Planning an event can take a lot of time and money, but by using social media, you can successfully promote your event to create serious buzz. Once your event is planned, you’ll need a successful marketing strategy to ensure you’ll be able to reach your target audience. You will have likely already made posters or fliers, but how can you create buzz for this event in order to sell-out? Using social media, of course. We’ve created a list of ways that you can create a buzz-worthy event.
1. #Hashtag
Using Twitter, you’ll need to create a short and simple hashtag for your event (ex. #WorldsLargestPubCrawl). Having a hashtag for your event is the best way to get people to tweet about attending your event, which will in turn spread the word about your event. It’s also an easy way to keep up with Twitter users who are talking about your event and what they’re saying. You can even go a step further by adding a twitter widget with your hashtag or Twitter stream to your event’s website so attendees will be able to see what’s being said about the event.
2. Video
Creating a video promoting your event will be a great sharing tool to help create interest and spread the word about your event. You can then share the video on YouTube, your website, Twitter, and Facebook, because Facebook loves videos. If this is not a first-time event, sharing post-event testimonials on your video would be a great way to prove to others why they should attend.
3. Event Pages
You probably already have a website for attendees to register or purchase tickets for your event. Go a step further and create a Facebook event as well. This is a great place to share photos and videos, send invites, and create buzz. If your event is more on the professional side, make a LinkedIn event page to target a different audience. Both are free to create and will help your event show up in Google search results.
4. Contests
Using Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram you can create challenges and contests for your target audience and attendees to participate and spread the word. Polls, asking people to share photos, or giving away prizes (ex.a free event ticket or tshirt) are just a few ways you can interact with your audience to get them talking about your event via social media.
5. Support
Having influencers to help spread the word about your event is a great way to reach people who aren’t necessarily in your network. Be sure to follow your event supporters on social media and interact with them as this will come in handy when you need feedback and testimonials. Ask social media influencers (people on social media with a lot of followers and admiration) to attend your event, speak at your event, or post about your event. These influencers will share information about your event and create excitement and buzz that will make an impression with their thousands of followers. Lastly, research blogs in the community or of relevance and ask if you can guest-blog about your event. Many bloggers love to have guest-bloggers and not only is this a great connection for you, but also a great source for spreading the word about your event.
By having a detailed marketing strategy that incorporates social media and includes followers in conversation on social networks you will increase awareness and attendance for your event. Social media can be a cheap and easy way to reach the masses so long as you use it with purpose. By having a target audience, communicating with that audience and giving them a reason to talk about the event, your event can be a buzz-worthy success.
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