People are spending around two and a half hours every day on social media in recent years. This focus allows you to target those you might want to attend any event you run and ensure they know about what you offer. Though, how can you do that, and what specific benefits does social media offer an event planning business?
This article will help you understand the role social media plays, not only in promoting businesses, but what it does in your industry. By understanding this, you can leverage this important tool for your benefit.
Boosting Your Brand Profile
Social media can promote the persona of your business far better than many other methods. People tend to anthropomorphize the voice projected from social media profiles. This means you can use this voice to create a consistent brand identity.
If you then become, a leading voice in the industry, it will ensure people know how you are likely to respond when contacted. This consistency and predictability can ensure clients will have assurances related to the job you will do.
The content you share can also exemplify your specific brand. You can use branded imagery in not only the profile's header but also in any other picture you share. This will help you communicate your brand identity that much stronger with each message you send.
As you continue using your social media accounts, you can even define yourself using specific text. For example, keywords, hashtags, or "bio" information can cement your brand in a specific niche. Thus, should people search for information related to your industry or ask peers for recommendations, they are more likely to find you.
Building a Target Community
After building a business platform online, you can conduct market research. Using insights you gather from responses to things you post, you can collect data about who responds to your messages. You can use this to discover your target audience if you were not already aware of it or find out if that audience is evolving.
In engaging with this audience, you can start to build up a group of core individuals who can act as brand evangelists. Over time, you can even guide the online conversation to your own events when necessary.
Becoming an Industry Voice
When you speak enough online and have useful things to say, you will likely become well-known as an event planner to listen to. Over time, you can create and curate content that not only shows off what you do but also draws people to your service. As such, try to engage publicly with others in the industry, use hashtags to gain extra visibility, and become a powerful voice.
Showcasing Events You Help Develop
As people will be following you, your event planner account can offer updates about times when you will be at major events. This allows people visiting those venues to come and engage with you more casually. If you planned the event itself, all the better.
When you post, remember to tag the organizers and any speakers who might have clout online. This helps them connect with you and may give you more opportunities to network in the future.
After the event, share experiences you had in video or image form. You can then draw others in who may also want to share their own experiences, creating a conversation centered around your brand.
Improving Events for Attendees
Before you go to an event, post about where you will be and when, and make sure you use hashtags related to it. You can also encourage people to share their experience of meeting you or post photos or selfies taken while engaging with your brand. This acts as advertising not only in general but for others to see they can do the same.
During an event, post about it, what you helped plan if anything, and how that has made the experience so much better. This will solidify your reputation for creating positive experiences.
You can also use your social media account to listen to feedback from those in attendance. This allows you to improve on each event if there were specific issues that cropped up you could solve the next time.
Using Video to Promote Events
Social media is one of the more powerful marketing tools out there as it can often host large media files. This allows you to create video content that can create a sense of the event before it begins. You could share behind-the-scenes information, event highlights, or many other types of information.
Some platforms are much better at video than others or might have specific ways you should make the video. For example, Facebook is better for creating longer landscape videos that act as detailed breakdowns of events. At the same time, a platform such as TikTok encourages short and catchy portrait videos.
You should also be aware that posting media such as photos or videos is more likely to encourage the algorithm to share your posts more. This makes promotion easier and uplifts you more than messages from competitors that might not have this media. As such, try to use branded and on-topic images with every post you make.
Networking With Influencers Via Social Media
As with any major industry, you may find certain people act as "influencers". These might be people who work in your niche, or they might instead be figures related to specific events you plan to help run.
Social media is usually a good way to track down people in the niche you want to communicate with. They will have a large number of followers related to the type of event you wish to run and also a large rate of engagement.
After contacting them, try to negotiate some form of promotion for your business. This could be to promote an event you are helping run or might be to help promote your organization.
Running Giveaways
To help generate excitement related to an event you are planning, you can create giveaways related to the occasion. By working with exhibitors, you can gather items or services they can offer as a reward for engagement with social media posts related to the event. This way, you can get additional reach online and also get people excited to attend the event.
Giveaways also allow you and exhibitors to generate leads. If you state on social media that people can sign up for the offer at a specific place, you can use the opportunity to gather contact information. This then gives you details to put on mailing lists to contact later.
Ensuring Your Stay Up-To-Date
When using a social media account, you can follow the news of others in the event planning industry. This helps you stay relevant by understanding and engaging with the latest trends. If it fits your brand, you can even engage with thought leaders and others in the same circles to share insights.
Outside of social media, this can be harder, but one of the best ways to do this would be to attend industry events. You can pick up tickets to one of the best opportunities to network with other veterans at this link. At the Event Planner Expo, you can learn about all the latest in event setup and management, as well as how it applies to you.
Hearing Feedback and Responding to Criticism
When the event is on, make sure to follow the hashtags related to the event. You can look out for issues that people might have as they happen, and respond to them in real-time. This prevents any problems from growing in scope and overshadowing any positive reputation.
If you receive feedback, try to be proactive about responding to it. Speak with people and try to find out what they did not like, so you can improve either at that event or at others in the future. You can also use this as an opportunity to show how you take your community seriously and how you have a focus on improvement.
Building Trust Via Authenticity
When you post to social media, try to be as honest as possible. While you might use a brand voice, maintain an authentic attitude to prevent people from thinking of the account as only a "corporate voice".
Talk about the personnel working at any event, and discuss their successes. This helps personalize the brand you build and can grow public trust if people see the faces behind the organization.
Boost Your Event Planning Business
The above should give you a good idea of why you need to use social media in your event planning business. This way, you can ensure you network with others in your business and learn everything you can from them. Though, there are other ways to do this too.
There isn't long to go until Event Planner Expo 2023, for example. With over 2,000 people attending, it is the perfect way to ensure you keep up-to-date with the industry and stay ahead of the game. So, get your tickets here and register to experience the opportunity of the year with Keynote Speaker, Gary Vaynerchuk!
