Marketing Your Event Through Social Media

The holidays are finally here and many companies, organizations and networking groups are planning holiday parties to commemorate this special time of year. If you're like me, you're seeking creative ways to promote your event and receive a phenomenal turnout despite the abundance of galas, parties and happy hours happening around the city. How can you spread the word while simultaneously engaging with your potential attendees? Social media.

“Like” us on Facebook and “Follow Us” on Twitter are two phrases we hear and see regularly when interacting with small or large companies, which makes it safe to say social media plays a major role in marketing. Whether you’re pitching a story, idea, product or event, Twitter and Facebook are large social media outlets used to reach consumers. With social media’s new position in the marketing world, it’s important to understand how to use it in a way that will benefit your company and your consumers; in this case, your event.
When planning an event, it’s important to think of whom your target audience is and what the best ways are to reach them through social media. Some  factors to consider include which platforms your audience use the most, what time of day your target audience is most likely to see your tweet or post and what content will gain users attention and make them “retweet” or “share” the event information with friends. One strategy I have noticed recently is to offer a free giveaway to guests leading up to the event. A way to apply this strategy is to pose a trivia question about your company and the first person to tweet or post the correct answer gets two free tickets to the event. This is a great method to engage potential attendees and encourage users to read about your company in order to answer the trivia question correctly.
According to marketing expert Eric D. Schulz, author of The Marketing Game, “there is a simple rule for effectively using social media and it’s this — your messages must be TIMELY, RELEVANT, and ACTIONABLE.” This approach is effective and should be considered when creating a social media marketing strategy for your function. Below are a few tips for using Twitter and Facebook to promote an upcoming event.


Twitter

• Keep your tweets at a maximum of 120 characters to make it easy for Twitter users to retweet.
• HootSuite is a great program to use to schedule tweets & Facebook posts and to generate a social media analytics report.
• Encourage event partners, sponsors, friends and family to retweet and repost event information – word of mouth is still the number one form of marketing.

Facebook

• Use images to get the attention of your followers. Facebook users respond best to images and graphics and are more likely to share them on their own Facebook accounts.
• Review your Facebook analytics to see what time majority of your followers are on Facebook and post information around that hour.
• Offer valuable giveaways to potential attendees, such as free tickets, at a certain time on a certain day of the week.

No matter what you post online, always remember to stay true to your company's brand and have a little fun. Everyone appreciates a good sense of humor but don't try too hard to be funny, that's when posts become cheesy. 

Are there any tips you'd like to share? Leave a comment below.

Happy holidays!



Written by: Jenna Boyer
Twitter @_JennaDanielle_
Email Jenna.Boyer89@gmail.com