Are you looking to host an event? Wondering what you need to do on social media to get people interested and boost signups? We’re about to hold our sixth annual social media conference during those years we’ve learned a lot about what it takes to get some traction online.
Through those years, we’ve definitely made some mistakes, so if your in the first couple years of holding an event and were disappointed in turnout or online engagement, we feel you. It’s hard to get people to pay attention and get interested in events.
But, luckily, there are some things you can do to boost engagement and get seen by more people. Here are the things we’ve learned in the last six years.
What to do before you start promoting the event
There is a lot of work involved when you are promoting an event. It’s not as simple as just putting it on Facebook. No matter what event you’re hosting, it needs to have a home base somewhere. Whether it be a website, an EventBrite page, or a landing page, you need to have some type of page that is dedicated to talking about the event.
While it may not seem possible, some people still don’t have a Facebook page and may not see any updates you post on a social media network. That’s why it’s critical to have all the information available where everyone can access it.
Having a home base also comes in handy when you are posting about the event. Not every social post will have all the information, so it’s nice to have a place to point people to.
Wherever you end up putting your home base, you need to make sure you have every detail covered. While you may think that everyone knows what you’re talking about, chances are if they are new or have never heard of the event before, they probably won’t know what you’re talking about. Answer all the questions: who, what, when, where, and why.
If you’re already working on a home base, trying collecting all the details to put up as well. If you have a logo, use it. If you have photos, add them. Collect this stuff before you start promoting on social.
Next, you need a way for people to get to all that info you’re promoting on social. We love using hashtags, like our #SMWL18 which helps people consume all the posts we’ve put up. And, if you create a hashtag before the event occurs, use can encourage people to use it as they post online. Otherwise, you’ll find that people will just make up their own which scatters content everyone.
How to start promoting the event on social media and beyond
One of the easy things to do is to put people into a Twitter list or a Facebook group as they sign up. By creating these, we have a super simple way to engage with people and get information out to them. Believe us when we say a lot of the magic happens before the event even begins! Facebook groups or Twitter lists starts the conversation between speakers, attendees, your team, vendors, sponsors, etc.
This is where the logo and imagery comes in. These groups or lists all require some sort of photo to set up, otherwise, it looks kinda empty. It’s easy to get something designed yourself using Canva or use a designer.
As far as content goes, you can use the speakers you have booked to help you create content fairly easily. Basically, you’ll ask them to create content for you that promotes them!
Watch an example here:
Doing something like this hypes up attendees for the speakers and gives them a chance to talk to people before the event. Everyone feels more connected before the event! We gave our speakers a little bit of an outline, but otherwise, let them have free reign to introduce themselves.
Or, you can create content for your speakers and ask them to post on their pages. Like this example we would use for our speakers:
“Anyone from the Midwest? Are you going to #SMWL18 - I'll be there leading a small business panel June 20-21! #SMWL18 bit.ly/2lGufgk”
We also gave our speakers content with images. These included their headshots, info, and branding from our event. We sent over posts for each social network to make it super easy for them to share out on their platforms.
It’s also helpful to find any easy way to stay in contact with the speakers. They are typically very busy, so the easier it is to get a hold of them, the better. We created a Facebook Group just for the speakers.
Video is one of the primary forms of content that people on social are interested in. So anyway that you can include video in your promotional content, we would suggest you do so. One idea is a hype video. In your hype video, give some quick information on why people should attend and some testimonials. Hype videos are usually fast-paced and fun!
Here is ours:
You can also try private messaging the people you think would benefit the most from your event. We’ve had great success just telling people personally through messaging what the event is and why we think it would be great for them. It’s friendly and personal.
The more creative you are, the better. Sponsor some posts, tag some advocates to post for you, and send out press releases.
Our super simple promotional checklist
Before you share on social media you need:
- An event page or website that serves as a home base for all event information
- Creatives to promote the event like unique photos, an event logo, and event videos
- Copy for the website page to explain why someone should attend along with full event details, registration copy, and FAQs
- A unique hashtag for the event
- Create a Twitter list of all attendees and sponsors
- Facebook Group claimed for attendees, speakers, and sponsors to connect before, during, and after the event
- Speaker Info, headshots, bios
- Testimonials or why someone should attend
- Press releases
Social media items that need to be created:
- A unique Twitter Hashtag where people can follow along and aggregate posts for the event
- A Facebook Event page to share with connections and sponsor ads to
- A Facebook Group to add attendees and speakers to get the conversation started
- Use YouTube to host speaker intro videos, videos to promote your event and informational videos
Other best practices:
- Write a blog on why someone should attend and share it on social media
- Use the hashtag consistently and encourage attendees, sponsors, and speakers to do the same
- Engage with others, especially in the groups and get them talking ahead of time
- Get creative with the content you’re creating like have the speakers create intro videos, have a hype video for your event, have a contest, get speaker tweetables, and send social media posts to speakers, etc.
- Sponsor your posts to drive awareness to the right audience.
- Go LIVE as your planning and prepping for the event and get people involved with behind the scenes access
- Private messages to your network- one on one conversations are a must!
- Send out press releases and mention social media
- Don’t forget about LinkedIn Groups
- Use Instagram stories and consider takeovers from sponsors or annual attendees
- Get sponsors involved in creating fun ways to promote the event
Have you ever held an event? What did you do to promote it? Tell us what worked and what didn’t!
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