It’s hard to imagine a world without social media, yet for many years we never used it. This phenomenon has become a part of many people's everyday lives and, unfortunately, isn’t always the most lucrative use of our time. However, because it now has such a huge influence on people all over the world, it could be used to your benefit for social media marketing.

Social media marketing is one of the most effective ways of getting information about your event to your intended audience. There are plenty of ways to utilize the various platforms to help you market your event. Take JTB Communication Design (JCD) for example: we regularly employ social media marketing by posting on our Facebook and LinkedIn pages to update our audience on all of our events. We also post articles with useful travel information about Japan to attract our target demographic.

At the same time, it’s important to consider how social media marketing has changed(1) dramatically in the last few years. You now have the opportunity to engage directly with your audience through interactive features. For example, if you post information on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn about your event, your audience is able to like and comment on your post, breaking the barrier between you, the organizer, and your guests. You also have the option to pay for advertising campaigns, live stream your event, post pictures, and host giveaways. Let’s take a more in-depth look at these social media marketing techniques.

Communicate with your audience
Bridging the communication gap between you and your audience is a great way to show everyone that you are engaging with your public and care about what they think of your event. You can reply to their comments and questions publically so that anyone else who visits your event page can see that you are friendly, inviting, and easy to talk to.

Using private messages is an alternative and people often prefer this option to email or phone calls as it is easy, instantaneous, and private. If they have questions before the event, they can send a quick message to the organizers directly and feel more comfortable about attending.

Opening these lines of communication, you can inspire potential guests to attend your event. You can also receive feedback during and after the event and learn how to improve for next time. This kind of interactivity wasn’t possible years ago, and there are now a range of ways you can connect with your potential guests via social media, so make the most of it.

Advertising
Social media marketing can also be in effect before, during, and after your event(2). In the lead-up, post information related to your industry to intrigue your audience. You can do this by creating an event page on Facebook and sharing blog articles about the topic of your event. Share photos and previews via Instagram, an ideal space for a more visual aspect of social media marketing.

Give people a snippet of what they’re missing when the event is on by live streaming. Both Facebook and Instagram have options to add to a story or stream live videos to your audience so that they can see exactly how the event looks. After the event, upload blog posts to sum up how it went, and encourage your guests to share their opinions via social media platforms. Make sure to respond to any feedback or queries to show that engaging with your public is your priority.

To further your influence on social media, opt for paid advertising. Major social media sites offer this option and will advertise your event for you to a target demographic at a reasonable cost. This demographic can be based on location, which is ideal for event organizing as you can target your adverts towards those local, and your adverts will be aimed at those most likely to attend.

While social media started as a way of sharing your everyday life, it has quickly evolved into a business tool with which you can share your event and business in a friendly, social way. It’s now easy to promote your event via social media marketing(3) by creating an event or business page, and simply keeping it constantly updated.

2 buffer.com, “Event Marketing 101: How to Keep Attendees Engaged Before, During and After Your Event”
3 eventbrite.com, “How to Promote an Event on Social Media in 12 Steps”

Host competitions and giveaways
There’s nothing like free stuff to get people interested, so take advantage with one of the simplest social media marketing campaigns: competitions and giveaways. Your prizes should be related to your industry, like free tickets to an event, VIP access, or merchandise.

The key principle here is that competitions make an event spread like wildfire, with participants tagging, sharing, and promoting it in the hope of winning something, resulting in a free gift for them and some free social media marketing for you.

At JCD, we’ve already seen the vast improvements using social media marketing for event planning. Give them a go and let us know what your go-to technique is.