Be the Talk of the Town

Event Promotion Done Right

(According to @DowntownRob)

Who's @DowntownRob?

Own: @WebWizards since 1997Co-Founder: @FandomMarketing

Launching: @MingleStream

Events: @tWineUpSD @TwestivalSD #4sqDaySD

Fun: #Movies #Foodie #Tech #Web #Dev

Alternate Titles For Your Enjoyment

Pump Up The Volume:Raising The Social Buzz for Your Events

Making a Splash:Pushing Your Events into the Social Stream

Types of Events

• Tweetups, tWineUps, Meetups

• Brand Promotions (Launch Parties, Venue Grand Openings, Company Anniversaries)

• Celebrity/Weblebrity/Local Personalty Promotions (Book Launches, Charity Appearances)

• My favorite... PJWAGT: People Just Wanting a Good Time (TM)

Events are like a Brontosaurus(I am a genius)

Three Phases of an Event &Event Promotion

- Pre-Event (The Head)- The Event (The Body)- Post-Event (The Tail)

Different Tactics and Strategies for Each Phase

Pre-Event Promotion

• The longer the timeline, the more promotional opportunities.

• Timeline: As long as one year, as short as one day.

• Traditional promotion: press release, articles, TV, radio, print.

• Leverage social media: Do what was impossible, easily and quickly.

Use the iBatTM

to hit a home run(I may get sued by Apple...)

The iBat Acronym:

- Influencers- Benefits- Audience- Theme

Influencers: Local Personalities, Weblebrities, Celebrities• Some influencers know lots of people. You want

people to attend your event. Therefore, invite influencers, and partner with them to promote your event.

• Other influencers attract, people will come to your event to see/meet/smell that influencer.

• Elite influencer ninjas both know and attract lots of people. Some even charge money. It may be worth it to pay them to attend and you can exploit/promote them attending.

Twitter Rocks

You can reach influencers and venues, or those that represent

them, via Twitter directly, quickly, and easily. That is all.

Why Attend? Events With Benefits

People attend events because they benefit in some way. (Unless it's some illegal event I won't cover right now)

A short list of example benefits:• Delicious food (restaurants love sharing their food in

exchange for Yelp reviews, or social buzz)• Meeting awesome people you've been tweeting with

for months• Smelling said influencers• Free alcohol (provided because you're going to tweet

about it)• Almost Free Alcohol (provided because you might

tweet about it)

Who's Your Audience?

- Tailor your promotions to the audience (target market) of your event.- Find/reach out via Twitter to... - those with similar interests that may want to attend. - influencers in the same audience as your event. - others doing complementary events for cross-promotions, partnerships.

Wear a Good Theme

- Fun themes take the fun and wrap it all in a ninja costume.- Everyone loves dressing up.- People love sharing photos of themselves dressed up or in costume.- Example Themes I've attended: Mad Men, Alice in Wonderland, Pimps and Hos

Pre-Event Promotion Summary

- iBat (Influencers, Benefit, Audience, Theme)

- Pre-event Events

- A single RSVP page if possible (Meetup.com, Facebook Public Event, Tweetvite.com, Eventbright)

The Event

- Share the good times: What's the #Hashtag?- Check-In: Foursquare, Facebook, Yelp, Gowalla, Whrrl- Check-Out: Bizzy- Increase sharing exponentially: Minglestream tweetwall or some form of display- Share photos & videos, post on Facebook, Posterous, Flickr, Tumblr

Post-Event Wrap-Up

Typically, not much done. Everyone rests. Instead...

- Leverage the new face-to-face status online, tweet deeper.- Contest follow-ups, discounts for attendees, post-promo promo.- Compile photo albums, Animoto.com video of photos, use in future promotional efforts.- LOL All those awesome photos are now tagged on Facebook.- Measurement, Analytics, Reporting: increase in buzz, followers, reach, engagement, sentiment.- Leverage the event for as long as possible... a long tail is very powerful.

Put the Social in Social Media

Use events to promote yourself, your company, your charity, your passion

Hugs Not Handshakes (TM)

People remember how you make them feel

Events bring social media to life

Questions? I have answers...

   • Social Media Strategy• Training• Community Building• Promotions, Events,

Outreach• Social Web

Development• SPO (Social Platform

Optimization) for new and existing web sites. 

Thank you for attending...

Please note:

I used no exclamation points in this presentation: +2 points

I used pictures of a brontosaurus: +20 points

I called myself a genius: -2 points

It made you laugh: +5 points

Some of you laugh funny: +2 points

LOL, some of you are doing math right now: +13 points