Information in this blog was obtained from Semrush.com, Socio.events.com, and Sproutsocial.com.
Have you ever been driven by an event and wondered what is happening? Or did you see some post-event pictures online and wish you had heard about it going on? We have all been there regretting saying no to an event or feeling annoyed that we missed one. Especially when you see your feed full of people smiling at an event that you did not even know was planned. With a wide variety of social media outlets, it can be hard to see every advertisement for upcoming events. Should you check Facebook? Maybe look on Instagram? If a business knows how to engage with its target audience correctly, promoting an event just needs an effective strategy. Let’s dive into event marketing strategy further below!
Social Media Marketing
According to Webex Events, over 40% of event planners believe social media exposure is an important asset to a successful event. Marketing an event with social media meets the expectations of attendees who want information before they attend and drives event awareness. It also allows potential attendees to see what an upcoming event is all about. Before you can begin promoting an event on social media, you will need to take a couple of steps.
Step #1: Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy
The first step is to create a social media marketing strategy. To begin creating a strategy, you will need to research your customers. In your research, you will analyze people's behavior online. After analysis, you can use gathered demographics to create segments and buyer personas.
A buyer persona is an ideal customer profile based on customer and market research. Buyer persona demographics typically include age, sex, education level, professional status, and relationship status. Since these are important components to a customer and their influences, this information is the foundation for a persona.
Step #2: Narrow down your social media platforms
Once your strategy is complete and buyer persona has been made, the next step is to use those demographics for social media selection. Not every platform is going to be fitting for your audience. LinkedIn is typically known for business communication. While Instagram is known for its young audience, Facebook hosts people of all ages, especially older adults. By aligning your event attendee demographics with your social media platform, you will be posting content on the channels where your audience is.
Step #3: Create a Social Media Calendar
Before you can post engaging content, creating a social media calendar is vital to track posts before you can promote your event on Facebook or Instagram. A social media calendar is a highly detailed plan of upcoming social media posts across all your brand’s channels. This level of organization will allow you to view the publish date and time for each post. A calendar not only keeps you organized but also maintains a consistent posting schedule.
Tips for Engaging an Event Across Social Media
Tip #1: Pre-Event Insiders
Not that you have a calendar to schedule out content; event marketing begins before it even takes place. Everyone loves an insider tip on what is taking place. Posting beforehand can grow the hype around what is coming up and share information. Some examples of promoting the pre-event are:
Paid Social Promotions: This type of promotion can target your buyer segments and personas that you created earlier
Stories: On Facebook and Instagram, the stories option can allow you a 24-hour-only post. Stories provide a unique opportunity for engagement. You can share event registration links, post infographics, post-behind-the-scenes event setup, create a poll, or even allow your followers to submit questions.
Announcements: Use your calendar to schedule consistent announcements about the event. This includes introducing key speakers and their topics. Announce registration deadlines and event activities or post the schedule of an event.
Giveaways or Contest: A couple of weeks before your event, you can partner with sponsors or just yourself and reward a lucky event attendee. This could include waiving a registration fee, giving away a gift, or whatever you deem acceptable to promote the event.
Promoting an event early creates a connection with viewers on social media. They feel like they have been let in the anticipation. Anticipation leads to excitement and buzz, which in turn helps promote your event through viewer engagement and word-of-mouth.
Tip #2: During the Event
One of the easiest ways to promote during an event is by using live video and images.
Live Video
Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are some of the most common platforms for live video. Facebook has become a favorite over the years because after the live video has ended, it can be published and saved to the feed. A live video allows people to comment and attend the event, even if they could not come.
Images
If your event is multiple days, you can promote the first day of the event with pictures captured. When you post your pictures, one way to create engagement is by using an event hashtag. This encourages event attendees to post their pictures and share them with the hashtag.
Tip #3 Post-Event Repurposing
Now that your event has come and gone, you should have a wide variety of content. But should you post it all at once? Will it be irrelevant since the event is over? No! The best way to promote an event after it has happened is by repurposing it. Some examples of repurposing event content include:
Take your popular event sessions and turn them into blog posts or podcasts. This type of content can be scheduled over the next six months on your social media content calendar.
Take all your filmed event session videos and turn them into smaller snippets. Evergreen videos can be posted year-round to maintain your brand across platforms.
Do you know people who missed your event? Create an on-demand edited version so followers who did not attend can watch and download your content. Or attendees can replay parts of an event
By repurposing your content, you can continue to schedule out on your social media calendar.
Conclusion
A social media marketing strategy for promoting events is not created overnight, and neither are scheduled posts. Whether you are an event planner wanting to promote your event on Facebook or you are a company hosting a conference, an event can only be as successful as the marketing.
Are you wanting more tips and information on how to leverage social media for your next event? Check out a blog post I also created on this topic, event marketing.
Resources
Ether, N. (2023, February 23). Event marketing on social media: Strategy and tactics to power amazing events. Webex Events (formerly Socio). https://socio.events/blog/event-marketing-on-social-media
Kenan, J. (2024, January 25). A complete guide to creating a social media calendar. Sprout Social. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-calendar/
Zhukova, N. (2023, April 21). How to create your buyer personas: The what, the why, and the how. Semrush Blog. https://www.semrush.com/blog/buyer-persona/
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