If you’re running an event, regardless of the nature of your event, these days social media often plays a role before, during, and even after your event has concluded. If your event is a virtual event or a hybrid event, then utilizing social media will likely be given even greater importance.
If you are planning on hosting an event of any kind, it’s always a good idea to enlist the services of a professional event management company to help you plan, organize and run your event. Your chances of success are greatly increased when you have industry event specialists on your team. If your event is to be a hybrid or virtual one, make sure the company offers virtual event services and online event production.
Let’s now dig into some dos and don’ts regarding social media engagement for events.
Do Develop a Social Media Strategy For Your Event
Putting together a strategy for social media marketing of your event and engagement will enable you to get the most out of your event investment. Your strategy is an overall plan for how social media will be utilized in every aspect of your event, from promotion to audience engagement and feedback.
In this modern, internet-dependent world, it would be almost crazy to host any sort of event and not include social media in the process somewhere.
Do Create a Promotional Social Media Events Campaign That Engages Your Target Audience
If you’re going to make use of the power of social media to bring attention to your event and create a buzz around it, you’ll need to produce content that is interesting and grabs the attention of your target audience.
In order to achieve this outcome, you need to first define your objectives for both the event itself and each and every social media post you make.
Also, keep your posts short and to the point, as it’s just so easy for people to scroll down to the next post on platforms such as Facebook. Long posts with loads of text will likely just be skipped.
Do Include Visuals On Social Media
One of the best ways to create posts that grab attention is to use visuals. If an interesting image is a very first thing a person sees, they’ll be far more likely to read your post. Of course, the image has to be more than just interesting or attractive. It also needs to be relevant to the content of the post.
If you have photos or videos from previous similar events, you could use these, or alternatively, have some eye-catching images made to order by a talented graphic designer.
Do Use Hashtags But Don’t Use Too Many
Before creating a social media post, dream up a list of relevant hashtags you can use at the end of the post. These will help people to discover your posts. Keep in mind that you won’t want to use too many hashtags or you’ll simply look like a spammer.
Do Encourage Attendee Feedback On Your Social Media Events Page
On your page dedicated to your event, create a section where attendees can leave their thoughts and feedback. This can take place before, during, and following your event. This type of feedback can prove to be invaluable information moving forward and it’s a very easy way of gathering vital data.
Don’t Ask People To RSVP On Your Social Media Posts
If you’re regularly posting promotional material on your social media feeds to draw attention to your event, don’t ask people to RSVP for the event on the actual post in the comments. Instead, set up a special events page where people can let you know whether they will be attending or not.
Many people can be put off by the idea of soliciting attendance directly on a promotional post. A better idea is to get them interested in your event and include a link to your events page where they can specify their intentions. This also gives you a lot more control over your attendee list and you can see at a glance how many people plan to attend, how many can’t or won’t, and those who are yet to decide.
Don’t Over-Promote On Your Social Media Channels
One grave mistake that can kill the benefits of social media promotion is to over-promote your event on a particular platform. If your followers are seeing posts about your event every few minutes in their respective feeds, it’s going to turn them off real quick.
Promotion is always a balancing act. You want to spread the word but at the same time, you don’t want people to grow sick and tired of hearing about your event.
Another thing to keep in mind while getting the word out about your event on social media is variety. Don’t just keep repeating the same old post. Create different posts and cycle through them so the message doesn’t get stale.
Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Shares Of Your Posts
In order to spread the word about your event even further, don’t be shy in asking people to share your posts with their followers. Many people are happy to share a post and a simple prompt to do so at the end of the post is often all it takes to get action. On most social media platforms, sharing a post is as simple as clicking a button.
Don’t Fail To Respond To Comments and Questions
People are naturally going to respond to your event posts with comments and questions. What you don’t want to do is fail to answer any relevant questions people ask or to respond to comments that beg for a response. The more engaged you are with your posts, the more engaged your potential audience will be.
The Takeaway
Social media should be an integral part of your event promotion and used as a way of creating engagement and gathering important feedback. Just be mindful of what you should and shouldn’t do when it comes to social media and events management.
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