How Do You Go About Integrating Social Media Into Your Events
Social media has become an essential part of many of our lives, and just about every business now has an online presence. From connecting with friends to sharing selfies, social media platforms have revolutionised the way we communicate. As an events manager, integrating social media into your events is essential if you want to increase engagement, boost brand awareness and reach your target audience more effectively.
Let’s discuss some of the benefits of using social media to improve your event!
Increase Engagement
Social media platforms provide an excellent opportunity for organisers to connect with attendees before, during, and after the event. Promoting the event across social media platforms allows attendees to share their thoughts online and post photos and videos about the event. It provides a sense of community, and if you can persuade your followers to share it with their friends it should increase attendee engagement a great deal. You can post regular updates before the event to keep attendees informed and generate hype about specific activities planned for the day.
Expand Your Reach
By leveraging social media platforms, you can reach a wider audience for a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing tactics. By encouraging attendees to share their experiences on social media and using relevant hashtags, you can reach people who are not attending the event but share similar interests with those who are. This is a great way to create buzz around the event and attract new attendees for future events. Social media grants insight into what your business is all about and increases your reach across the world.
Improve Event Promotion
Social media platforms offer a cost-effective way to promote your events. By creating social media campaigns and running targeted ads, you can reach your target audience and drive attendance. You can also collaborate with influencers and partners to amplify your event promotion and use their reach to increase your network.
Collect Content From Attendees
The content shared by your guests on social media is a valuable asset for event managers. This is an opportunity to collect authentic and engaging content such as photos, videos and feedback. This can then be repurposed for future marketing campaigns and used to better understand your target market. It is also an excellent way to showcase attendees having a blast at your affair and generate social proof for your events.
Now that we’ve examined the benefits of integrating social media into events, let’s discuss some tips to get you started.
Create a Dedicated Hashtag
Creating a dedicated event hashtag is the first step to integrating social media into events. The hashtag should be short, catchy and easy to remember. Promote the hashtag across social media platforms, websites and marketing materials to encourage your audience to use it.
Get to Know Your Audience
Social media platforms can help you better understand your target market. People often list their likes and dislikes for all to see, so it’s just a matter of compiling this data. Events managers often make use of events management software that generates a detailed list of attendees and their preferences. When you get to know your guests beforehand catering for their needs becomes less of a challenge.
Create Moments Worth Sharing
Compelling attendees to share their experiences on social media is often the biggest battle. Provide photo opportunities, create social media walls and run social media contests to incentivise attendees to share their experiences. If you are able to get an influencer on board a meet and greet might just help your event go viral!
Live Stream the Event
Live streaming the event on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram is an excellent way to reach a wider audience and provide an immersive experience for those who can’t attend the event in person.
With all of this in mind, we hope that you can go forth and create a social media strategy that complements your event and provides a memorable experience for all of your attendees.
