Promotion is an important part of any event’s planning process. When trying to get the word out about an annual conference or educational webinar, social media is a highly effective tool. The fact is that social media is where people are. They’re looking at their phones, scrolling through Facebook, following influencers and brands on Instagram and Twitter, and networking with likeminded individuals on LinkedIn. This means your association needs to be active on these platforms to stay top-of-mind and gain interest in promotions. We’ll take you through why an organization should, and how an organization can use social media to best promote an event.
Why use social media for events?
Social media is all about facilitating building connections and communities, making it essential for event promotion. It can be a way of offering incentives and targeting specific interest groups.
- Audience Engagement: Associations can create event pages, share event updates, and engage with attendees through discussions, polls, and live sessions, enhancing the overall event experience.
- Increased Attendance: Social media allows associations to reach out to potential attendees, generate interest, and boost event registrations, ultimately increasing event attendance.
- Real-Time Updates: Associations can provide real-time event updates, such as schedule changes, speaker announcements, and highlights, keeping attendees informed and engaged.
- Speaker and Sponsor Visibility: Associations can showcase event speakers and sponsors on social media, enhancing their visibility and demonstrating the value of the event.
- User-Generated Content: Encourage attendees to share their experiences, photos, and insights using event-specific hashtags can create buzz and excitement around the event.
- Networking Opportunities: Associations can use social media to facilitate networking among attendees before, during, and after the event, helping members connect with peers and experts in their field.
- Global Reach: Social media enables associations to reach a global audience, attracting attendees and participants from different regions and backgrounds.
- Cost-Effective Marketing: Social media is a cost-effective way to market events, reducing advertising costs by building organic traffic and maximizing the return on investment.
- Last-Minute Updates: Social media offers a quick and efficient way to communicate updates to event participants in the case of unforeseen circumstances or last-minute changes.
- Feedback: Associations can use social media to conduct post-event surveys and polls, gathering valuable feedback and insights for future event planning.
Social media plays a pivotal role in promoting, engaging attendees, and enhancing the overall success of association events by expanding their reach, fostering communication, and providing a platform for real-time updates and feedback.
Promotion strategies
Social media is a great tool for event promotion, and it can be easy to use effectively. Here are some simple ways you can use the different platforms to organically build attention and excitement prior to your event:
LinkedIn
- Polls: Engage your audience in event planning by asking them to select the most exciting topic or feature of an upcoming event.
- Share industry insights: Share articles, infographics, or videos related to the event's theme to establish your association as an authority in the field.
Facebook
- Event page: Create an event page with all event details and invite association members while encouraging them to invite their friends. Use it to post updates, engage with attendees, start conversations, and gather insights about what attendees are hoping to gain from the event.
- Visual Content: Use eye-catching graphics, images, and videos to promote the event. Share event banners, flyers, or promotional videos. You can also use this opportunity to thank your sponsors and partners to gain attention from their participating audiences as well.
Instagram
- Visual storytelling: Share visually appealing posts, stories, and reels about the event, featuring behind-the-scenes glimpses, speakers, or previous event highlights.
- Event countdown: Start a countdown a few weeks before the event using Instagram's countdown sticker or create daily countdown posts. Include engaging visuals and encourage followers to turn on post notifications so they don't miss updates.
Twitter
- Event hashtags: Create and promote a specific event hashtag to track conversations and engage with attendees and interested parties.
- Live tweeting: Live-tweet during the event, sharing key takeaways, quotes from speakers, and multimedia content to keep followers informed in real time. Announce ahead of time that you'll be live tweeting and encourage followers to keep up throughout the event.
TikTok
- Trending videos and sounds: Use TikTok to create short, engaging video clips highlighting event highlights, speakers, or interesting elements of the event. Incorporate trends from the app when possible to gain more attention from a wider audience.
- Challenges: Launch a TikTok challenge related to your event theme or industry to encourage user-generated content and engagement surrounding the event.
There's a plethora of options, but hopefully these can get you started. Overall, the goal is to incorporate a mix of these strategies across the platforms most relevant to your association's audience and industry to effectively promote your event.
Key notes
The most important part of this whole process happens long before you begin marketing for an event. The truth is, if you want your social media strategy to be effective, you need to plan it out ahead of time. Be active on all social media platforms that make sense for your organization – in other words, wherever your audience is engaging. Post and interact with your audience regularly, otherwise they’ll be less likely to remember who you are and what your mission is, making posts about an event less effective.
Conclusion
When promoting an event for your association, it's important to remember that social media is one of the best ways to get attention and build anticipation. In today’s digital atmosphere, you can’t afford to not engage with social media – especially considering it’s easy, free, and can quickly build connections with your audience. So, don’t be anti-social and start your journey today!
