Social Media

Social media is a very powerful tool for event marketing, allowing you to reach and engage with a broad audience while building anticipation before, during, and after the event.

A strong social media strategy not only drives ticket sales and RSVPs but also fosters a sense of community and excitement around your event. Choosing the right social media channels and creating appropriate content for your target audience can help to ensure success.

Tips:

Social Media Platforms

Selecting the right social media platforms depends on your target audience, the nature of your event, and the type of content you plan to share.

  • Facebook is great for events targeting a wide age range, as it has a broad user base. Facebook also allows you to create detailed event pages, promote events with paid ads, and engage attendees directly.
  • Instagram is ideal for visually driven events, such as festivals, exhibitions, and pop-ups. Instagram is highly effective for sharing photos, videos, and stories, showcasing the aesthetic appeal of your event.
  • LinkedIn is suitable for professional or industry-focused events, like conferences, workshops, and networking sessions. LinkedIn allows you to connect with professionals based on industry, job title, and company, making it a valuable channel for business-to-business event promotion.
  • TikTok is perfect for events targeting younger demographics or those that involve creative, experiential elements. TikTok’s video-centric format allows you to showcase event highlights in short, engaging clips, potentially going viral with the right content.
  • YouTube is great for events with a lot of visual or educational content, such as tutorials, performances, or panels. Share longer videos, interviews, or event recaps that keep people engaged with your brand after the event.

Social Media Posts

A social media post can include text, images, videos, links to other content, and audio files. To gain better reach and engagement consider (where applicable):

  • Timing
  • Location
  • Hashtags #
  • Mentions @
  • Topics
  • Close captions
  • Polls / questions
  • Final review before posting

Hook Captions

A hook caption is a short sentence or phrase that's used at the beginning of a social media caption to grab the reader's attention and encourage users to engage with the post. E.g. Wait for it, Wanna see something cool? Tips for writing a hook caption include:

  • Use analytics tools to understand what topics your followers are interested in.
  • Define your goals and objectives, such as increasing brand awareness, driving traffic, or boosting sales.
  • Use compelling words that evoke emotion or urgency, like "exclusive," "discover," or "unbelievable".
  • A good hook is usually concise 5-10 words.
  • Use A/B tests to identify top performing hooks.

Paid Social Media Advertising

Paid social media ads allow you to reach a highly targeted audience, boosting event visibility among individuals who may not already follow your page.

  • Social media platforms allow you to target audiences by age, location, interests, and behaviour which ensures you’re reaching people who are most likely to attend your event.
  • Choose from image ads, carousel ads, video ads, or story ads. Video ads often perform well for events, as they can convey a lot of information in an engaging format.
  • Some platforms offer specific event promotion features. E.g. Facebook lets you promote events directly, showing them to users who’ve shown interest in similar activities or live nearby.
  • Retargeting ads reach users who’ve visited your website or interacted with your posts before but haven’t yet registered or purchased a ticket.

Pre-Event Engagement

Creating a content calendar for pre-event promotion ensures that you build excitement gradually, hitting key milestones as the event approaches.

  • Post countdowns to build anticipation. E.g. “30 days to go”.
  • Show behind-the-scenes such as sneak peeks of the setup, staff, or speakers to generate interest and give a human touch to the event.
  • Share what makes your event unique, such as guest speakers, performers, special activities, or exclusive giveaways.
  • Run contests or giveaways to boost engagement and broaden your reach. E.g. Free ticket giveaway – ask followers to tag friends, share posts, or create content using your event hashtag.
  • Recognise event partners and sponsors by sharing posts about their contributions which they are likely to reshare with their own audiences.

Attendee Engagement

Social media engagement doesn’t stop once the event begins. In fact, actively sharing updates and interacting with attendees on the day of the event can enhance the experience and build FOMO (fear of missing out) for those who couldn’t attend.

  • Use features like Facebook Live or Instagram Stories to share real-time coverage such as behind-the-scenes snippets to engage remote followers.
  • Create and display an event-specific hashtag and encourage attendees to use when sharing their own experiences.
  • Encourage attendees to share photos and videos of the event and tag your official account then repost the user-generated content to your own feed or stories.
  • Engage attendees with interactive polls or Q&A sessions.

Post-Event Engagement

Once the event is over, continue your social media engagement to maximise the impact and build long-term relationships with attendees.

  • Share photo galleries, highlight reels, or post-event summaries to give attendees and followers a recap of the event experience.
  • Post a thank you message acknowledging everyone who helped make the event possible, including attendees, volunteers, and sponsors.
  • Ask for feedback on social media or direct followers to a post-event survey to capture valuable data for future improvements.
  • Announce your next event to keep attendees’ enthusiasm alive and encourage them to follow your account for updates.

Social Media Management Tools

Managing social media campaigns effectively often requires the use of dedicated tools to help with scheduling, content creation, analytics, and engagement.

  • Platforms like Hootsuite, Buffer, and Later allow you to schedule posts in advance, ensuring consistent content flow without requiring manual posting.
  • Most social media platforms offer built-in analytics, but for more in-depth insights, consider tools like Sprout Social or Zoho Social to help track engagement, reach, impressions, and follower demographics.
  • For content creation, use graphic design tools like Canva for creating eye-catching social media graphics, or CapCut for video creation.
  • Tools like RiteTag or Brand24 help track hashtag usage, allowing you to monitor the reach and see what people are saying about the event.

Social Media Performance

Analysing the success of your social media efforts is essential for understanding what worked, what didn’t, and how to improve for future events.

  • Focus on key metrics like reach, engagement (likes, comments, shares), clicks, conversions (ticket sales, RSVPs), and follower growth to show how effective your content was in reaching and engaging your target audience.
  • Analyse the results of paid ads separately from organic posts to help reveal which types of posts resonate with your audience and guide budget allocations for future campaigns.
  • Qualitative feedback, such as comments, messages, or responses to Q&As provides insight into what the audience enjoyed most or felt was lacking.
  • Platforms like Facebook provide “Event Insights,” which give data on RSVPs, reach, and engagement specific to your event page, helping you understand attendee interest and demographics.

Long-Term Social Media Presence

Building an ongoing social media presence can drive interest in your future events and keep followers engaged year-round.

  • Post relevant, engaging content even when an event isn’t upcoming such as industry news, or behind-the-scenes stories.
  • Respond to comments and messages to build relationships with your audience.
  • Develop a content calendar that includes milestones and mini-campaigns throughout the year to help keep your audience engaged and encourage anticipation for future events.
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Have you considered?
  • Which Social Media channels are most likely to be used by your target market?
  • How far out from your event will you start promoting on Social Media?
  • What paid advertising options would support your event marketing strategy? Refer to the Paid Advertising section for more information on social media paid ads.
  • What tools will you use to create and schedule your content?