Cracking social media tactics for your events

Utilising social media from your events can make for luscious, evergreen and marketing content that you can use throughout the year(s). To make sure that you can gather this type of content successfully, make sure that you plan with a good amount of time in advance.

Depending on your industry, have a look at high-profile awards ceremonies and grab some ideas from them. So, for entertainment you could look at the Academy Awards, or the Emmys, or the BAFTAs.

Now, you may not have high-profile awards ceremonies money, but you can use some creativity to adapt some of the tactics used to really push the successes of your event.

Have a look at the check-list below for added planning.

1. Create a Dedicated Event Page or Hashtag:

Event Page: On places like Facebook, you can create an event page to serve as a central hub for information and updates.

Hashtag: If you can create a unique and catchy hashtag for your event to encourage attendees to engage and share their experiences. Research this well though, you don't want your messages to go to dubious places.

2. Develop a Content Calendar:

I mean, you should have one of these already, but now you'll insert posts for your event. You can plan posts in advance, including promotional content, countdowns, speaker spotlights, and behind-the-scenes content.

Make sure that you plan time-blocks for real-time, live posts.

3. Use High-Quality Visuals:

You will be using a mobile device in a real-time, live event and most of these devices can brag about their photographic capabilities and rightly so. You'll be using these images as a matter of course. These images should be eye-catching and should grab attention and convey the event's vibe.

For longer term, or over the course of a few hours or days, you may want to use still images taken from a professional standpoint. These images will continue to tell the story of your event.

4. Leverage Influencers and Partners:

Long before, develop relationships with industry influencers or partners to blow-up your event’s reach. Encourage them to share their experiences and promote the event to their own communities.

5. Engage with Your Audience:

Don't leave comments hanging, it's really not good form and if you do this consistently, audiences are less likely to engage with your posts if they feel neglected. Respond to comments and messages promptly to build a connection with your communities.

Building in engagement by running polls related to the event and these are often best delivered on X.

6. Run Contests and Giveaways:

As part of your marketing you could create contests or giveaways to increase engagement and excitement and ticket purchases.

Encourage participants to share the event on their profiles for a chance to win prizes like free tickets or merchandise.

7. Utilise Paid Advertising:

As well as organic messaging that you're using as a matter of fact, use paid ads to target specific demographics and reach a larger audience.

Experiment with different ad formats like carousel, videos, or stories to see what resonates best with your communities.

8. Share Behind-the-Scenes Content:

Offer sneak peeks or behind-the-scenes looks to build anticipation and interest. Use stories or live streams for real-time engagement with your audience. They don't have to be long ( I'd say a minute each at most for each).

9. Provide Real-Time Updates During the Event & UGC

Use live tweeting, stories, or live streaming to share real-time updates and highlights. Have your event social team encourage attendees to share their experiences using the event hashtag, then you can re-share and comment...generally engage as you would with User Generated Content.

11. Post-Event Follow-Up:

Share highlights, recaps, or thank-you messages after the event ends. Get feedback through surveys, your evaluation forms and/or social media polls to improve future events.

12. Analise and Optimise:

Data, data, data. Use your analytics tools to track engagement, reach, and other key metrics over the course of the event for your social media.

Evaluate what worked well and identify areas for improvement to make the most of future social media strategies.

So what have you done that worked well for your event? I'd like to know if I've missed anything!

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???? Hey, I’m Jennifer. I work in the film industry and I deliver social media strategy for organisations to include the film industry, NGOs, charities, education and personal brands.

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