In order to increase awareness of your events and boost ticket sales, it’s important to invest time and effort into social media marketing. But with so many social media channels available (and new ones appearing), how should you take advantage of each of them while being relevant? Today we will cover how to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok to promote your events in the new year.
By posting on these platforms and making sure your followers are made aware of your event updates – engaging with them and potentially converting them into customers becomes easier. Depending on your target audience, select the social platforms and launch your promotional campaign. For example, if your event targets Gen Z, then Instagram and TikTok are great channels for promoting your event.
Here are some easy tips on how to get started with social media marketing for events’ promotion.
How to Promote an Event on Facebook
Facebook is definitely one place where you can find almost all of your target audience. With over 1.2 billion users, Facebook is the largest social media audience to promote your event, with users spanning most demographics.
Share event updates, communicate with followers and create pages that are dedicated to posting about your event on a consistent basis. Target your messaging to specific target groups by investing in Facebook’s paid promotion tools.
When creating a Facebook Event:
- Use high quality photos; this gives the viewers and potential attendees a sense of quality and class.
- Be detailed about location and time. Choose the correct event category so Facebook’s algorithm promotes your event to the right audience.
- Craft a convincing event description.
- Mention all ticketing links as many times as possible.
- Make sure your page is verified.
- Optimize all aspects of your Facebook Events Page – mention all other social profiles, websites, partners, etc.
- Cross-promote the event details with co-hosts, social media influencers, marketing pages on Facebook. Teaming up with influential brands and personalities helps with generating buzz on Facebook, increasing the chances of registrations.
- Share content on a regular basis to create buzz among verified attendees. Encourage them to share event details.
- Take advantage of Facebook ads to reach larger audiences.
Nearly 60% of all daily Facebook users log into the platform using mobile devices. To maximize promotional efforts, promoters must design ad campaigns for mobile devices. That should be the priority. Use “tap-able” images and copy. If you use an event management platform like Attendease, selling tickets directly on Facebook becomes easier.
Attendease allows event managers to use global fields to track and assess information across multiple events. In 2020, events that will offer tickets directly on Facebook will record twice the number of free registrations according to recent trends. Don’t miss out.
How to Promote an Event on Twitter
If your posts about your event hit the coveted ten thousand retweet mark on Twitter, it is likely to hit the news section. Twitter is the best place to be short, sweet and innovative.
Here are the fundamental steps behind a successful Twitter promotional campaign:
- Give an admin the sole duty of creating tweets regarding your event on an hourly basis.
- Create a captivating hashtag – make it fun, memorable and trendy.
- Find all the potential attendees listed to attend your event and encourage them to tweet your hashtag.
- Give your Tweets value – Informing is much more likely to gain attention, followers and engagements as opposed to mere promoting. Make sure your tweets add some value to the reader’s experience. It can be a statistic, a joke or facts concerning your target industry – it has to be something that your target attendee will find interesting.
- Compose your tweets to evoke one of these reactions – astonishment, curiosity and encouragement to engage with the tweet. Ask for their opinion.
- Use a custom URL shortener like Rebrandly to brand and track your short links. In doing this, you can analyze click activity on links you’re sharing on Twitter, helping you to quickly spot which images, copy variations or CTAs are most effective.
- Reply to as many tweets as possible – Boost the interest of users. Even a like/retweet can convince them to follow and engage.
- Use visuals -tweets with videos and images get twice the amount of engagement.
- Live Tweet – Make sure to partner up with people who have large social followings. Get these Twitter influencers to tweet about their experience at the event for increased exposure and clicks.
- Pre-plan Tweets – Have a set of tweets prepared for posting throughout the day. Hourly posts are very important. The average avid twitter user refreshes his or her timeline every one to two hours. Make sure your tweet is on their timeline every time they open their account.
- Use Geo-Tagging: to give attendees a more in-depth and personal exposure to your event.
Backing your Twitter campaign with a solid event marketing tool like Attendease will boost instant engagement and ticket sales directly on Twitter. Attendease allows event managers to create a customized platform to monitor and control all aspects of your events – pass types, promo codes, prices, etc.
How to Promote an Event on Instagram
200 million users visit business profiles every day on Instagram. With the launch of IGTV, an upsurge in Instagram Stories marketing and inclusion of in-app sales, event planners have to find ways to engage with their target audience – the market is way too lucrative.
- Use your event website in your Instagram profile
- Provide links that direct users to your registration page with every post
- Optimize your payment process
- Include a “Get Tickets” link on your Instagram page bio
- Prepare Instagram contests and give away free tickets
- Partner up with sponsors, vendors and Instagram influencers.Make them post about your event
- Create customized hashtags
Be creative and relentless. Have a clear set of targets for every event.
- Post content on a regular basis. Your Instagram followers must get used to seeing your page name on their feed on a regular basis.
- Make it easy for users to learn more about the event
- Push ticket sales on a regular basis
- Encourage Instagrammers to live post at your event
- Use Instagram live to share event details
- Use geotags to drive local users
- Keep a constant check on your registration updates
Use platforms like Attendease to make sure that you are always aware of all the analytics regarding your promotional campaign. Attendease allows event managers to create an unlimited amount of campaign prototypes, promo codes, content, price levels, etc. and to track all through a visual analytics dashboard.
How to Promote an Event on TikTok
According to Variety, TikTok recorded over 795 million users internationally. While it’s a younger social media platform, several large brands are already experimenting with marketing campaigns and seeing success. It’s time to seriously consider TikTok for promoting your events.
When using TikTok for event planning, consider the following campaign ideas:
- Create a TikTok “challenge”
- Partner up with influencers
- Create relatable clips for users to interact with
- Optimize your TikTok account
- Offer prizes for contest winners.
TikTok is in the early phase where only minimum investment is required and returns almost guaranteed thanks to the sheer number of users. With a budget of less than $3,000, a paid TikTok promotional campaign can seriously boost your event.
Conclusion
Social media marketing for event planning is a great way to boost your ticket sales and draw attention to your event. Using the large audiences of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok can seriously help you take your event to the next level. For planning your event, consider working with an event marketing tool to make planning even easier.
Need professional help with planning your 2023 events? Attendease is one of the leading names in the field of all-in-one event management software. Offering all the key features needed to stay relevant in 2023, Attendease provides event managers with an intuitive, seamlessly branded and a convenient digital experience that goes hand-in-hand with a live experience. Book a demo to learn more.