7 Ways to Use Social Media to Promote Your Event
Planning a trade show or other event can be stressful. The months of research and the expense involved make it critical that you attract the right number of attendees and exhibitors, and your event needs to be successful for everyone. Here are some ways you can use social media to promote your event and help to ensure its success.
Top Social Tips
- Come up with a hashtag. Create a unique hashtag for your event and start using it as soon as you announce the date and location. All of your social media posts should include your hashtag. Keep it short but relevant. Avoid acronyms or abbreviations that make it difficult to discern what it’s for. Make sure that when the words run together, they don’t spell out something you didn’t intend.
- Start the tweets, posts, Instagrams, pins, snaps, and videos as soon as you know when and where your event will take place.
- Cultivate your promoters. Use influencer marketing by encouraging your speakers, exhibitors, and attendees to spread the word via their social networks. Provide them with articles to link to, and encourage them to use the hashtag.
- Create an engaging contest. Have a scavenger hunt for attendees to collect pictures that relate to the theme or location of your event before they arrive. Once at the event, provide a list of objects attendees need to snap to collect a prize.
- Tweet or post information about your speakers. Do a short profile of each, using their name so they can retweet you. Post one each week leading up to your registration deadline.
- Set up a Facebook or LinkedIn group for speakers, exhibitors, and attendees. They can get to know each other a bit before the event, and you’ll increase the buzz. Be sure to monitor the group so you can quickly answer questions or provide more information when it’s needed.
- Be sure to follow back anyone who follows you or who uses the event hashtag. You can keep the social sharing going while you’re getting ready for next year’s event!
Social media can make promoting your event easier than ever. Include your social media campaign in your event planning right from the very beginning to give your event the best chance for success. And as soon as it’s over, you’ll want to start planning for next year!