5 Effective Strategies to Promote Your Events on Social Media

Dec 13, 2016 Dr. Kristina Nelson

Social media event promotion stands out as one of the premier methods for increasing attendance. Nearly a third of marketers rave about its power in reaching potential prospects and drawing them into their events. From baby boomers to Gen Z, everyone spends time on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and other social media platforms making it the most effective channel for your event marketing efforts.   

So, if you want to promote an event and garner maximum attendance, shouldn’t you be leveraging social media to the utmost? In this article you will witness manifold ways to attract visitors through social media and make an impactful promotion plan for in-person, hybrid, or virtual events.

Establish an Official Event Page
63% of marketers admit that they fail to optimize the value of event content. One way to tackle this is with a well-thought-out event page. Crafting it is paramount for amplifying your event's presence on social media and bolstering its credibility. Populate it with an attention-grabbing title, essential details such as the event's unique selling proposition (USP), venue, date, and concise speaker bios. Ensure seamless integration with your event registration page and ticketing software to facilitate easy access for attendees. Take it a step further by linking your event page to your brand or business page on social media, broadening its reach to an even larger audience of followers and prospects.

Generate Event Awareness Through Creative Hashtags
Hashtags have become the lingua franca of social media, offering a potent tool for extending the reach of your event. Optimal hashtags are succinct, event-specific, easily spellable, and distinct. Steer clear of ambiguity or attempts at humor to ensure clarity of message. Once you've curated a selection of unique and straightforward hashtags, incorporate them across various platforms and promotional materials, from your event website to social media pages, blogs, giveaways, and event merchandise. This cohesive approach not only fosters discovery but also makes potential attendees remember your event. 

Harness Paid Search and Social Ads for Event Promotion
Paid ads on social media afford targeted outreach to specific demographics, preferences, and behaviors, ensuring comprehensive coverage of your desired audience. While organic event promotion through social media may overlook segments of your target demographic, paid ads leave no stone unturned. That's why it's the favorite tactic of nearly 80% of businesses globally.  

Incorporate your event seamlessly into social media ad campaigns utilizing extensions such as site links or promotions with clearly delineated start and end dates.  

Allocate a distinct budget to event campaigns separate from ongoing promotions, ensuring focused investment. The best paid ads to promote your event are responsive ads that succinctly convey event details and culminate in a compelling call-to-action (CTA), accompanied by imagery and branding. Also, put your event's link so people can purchase tickets easily alongside that word.

Utilize Creative Giveaways to Boost Ticket Sales
We've already talked about the allure of free things and the power of  giveaways and contests to generate pre-event hype. Here are some unique giveaway examples for event promotion through social media.  

• Provide your followers with the opportunity to win exclusive behind-the-scenes access to your event. Examples include a guided venue tour, interactive sessions with speakers, or privileged access to VIP areas. 
• Use behind-the-scenes reels to promote your event and get attendees excited.  
• Host an Instagram live session to answer questions that attendees and engage with them in a spontaneous manner.  
• You can use Instagram stories to share the setup process and how you have tried to create the best experience.  
• Let a speaker or an influencer take over your social media and post content they make about your event.  
• Develop custom event merchandise to use as giveaways, incorporating event-specific hashtags for heightened visibility and engagement. 
• Forge partnerships with local businesses to curate unique experience packages tailored to your event. For instance, if organizing a music festival, collaborate with nearby restaurants to offer concert-themed packages. 
• Delight prospective attendees with the chance to win upgrades to VIP tickets or experiences, such as front-row seating, access to exclusive lounges, or coveted backstage passes. 
• Grant early access passes to event winners, granting them exclusive entry before the public, enabling them to explore the venue without navigating through crowds.

Post Captivating Visual Content
When using social media to promote an event, it's always the right time to leverage visual content. Visual content is a potent tool for engaging audiences and conveying the essence of your event. From teaser videos and behind-the-scenes glimpses to testimonials and event infographics, you have many options to diversify your content for maximize impact. Here are some suggestions: 

• Create teaser videos on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram highlighting event performers, speakers, or sessions. 
• Give a peak into the event preparation through behind-the-scenes footage. 
• Share testimonials from past attendees to make the current followers eager to attend. 
• Go live on Instagram or Facebook to give event updates, showcase your venue, or answer questions of people. 
• Design infographics outlining the event schedule with key event details. 
• Highlight the major advantages of attending your event in the infographic. 
• Share infographics on local accommodation and travel options if your attendees will come from afar. 
• Post visually appealing images of the décor, stage setup, or featured speakers. 
• Share images with testimonials and positive feedback about your previous feedback from attendees. 
• Create a visually appealing event poster with clear branding, location, and venue details, and a compelling tagline. 

Harness Social Media to Create Massive Buzz About Your Event!
The best thing about using social media to promote events is the ability to personalize. Interactive strategies, such as Q&A, polls, stories, and infographics, can be tailored to the interests of attendees persuading them to walk into your event confidently. This targeted promotion ensures maximum reach and attendance with highly engaged participation. Moreover, you can easily monitor these techniques and refine them to adjust as per the you deem fit. 

If you are ready to go all out for event promotion, explore Eventcombo's suite of event technology solutions. Use our tools to streamline event registration, ticketing, create captivating event content and promote it. Click here.