How to Choose the Right Social Media Networks to Market Your Events
Social media is a fantastic tool for marketing events but, with so many platforms out there, it can be difficult to know which ones are best for your event.
When it comes to social media marketing, it can be easy to think Facebook and Twitter are suitable for everything. However, this is not necessarily the case. All the different social media platforms have their own atmosphere, tone, audience demographic, and functionality, and it’s these differences which make them suitable for some professional environments and not for others.
Whether your event is B2C or B2B, understanding the pros and cons of the main social networks is the key to a successful marketing campaign.
As the social media platform of choice for professionals around the world, Linkedin is the ideal place to promote your B2B event.
With posts and advertising on Linkedin, you can make sure that your marketing is being seen by the right people, and not being wasted on a largely B2C audience. You can also target your advertising and posts, so it’s put in front of the professionals who work in fields relevant to your event. The audience will be smaller than with a more scattergun approach but will be far more keenly focused, increasing the conversion rate for your promotional efforts.
If you’re looking for a social network which is great for both B2C and B2B content, generates buzz, and promotes conversation, then look no further than Twitter.
The open environment of Twitter gives your event plenty of opportunity to get in front of as many pairs of eyes as possible. It’s used by individuals and businesses alike, making it the ideal location to promote all kinds of events. With Twitter also being a great way to connect with celebrities, a retweet from the right person at the right time can send your event marketing into the stratosphere.
Hashtags help ensure that your event is popping up in all the right conversations, while easy sharing and liking makes running competitions such as ticket giveaways a breeze. Built in metrics make it easy to see which posts and hashtags are performing well and which ones need a little work. Unfortunately, Twitter is a bit of a swirling maelstrom of content, with individual posts being famously short lived. This means it can be a bit of an uphill struggle to get noticed but, once you do, the rewards can be huge.
With a far more casual attitude, and a bigger focus on friends and families, Facebook is a great place to promote your B2C event. People who are friends on Facebook are far more likely to have similar interests and hobbies, which makes them more likely to share like-minded events with one another. And, as the world’s most used social network, there is no better platform from which to make sure you’re reaching the maximum number of people possible.
While Facebook can be used to promote B2B events, it may not be the best use of your time and marketing budget. Due to its focus on friends and family, people tend to not share business related content on their Facebook pages as much as they do on more professional networks.
Snapchat
Snapchat is known for being a trendy alternative when trying to market your event, however, it is primarily popular with females under the age of 30. Snapchat offers a great option to make a statement with geo-filters and tags on-site. If your marketing strategy targets young attendees, then Snapchat is worth considering.
Instagram is known for its high engagement rates, but it is inadvisable if your event isn’t a food, fashion or photography show. In the past, organizers have been hesitant to use Instagram due to the inability to link to event pages. However, the Instagram story feature now allows organizers to get around this barrier, by providing a way to include direct, clickable links to event or registration pages.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a way to bring your favorite social networks together and use them as an organic part of your events registration process, then InGo is the platform for you.
InGo can then show you other guests who are attending and make suggestions on who else in your network might appreciate an invite. Attendees can share news about the event directly into their social media news feeds or send as direct messages – far more effective than ads being ignored in a sidebar or eliminated entirely by blocker software.
