social media strategies for event marketing

Social Media Strategies For Event Marketing

Events bring social media to life.

October 2011

Copyright 2011 Fandom Marketing @FandomMarketing

Social Media 411An overview.


Over 51.6% of U.S. internet users are on social networks, that’s

109.2 million people(eMarketer April 2010)

Fast FactCopyright 2011 Fandom Marketing @FandomMarketing

Social Networking By The Numbers

500 million active users

100 million members

100 million active users

Sources: Facebook http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics, MySpace http://www.myspace.com/pressroom?url=/fact+sheet/, LinkedIn Feb 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LinkedIn, Twitter Jan 2010 http://themetricsystem.rjmetrics.com/2010/01/26/new-data-on-twitters-users-and-engagement/

YouTube is the #2 search engine in the world (only Google itself gets more searches!)-Comscore

Social communications are becoming a must for lead gen.


Social + Business + BusinessDoes LinkedIn come to mind?


Business professionals are using more than LinkedIn to get the job done.


Social Event MarketingMaking A Splash: Pushing Your Events Into the Social Stream

#event

Types Of Events

Socializing Educational

Tweet-ups/meet-ups Organizations/Clubs

User groups Promotions

Company meetings/Retreats Fundraising

Conferences Seminars

Webinars Workshops

Speakers/Panels Corporate training

B2B B2C User Generated Non-Profit


Three Phases Of An Event & Event Promotion

Pre-Event (The Head)

Different Tactics and Strategies for Each Phase

The Event (The Body)

Post-Event (The Tail)


StatsSource: Fascinating Event Marketing Stats, Hubspot Oct 2011


Builds Audience & Buzz (word of mouth)

Traditional Event

Social Marketed Event

Attendee Social Networking

Live Streaming

Social Sharing

Influencer Outreach

Mail

Website

Print

40% use social media for event marketing.(Hubspot 2011)

+


• Promotions Spread word of mouth through giveaways, discounts, and outreach.

• Share With A Friend Make it easy to share. Give people the tools they need to spread the word.

• Long Tail Communications The longer the timeline, the more promotional opportunities.

• Content Builds Excitement Make it worth sharing.

Pre-Event PromotionCopyright 2011 Fandom Marketing @FandomMarketing

(I may get sued by Apple...)

Use the iBatTM to hit a home run


The iBat Approach

Pre-Event Promotion

Influencers Benefits

Audience Technology


Influencers = Local personalities, weblebrities, celebs, topic leaders with an engaged online audience

• Partner with influencers to promote your event.• Elite influencers 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 them attending.

• Offer benefits such as an exclusive discount to their audience, or free passes to use and giveaway.

• Give them press member treatment.• Find and reach out via social networking to

• Those with similar interests that may want to attend.• Influencers in the same audience as your event.• Brands who will sponsor or cross promote your event.

Pre-Event Promotion

Tips:

Social PR in the form of influencer

outreach on Twitter and blogs


Twitter rocks.

You can reach influencers and venues, or those that represent them, via Twitter directly, quickly, and easily.


Drive the benefit.

A short list of example benefits:• Promote topic interest.• Showcase and feature attendees. People want to

attend events their peers are attending.• Showcase speakers and event celebrities. People

want to network IRL and rub shoulders with leaders in their industry.

• Delicious food, free alcohol, fun! • Reward word of mouth using promotions and

giveaways. Use sharing as a chance to win or gain benefits.

Pre-Event Promotion

Tips:

Showcase people.

Ditch contest forms for sharing

promotions.


Who’s your Audience?

Be where your audience is. Use social platforms they already use for outreach and communications.

Advertise and promote in these places. Have and host conversations leading up to the event. Give exhibitors the tools they need to promote the

event in their social networks.

Pre-Event Promotion

Tips:

Be where your audience is.

Leverage exhibitors’ social

networks.


Pre-Event Promotion

Enable word of mouth with technology.

Make your event invite social:◦ Use an RSVP platform that contains social networking and

sharing features. (Meetup.com, Facebook Public Event, Twtvite, Tweetvite, Eventbright).

◦ Shows attendees names, social handle, and faces.◦ Pre-event social networking and discussion (#yourevent).

Get found:◦ Lanyrd.com social event directory and industry websites.

What’s your communications plan?◦ Promote the event through existing brand social

channels, e.g. Twitter Facebook page and/or group LinkedIn profile, group Blog post Email list Etc.

Tips:

Showcase people.

Ditch contest forms for sharing

promotions.

Have a single #hashtag.


Eventbrite RSVP

Social Integration Sharing Audience Building


The Event

#realtime


What do people want to do in real time?

• Track live event information and news.• Share the good times: What's the #Hashtag? Ensure it’s

on event signage, presentations and tweets• Check-In: Foursquare, Facebook, Yelp, Whrrl

• Live stream, video, tweet and blog.• Share photos & videos, post on Facebook, Posterous,

Flickr, Tumblr, Instagram.• Network IRL combined with social networking.• Get featured.• Increase sharing exponentially using a Minglestream

tweetwall or some form of display.

The Event

Tips:

Live stream.

Provide real time information.

Focus on conversation.


Minglestream example –USTREAM live video • Foursquare Check-ins• Twitter photos• Conversations• #hashtag tweets

Placement:• Lobby to welcome

attendees• Hashtag specific streams

in sessions (keynote)• Projected on a big wall in

the middle of the action

Other: Smartphone apps with built in streaming.

Multi-Media Event Live StreamingCopyright 2011 Fandom Marketing @FandomMarketing

Post Event

#longtail


The long tail, follow-up, and information archiving and distribution.

Wrap up articles covering the event. Distribute presentations on Slideshare and blogs. Immediately compile photo albums, Animoto.com

video of photos, use in future promotional efforts. LOL all those awesome photos are now tagged on

Facebook. Gather interest list for next event or early sign-ups. Ask for feedback. Measure and benchmark success. Leverage the event for as long as possible... a long tail

is very powerful.

Post Event Wrap

Tips:

Share presentations.

Wrap up blog post.

Distribute event content, photos

and videos.


Corporate and Small Group Events

Same tactics apply, sometimes on a smaller scale. Companies often prefer or warrant closed vs. public

communication tools.◦ Check out Yammer.◦ Closed Facebook or LinkedIn Group.◦ Private Facebook invite.

Business people share social contacts – LinkedIn, Twitter follows, etc.◦ Leave space on the name tag for a Twitter handle or URL.◦ Provide ‘badges’ to customize name tags with e.g. blogger,

marketer, or personality traits. Post event photos can be publicly or privately shared

in Facebook, Flickr, or via email.

Tips:

Promotions to scale.

Enable peer to peer social

networking.

Use social platforms in a

targeted fashion.


Events bring social media to life.

Put the Social in Social MediaCopyright 2011 Fandom Marketing @FandomMarketing

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