Are you looking for more ways to spread awareness for an upcoming concert or live appearance? In addition to on-air mentions, marketing in the digital space is essential for generating buzz for events. Social media unlocks the potential to reach a significantly larger audience. Just last year, Buffer & Eventbrite took a look at over 25 million social media posts and analyzed how people use platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat to share about events with their friends and followers. According to their findings, nearly as many people talk about events before they occur as during: 40% post about it before it occurs, while 42% share related content during the event itself. Below are several ideas that you can incorporate into the promotion strategy for your next big event.
Share a series of enticing teaser clips leading up to the event.
Generate buzz ahead of time by revealing enticing details about the event and teasing surprises that will occur during the event. Standout by sharing the information in a unique way. For example, many music festivals will record videos of celebrities revealing their lineup. This type of content is engaging and has high potential for viral sharing across the digital space. Why not enlist your on-air talent to produce your own announcement videos? You can also share behind-the-scenes images leading up to the event, or, if you host an annual party, such as a station birthday concert, create a highlight reel from previous years and share it on your website and social media accounts.
Bonus tip: Interview guests and share their testimonial clips to keep your engagement momentum going after the event has ended.
Optimize your promotional images for each major social channel.
Maximize your social reach by creating a set of attractive graphics for your events, sized for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Canva is an excellent tool for creating and resizing images for various social platforms. Share these optimized graphics on your profiles, and encourage your audience to share them with their own friends and followers.
Run a campaign of paid social ads.
Boosting posts on social channels like Facebook and Instagram is a budget-friendly option for paid promotions. You can easily customize your target demographic and set a fixed daily or total budget for ads on these platforms. If you’re selling tickets on your website, you can even drive traffic directly to the event landing page or purchase page.
Create a special hashtag just for your event.
Once you’ve got people talking online, increase your trending potential with a specialized hashtag, and encourage attendees to use it in their own posts leading up to and during the event. Pair it with a more generic, appropriate hashtag to optimize visibility on social channels. To determine which hashtags are trending the highest, check out real-time performance metrics on tools like RiteTag.
Enlist social media influencers to help spread the word.
Ask celebrities or local figures who will be in attendance to post about the event on their own social media profiles or mention it in their email newsletters. The more people you have talking about your event beforehand, the higher the potential for a great turnout.
Ask for feedback to make your next event even better.
Think your event was a great success? Find out how the attendees feel by posting a feedback survey on your site and sharing the link in your email newsletters and on your social profiles. Consider your audience’s feedback to ensure that your next event is a success!
This post from Buffer & Eventbrite has several other great ideas for promoting events online. For even more tips on how to harness the power of social media to increase your brand’s digital footprint, check out this recent post.
