Planning an event is hard work, and promoting it on social media can feel overwhelming. But don’t worry, I’m here to help! In this post, I’m going to cover the common mistakes that event organizers make when promoting their events on social media and how you can avoid them.
1. Not Having a Clear Strategy
I get it, you’re excited about your event and you want to shout about it from the rooftops. But before you start posting on social media, it’s important to have a clear strategy in place. This means identifying your target audience, setting goals, and creating a cohesive message. Without a clear strategy, your social media promotion can feel disjointed and ineffective.
Let’s say you’re planning a music festival. Your target audience is likely music lovers between the ages of 18-35. Your goal is to sell out tickets for the festival. Your message should focus on the lineup, the atmosphere, and the experience attendees can expect.
2. Focusing Too Much on Selling
Yes, the ultimate goal of promoting your event on social media is to sell tickets. But if all your posts are focused on sales, you’re going to turn off potential attendees. Instead, focus on creating engaging content that highlights what makes your event unique.
Maybe you’re promoting a food festival, you could create posts that showcase the different types of food that will be available, feature interviews with the chefs, and highlight the entertainment that will be on offer.
3. Ignoring the Power of Visuals
Social media is a visual platform, and failing to include high-quality images and videos in your social media promotion can cause your posts to be overlooked. Make sure your visuals are eye-catching and accurately represent your event.
If you’re promoting something like a fashion show, you could create posts that feature photos of the clothing, behind-the-scenes footage of the models getting ready, and videos of the runway walk.
4. Not Engaging with Your Audience
Social media is a two-way conversation, and failing to engage with your audience can make your event seem unapproachable or uninterested in its attendees. Make sure to respond to comments and messages, and create content that encourages engagement.
For example – if you’re promoting a charity event, you could create posts that feature stories from people who have been helped by the charity, ask for suggestions on how to make the event better, and create polls to get feedback from your audience.
5. Not Using Hashtags Effectively
Hashtags are a great way to increase the reach of your event promotion. But using too many hashtags or not using relevant ones can actually hurt your social media efforts. Make sure to research which hashtags are popular in your industry and use them appropriately.
Set up a custom hashtag for your event and use it regularly, and encourage potential attendees to use it too!
6. Posting Too Much or Too Little
Finding the right balance of how often to post on social media can be tricky. Posting too often can be seen as spammy, while not posting enough can result in your event being overlooked. Experiment with different posting schedules to find what works best for your event.
You could create posts leading up to the event that highlight the different aspects of your event, , and then increase the frequency of your posts as the event draws closer.
7. Not Measuring Your Results
Without measuring your social media promotion efforts, it’s difficult to know what’s working and what’s not. Make sure to track metrics such as engagement and ticket sales, and adjust your strategy accordingly.
An example would be – if you’re promoting a conference, you could track how many people are clicking on the links to register for the conference and measure which social media platforms are driving the most traffic to your registration page. If you notice that one platform is outperforming the others, you can adjust your strategy to focus more on that platform.
8. Failing to Utilize Influencers
Influencers can be a powerful tool in promoting your event on social media. Partnering with influencers who have a large following in your industry can help increase awareness of your event and attract attendees.
Ensure everyone appearing at your event is also sharing your promotional posts to their accounts in order to tap into their audience and spread the word, as well as all the people involved in staffing the event. Encourage absolutely everyone who comes into contact with the event to share posts, follow you on socials and like / comment on everything they see!
9. Neglecting to Share User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) can be a great way to promote your event on social media. Sharing photos and videos from attendees can help build excitement and show others what they can expect from your event.
Consider running competitions or giveaways for the best videos/pictures from your event in order to gain more footage from attendees.
10. Forgetting to Follow up After the Event
Your social media promotion efforts shouldn’t stop once the event is over. Follow up with attendees and continue to share testimonials, photos and videos from the event to keep the conversation going. Remember to thank everyone involved – staff, sponsors, vendors, attendees etc – and give dates of the next event if there is to be one in order to ride on your wave of success!
Promoting your event on social media can be a great way to reach a wider audience and generate excitement. However, it’s important to avoid these common mistakes to ensure that your efforts are effective. By taking the time to create a solid strategy, tailor your content to your target audience, and engage with your followers, you can create a buzz around your event that will have people talking and ultimately result in a successful turnout.
Remember, social media is a powerful tool – use it wisely and watch your event flourish and bloom!