Promote Your Event with Social Media!

By now, hopefully, you’ve established your social media program, great!

You’re also publishing solid content regularly which is also great!

But, what about that event you’re running?

Are you using social media to promote it?

Gotcha!

If you’re not using social media to promote events like workshops then this article is for you!

(Even if you do use social media to promote your events you should read this article.  You might pick up a few pointers!)

Before I begin, this article is intended for small and mid-sized businesses with non-existent to small social media budgets.

As such, I’ll be focusing on free and near-free tools.

(I knew that would make you happy!)

There are three key steps to using social media to promote your events.

The first is determining which social media channels should you be using.

If you already have a social media program in place then this step is a no-brainer.

You can leverage your program and your existing following.

The next step is planning.

Here. you lay out each task with person responsible, deliverable, and due date for preparing and posting the content necessary to promote your event.

Trust me, sitting down and putting pen to paper makes this a less arduous project than it may seem!

This step also includes looking at all content that you may have available to use and t review its suitability for promoting your event.

What is especially important are any materials that you may have from similar prior events that can be reused.

Finally, the final step is execution or the actual promotion of your event.

You should always start early and post frequently.

Also, make sure that you reply promptly to any comments or queries that you may receive as you promote your event.

A few ideas to help you follow:

1. Graphics are important and will help get your message across.
   1. An event graphic with all relevant information is very useful for social media especially with Twitter where it can be used as an image.
   2. Videos if available should be used.
   3. Be consistent in how you format your message.  Slight changes in appearance may cause people to think there are multiple events.
2. Use testimonials.
   1. Prior testimonials for earlier events are great if available.
   2. If prior testimonials are unavailable then obtain ones from attendees to the current event being promoted.
3. Have your own hashtag (#) on Twitter!
   1. Make sure it’s unique and specific to your event
   2. Get it out there and promote it heavily with both your digital and physical promotional materials
4. Follow your metrics in the run up to your event.
   1. Don’t wait until the day before your event to realize that you’re the only one going
   2. Be prepared to change your approach if your initial results are disappointing
5. Use Google Alerts to inform you of any mentions by others of you event and try to use these to further your promotion.
6. Have a link to a registration calendar to know who’s coming and to build that all important email list!
7. Use a social media account manager like Hootsuite to help with scheduling promotional posts.

Follow these steps and recommended practices and your event will be a success!

Also, remember after your event to follow up with attendees with a thank you note, post event pictures and videos on your social media, and start thinking about which material will be useful for your next event!  

That’s it for now!

In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!

I look forward to any and all comments that you may have.  I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.

Remember!

I do this for a living and if I can be of any assistance to either you or your organization, please feel free to call on me.  Our initial discussion will be of no charge to you.

I can also be reached at conpsweeney@someddi.com.

My Twitter handle is @conpsweeney.

Stay well!