Using Social Media to Your Advantage
The key to any successful event is how well it’s promoted. Here’s where to start and how to maximize your reach!
It’s one of our most-asked questions: “How do we successfully promote our event on social media?”
A report by Event Marketing Institute and Mosaic notes that live events provide attendees with the opportunity to form personal connections.
It’s no secret that your event’s success is highly dependent on how well you get the word out. A well thought-out social media strategy could be the key to maximizing your reach!
Promoting and successfully reaching a large number of students can be tough — here’s 5 strategies to maximize your event attendance!
1. Utilize a Automatic-Content Calendar
To streamline the task of managing and disseminating your message across multiple platforms, schedule out your content ahead of time using a tool like Later, which can schedule posts for Instagram, Facebook and Twitter throughout the weeks leading up to your event!
Your social media strategy should include the following:
- An official hashtag for the event
- Cross-platform promotion — think big!
- Call to Actions (CTAs) and links from your social media to your ticketing provider (if applicable)
Having pre-scheduled content allows you to focus on tailoring ideas and managing anything that might come up and require immediate attention!
2. Monitor Your Performance
Once you’ve got your content ready to go, make sure you’re tracking and evaluating your performance analytics along the way. This will provide insight as to how your audience is responding to your posts so you can strategize any changes for future posts.
Lumberjack Tip: Look at each platform’s analytics— Facebook Analytics give you insight into which posts are reaching the most people, while Instagram can provide you with the best days and times that will give you the highest engagement. Be sure to check it all!
3. Generate FOMO
When drafting your content, create a sense of urgency to get your audience to act. The possibilities are endless, try using a countdown, teasing early-bird pricing, or using phrasing that can generate FOMO!
4. Make It Share-Worthy
Social media is allllll about the visual. Each platform has features that you can utilize to make your pictures and videos “pop.” Add bold text, stickers and other effects to draw your audience in.
5. Plan your live event coverage
Don’t let your social media stop when the event begins —plan your social media coverage during the event too. Live coverage can push late-comers to get to the event and participate!
Use our handy Social Media Coverage Plan to get started!
Engage your audience
Engaging your audience before the event is key, but keeping them engaged after the event ends is just as important — try these ideas to keep the energy up!
Before the event
- Hint at special guests, line-ups, or sneak peeks of what to expect
- Use Instagram Stories and Snapchat to drum up enthusiasm
During the event
- Show off your event (or department) hashtag. You can also make an announcement asking people to use your hashtag when they’re posting on social media!
- Encourage your audience to engage with you & share your message — ask them to live stream, “share using #___”
- To get people to post on social, run a social media giveaway, which you can track through the hashtag!
After the event
Don’t let your event end when your last guest leaves! Maximize your event’s value by sharing recaps and user posts from the event.
- Follow up and engage with attendees that posted about your event — leave a comment, like their post, and share it if applicable.
- Share any mentions that may result, thanking your guests for making it such a success.
