Social Media For Events: How To Promote Your Event Successfully

Optimizing social media for events is the best way to prepare for a successful event promotion. Social media is effective and one of the top low-cost strategies for event promotion, with more than 4.89 billion active users worldwide.

Walking into your event and seeing it jam-packed is one of the most fulfilling emotions you can have as an organizer. Social media can help you get there, but for that, you have to know what, how, and where to post.

Below, we share an actionable guide, which includes tips and strategies to help you unlock the full potential of social media to maximize engagement and expand your reach.

A. What is social media marketing for events?

Social media marketing for events is utilizing social media to build awareness about an upcoming event for a higher turnout. 

Additionally, it provides companies with new ways to engage with existing customers and reach new potential customers.

B. Why is social media for events important?

Billions of active users use social media daily, giving event organizers a unique opportunity to reach a vast audience. It allows you to target specific demographics and interests, ensuring your event reaches the right audience.

Social media helps you to create a buzz around your event by engaging your audience through teasers, behind-the-scenes content, and updates. It is an effective tool to build excitement and anticipation to ensure people sign up for your event.

Most importantly, social media is a cost-effective way of promoting your event, unlike traditional marketing methods like paid or snail-mail advertising, which can be expensive.

C. How to use social media for event promotion

Here are some ways to use social media for events for greater visibility and higher event attendance: 

1. Curate visually appealing content

Social media content should be a mix of captivating videos, audio, and a little text. Limiting your content to text-only posts without high-appeal visuals can curb your reach. You can also include GIFs, a picture of the venue, a piece from last year’s event, a picture of the planning phase, and so on. 

2. Identify the best times to post on social media

Timing matters greatly if you want to optimize your posts’ reach on social media. To ensure your posts receive maximum views and engagement, you must know the best time to post.

Peak social media activity depends on several factors, such as the day of the week, age group, locations, and specific social networks. For example, Facebook experiences the highest activities around 1.00 pm on Thursday and Friday, whereas Linked is between 10.00 am and 11.00 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

For Instagram, any time during off-work hours is best, preferably after 6. pm. You can even experiment with different times to see what works best for your demographic.

3. Create an eye-catching hashtag

To leverage the full potential of social media for event promotion, create a short and discernable hashtag. Make it relevant, unique, and easy to remember. You can consider incorporating the event name, year, location, or a catchy phrase, but ensure to search the hashtag beforehand to ensure it’s not already taken. For example, if a Tech Con is happening in San Francisco in 2024, you can go for #TechCon2024SF.

4. Create a contest to drive engagement

Social media is a great place to create fun and friendly competition that can drive event engagement and visibility. You can reward participants for liking or sharing a post or have a more complex contest, including essays, photoshopping, or even creating your own GIF.

5. Mobilize brand advocates to amplify your event promotion

Having a network means you have an entire network of followers willing to promote and advocate on your behalf. The first job is identifying the most enthusiastic advocates and proposing a mutually beneficial deal. For example, they could share your latest event vlog in exchange for free event tickets for two.

Your brand advocates are consistent consumers of your products and services. Those with a fairly decent social media following can create user-generated content on your behalf and share information to reach a wider audience.

6. Share exclusive content and behind-the-scenes look

When you start posting behind-the-scenes content, users will connect more once they see the hard work that goes into it. You can curate footage as a pre-event marketing promo or upload the video on YouTube to encourage people to share and comment for event promotion

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Additionally, you can include a tour of the venue or record and share a narrated video of the event’s concept or footage of a day in the office during the event planning phase.

7. Collaborate with influencers

Only relying on brand advocates is not enough; you have to find partners who can also contribute to intensifying your voice on social media. You could collaborate with people likely from your industry who have a greater following than you do.

You could even reach out to speakers and sponsors of your event. The more they promote it, the more likely they will see their content by people who may want to hire them in the future.

8. Leverage multiple social media platforms

Besides the most popular social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, you can diversify your efforts to reach a wider audience. Less-known networks like Pinterest, Tumblr, Vine, and niche-specific networks can also greatly affect event promotion. You just need to know where your audience resides. YouTube is also a great platform for getting your audience hooked and diving into your event potential.

D. Tips on event promotion on popular social media platforms

Here are tried and tested tips for building a great presence on social media and promoting your successful events:

1. TikTok

TikTok is a powerhouse tool that reaches as many people as possible, with more than 1.7 billion users. 

Here are some tips to utilize it effectively:

i. Create appealing content

TikTok is a short video platform where people can get as creative as they want. Capture videos in a fun and engaging way. Create your trend or utilize popular TikTok trends, music, and effects to make your content more visible.

ii. Use hashtags

Using the appropriate hashtags can significantly increase the visibility of your TikTok videos. Use relevant and popular hashtags related to your event to reach a wider audience, or you can even create a unique hashtag to encourage user-generated content.

iii. Partner with influencers

Collaborate with popular TikTok influencers who align with your event’s theme and concept. Reach out to influencers with a significant following and ask them to create content promoting your event.

iv. Participate in challenges

TikTok challenges are a very popular feature. Look for trending challenges and creatively incorporate them to align with your event. This will help you to generate buzz and attract attention from TikTok users.

v. Engage with the audience

Respond promptly to all comments, questions, and messages to build meaningful relationships with your audience. Encourage users to ask questions in the comments or host giveaways to increase engagement.

vi. Cross-promote on other platforms

Share and promote your TikTok videos on popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, as well as any other platform where your target audience is active. This can drive traffic to your TikTok profile and increase visibility for your event.

2. Instagram

There are around 1.35 billion users on Instagram. It offers numerous features in the form of stories, reels, and posts to engage and attract audiences in the most innovative ways possible. 

Here are some tips to maximize your event’s visibility on Instagram:

i. Utilize reels

Instagram reels allow users to create short and entertaining videos of up to 1.5 minutes. It’s one of the most popular features where you can display event highlights and behind-the-scenes footage. You can even hop on trends or utilize trending audio to create engaging and informative content related to your event. 

ii. Leverage stories

Instagram stories offer a great opportunity to promote your event in a more interactive and temporary format. You can also use creative elements such as audio, stickers, polls, and Q&A to generate excitement about your event. One of the best ways to use stories is to share sneak peeks, countdowns, event updates, and exclusive content.

iii. Collaborate with influencers

Collaborating with relevant influencers with a good following can help you expand your reach and attract a wider audience. Ask them to create content promoting your event or share your event content. They can also share their experiences or provide a sneak peek to create buzz and generate interest among followers.

iv. Create your hashtags

Hashtags play a significant role in increasing the visibility of your Instagram posts. You can create your unique hashtag or research and use popular and relevant hashtags related to your event to reach a wider audience. Your followers can use your hashtag to share their experiences and generate user-generated content.

v. Engage with your audience

Engagement is the most important factor when it comes to promoting on Instagram. To build a meaningful relationship and foster a sense of community, respond promptly to comments, messages, and mentions. You can even run a contest or host giveaways to encourage engagement and attract the limelight to your event.

vi. Turn on Instagram Live

Instagram Live is a great way to connect with the audience in real time. This will help you to answer audience queries and build connections. You can even consider doing behind-the-scenes tours or hosting exclusive interviews with speakers or performers.

3. Facebook

Facebook has the highest social media users, with approximately 3 billion active users monthly. 

Use these tips to promote your event effectively on Facebook:

i. Create an event page

Build an event page with all necessary information, such as date, time, location, and description.

ii. Curate appealing content

Create compelling posts and videos with eye-catching visuals to attract the attention of your target audience.

iii. Diversify your reach

Encourage participants to share the event with their network. You can even partner with influencers or industry experts to endorse your event and share it with their followers.

iv. Leverage Facebook ads

Facebook ads are a powerful tool for reaching a wider audience and targeting specific demographics.

v. Engage effectively 

Engage with your Facebook audience by promptly replying to comments, questions, and messages.

5. YouTube

YouTube is an excellent platform for engaging video content showcasing what attendees can expect at the event. 

Here are some tips to promote effectively on YouTube:

i. Curate a special teaser

Highlight the key aspects of the event, such as speakers, activities, or entertainment, and compile them in an attractive teaser.

ii. Make informational videos

Create videos that impart vital information about the event, such as what to expect, how to register, and why people should attend.

iii. Interview speakers or performers

Host interviews with keynote speakers, performers, or sponsors to build anticipation and give viewers a taste of what to expect.

iv. Create YouTube Ads

Run YouTube ads targeting your audience demographics to increase visibility and get more prospects.

v. Utilize Search engine optimization (SEO)

Incorporate SEO to use relevant keywords in your video titles, descriptions, and tags to improve visibility and attract potential attendees.

vi. Engage with your audience

Like all platforms, respond promptly to comments, questions, and feedback on your video comments to build rapport and encourage interaction.

6. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is an incredible platform for reaching a professional audience and establishing valuable relationships. 

Consider the following tips to promote on LinkedIn.

i. Create an event page

Build a compelling event description, ensure it is SEO optimized with relevant keywords, and include important details such as event objective, date, time, and venue.

ii. Leverage LinkedIn Groups

Share your event details in relevant industry groups to reach a target audience.

iii. Encourage your network to share your content

Create compelling graphics and copy that your speakers and partners can easily share to promote your event to their networks.

iv. Use LinkedIn Ads

Run targeted ads on Linkedin to expand your reach and drive more registrations.

E. Plan a houseful show with Ticket Generator

The tips above are some of the best ways to leverage major social media platforms and effectively promote your event for greater turn-up.

With Ticket Generator, you can stay one step ahead with seamless registration and ticket sales. While you’re occupied with identifying unique and creative ways to utilize social media for events, let Ticket Generator help you manage registrations.

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