Long live the days of live event marketing! It's all about making use of online advertising and most event marketing is reliant on social media platforms. By promoting an event online, it saves you both time and money, which are two things that we don't always have. But, if your event promotion is only online, there's still work to be done in order to ensure its success through social media channels.
An effective way to give your business the boost that it needs, is to host an event. Facebook is superb way to market such an occasion, especially as there are over one billion Facebook users worldwide, your reach will be endless and you will be able to get the word out.
It's really simple to create a Facebook event and most of you should know by now the basics, but the challenge is to get people to 'join' the event and to actually participate. The aim of the game is to take this to the next level. Here are a few unique ways to help you make the most out of promoting an event through Facebook, and creating a hype around it:
Post a countdown
Creating a countdown clock, with a screenshot of it every couple of days helps to build up the buzz leading up to the event. A visual countdown can be done by sharing an image, infographic, Instagram video or even a live digital calendar tool so you can follow the days/hours leading up to the event. By posting a link to a countdown, it is a great reminder and excitement will be generated around any new product launch, event or any news within your company and this link can be added to any page easily.
Create a Hashtag
Hashtags are no longer exclusive to Twitter. Social media savvy individuals are using them for just about everything! So creating a hashtag for your upcoming event is fitting. Hashtags should be fun, creative and short n' sweet. Check that it hasn't been used already on twitter, as you want it to be unique. After you have chosen your hashtag, let everyone know about it, and mention it continuously so that it becomes a natural part of your event slogan. Check out Tweerwally to find out what your audience is saying about your event when they use your hashtag.
A social success story was when Cover Girl, used the hashtag #EasyBreezySummer to get everyone to talk about their products for a specific campaign and event. They attached the tag to as many places as they could on Facebook to cause an increase in their audience for the promotion.
Use Eventbrite
A struggle that I come across with Facebook events is that it's so easy to click 'join' and just as easy to forget about it. Eventbrite , is a tool that allows you to manage your RSVP's and collect info about your attendees too. It's free to use if you are not selling tickets, but if you do they only take a small percentage of the ticket sales. The service posts an event tab or link on your Facebook event with your events details where to buy the tickets. Your guests have the option to share the event in newsfeeds and Facebook profiles.
Run competitions
Naturally, people are competitive and love getting things for free. Combine the two and you've got magic. A great way to promote your upcoming event is to give away some free tickets to attend the event, by running a fun competition that gets people involved and helps to build a buzz. Announce on your Facebook event that a person will receive a free prize if they share the event on their Facebook wall. People will be willing to share if they have incentives. Take this further, by posting about this sweepstake (in detail) on your companies' blog. Share your blog post all over social media so that your audience will be aware of the competition on various platforms.
These creative and 'out of the box' tips will help to promote your next event on social media. If successful, they will not only draw a larger audience but they will impact your search rankings and leverage traffic to your website.