're maintaining relatively steady engagement rates.
3. Use a Unique Hashtag to Promote Your Event
Instagram and Twitter have taken off with hashtags, but they're not as popular on Facebook. Your event will be easier to market if you have a branded hashtag for promotion. The moment people start picking them up and using them themselves, they will begin generating buzz, excitement and free advertising that has the potential to go viral around your event. In addition to promoting your event, spreading the hashtag creates hype as more and more people discover it, leading to a higher attendance at your upcoming event.
You'll be able to track your hashtag's engagement across multiple platforms if it picks up. By doing so, you'll be able to learn more about the way your event is being received and what users are saying.
You should also use hashtags related to your target audience's interests to attract them. Are you hosting a local event at your New York ice creamery? Use #newyorkfoodtasting. Is your networking conference targeted at a niche audience? Consider #conferenceforwomen or #networkfornetworth. How can people learn more? Would you like to make sure they know where to go? #facebookevent is an option as well. Your Instagram and Twitter posts will benefit by being seen by more members of your target audience.
Conclusion
No matter what kind of event you are hosting, social media marketing tactics make boosting attendance easier than ever. For the annual Event Planner Expo we often utilize social media to announce updates and promotions and it helps increase interest and attendance.
In spite of some methods requiring a small financial investment, such as organizing contests or running Facebook ads, the vast majority of these tips to boost engagement cost next to nothing. Give it a go and stay tuned to our new blog posts where we reveal more event marketing tactics!
