8 Ways to Leverage Social Media for Your Next Event
Coordinating events takes a massive amount of work. Whether you have 10 or 10,000 guests, there are vendors to organize, decor to be selected, signage, invitations; the list goes on. Planning for social media engagement may be the last thing on your mind. However, social media planning is worth investing time into as you simultaneously manage all the logistical details needed to execute a successful event.
I’ve created Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram social media communications plans for local and national events for several organizations including the National Mentoring Summit and Voices for National Service Awards, held annually in Washington DC. Although the events and their respective audiences were very different, they shared the overarching goal of extending the energy of the event beyond the physical walls of where all the action was happening.
Building out a concrete social media engagement strategy will help add dimension to your brand and promote your organization at the same time. Ready to take the leap for your next event? Here’s some advice to get you started.
1. Think about fun moments in the event planning process to share with your audience. Are you meeting with the catering team for a tasting your guests will soon enjoy? Snap a photo of your plate to give them a sneak peek.
2. Plan ahead for live content with a play-by-play run of show. Timestamp each section with pre-written messages that can be copied and modified easily when posting live photos or videos.
3. Use social media as a tool to preview your event offerings and get your attendees excited. Maybe your banner just arrived or a new speaker was announced. You can even share evergreen videos and photos from previous events if you have those handy!
4. Follow and introduce key players in your event schedule. You can share quotes or bios of emcees, special guests, and other influencers who add immense value to your event.
5. Selling tickets online or promoting auction items? Intersperse this call to action in between other event updates, so that you’re not exhausting your base, but providing a clear way for them to get involved.
6. Create measurable goals to understand the ROI behind your work. Is you main goal audience growth? Or your hashtag trending? Perhaps you care the most about overall impressions? Plan to report out metrics to understand how your content strategy met your expectations.
7. Don’t forget to monitor comments, questions and feedback. Oftentimes, attendees will use the event hashtag to ask pertinent questions about what’s ahead or to give feedback on their experience. Ensure you’re following along closely and responding when necessary.
8. Capture the spirit of the event through creative content. Ensure you’re providing a robust content stream through the use of stories, photos, RTs, replies, likes and comments in the midst of one-way messages coming from the organization.
If the above list seems too overwhelming for your first social media run-of-show, pick and choose a few options to start with. You can benchmark your effectiveness and make notes for ideas to implement the following year. Engaging in any sort of social media event strategy will help strengthen your digital presence, so get creative and above all, have fun in the midst of all the work!
WordSpark Digital Consulting is ready to connect with social impact clients to execute an effective digital marketing strategy and deepen their connection with relevant audiences and drive leads. Interested in collaborating? Let’s connect.