Organising an event at the best of times can be a chore. However with the growing appeal of social networking sites this often arduous task can be made a little easier. Brooke Simmons of Pursuit Communications illustrates the steps to promote your event through social networking sites in today’s 30 Days of Social Media lesson.
How to promote your event through social media – a DIY Guide in three easy steps!
Firstly, you will have to decide if it’s relevant to promote your event through social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc. If it’s a “soft” product launch – there’s no point in telling the world about it – wait until all the “wrinkles” have been ironed out and then invite the masses. The same can be said for a VIP event: the last thing any organiser needs is a mass of people turning up at an event, which is intended for a select group of people. Equally there’s no point in organising an event where members of the general public are invited to attend and there are very few people aware of the event in the first place! If you don’t promote it properly, how will anyone be expected to know? Cue the social networking site. These sites offer a range of solutions to track, interact and ultimately control any event you wish to promote.
If you believe there’s an opportunity to promote your event via a social networking site you will firstly need to understand “your audience”.
1. DECIDE which mix of social media outlets will be suitable for your launch. To do this, think about the networks you keep in all of your social media outlets. LinkedIn is often associated with past-colleagues and current client contacts. Facebook is, for many people, a combination of friends and Twitter can often be a combination of these two. So use your best judgement on which outlet or outlets you’ll use and stick to them. (I recommend using no more than two outlets for promoting any activity – I’ll come to this in a moment.)
Once you have decided on which outlet(s) you’ll use for your event, make sure you use the social networking site sensibly.
2. REMEMBER it’s a social networking site not a place where you can bombard everyone with invitations, reminders and messages about the event. Just with fashion, less is more. What you believe to be a “friendly second, third or fourth reminder” can be interpreted by others as spam.
Once you offer the initial invitation allow people a chance to respond by the specified RSVP date, answer any questions that may be asked in the meantime and only follow up after the RSVP deadline, ensuring you leave enough time between the RSVP date and the event itself to allow for extra details to be added. These could include additional background material, late confirmation of special celebrity guests – that kind of thing. I suggest allowing an additional day for following up RSVPs from a social networking site; some people aren’t as vigilant checking their social networking accounts as they are with their e-mails.
3. The most important tip I’ll offer is to use THE TOOLS that are available for each social networking site. Some suggestions are:
- Link a post about the event to your Linkedin page from your blog – a majority of times you’ll be able to do this through a widget. A cross pollination such as this can often encourage people who may not have regularly visited your blog to do so and vice versa. A blog entry also allows you to enter more details about your event and give potential attendees a chance to comment on the event.
- Create an event on Facebook: if you choose, this will allow your attendees to post their images, comments and topics about the event all on one tidy page.
- Create a “hashtag” on Twitter for your event so those attending who are Twitter users can comment about the event, track back previous tweets and see what others are tweeting all by searching for a simple “hashtag”. For example for a client event that I have coming up I’ll be using the “hashtag” #ToniaTodmanRoses and #Bluminlaunch. If you’re still confused this site offers a great explanation.
- Consider looking at Eventbrite for use on social networking sites: it’s easy to use and the site walks you through the whole process.
- For those people who may not be able to attend due to geographic location, why not consider creating a webcast of the event or inviting people to attend via Skype.
Ultimately use common sense when it comes to organising an event and promoting through social networking site. Don’t create more work for yourself than is needed and use the power of social networking sites to your advantage. Good luck! TODAY’S TASK Do you have an upcoming event? Promote it through social networking site!
