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October 16, 2019 / By admin
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How Do I Amplify My Social Media Outreach at an Event?

3.2 billion people (or about 42% of the world population) are on social media, making it the biggest marketing channel to ever exist. It goes without saying that the power of social media marketing lies in its reach, which is why more and more show producers are creating experiential events to boost their social media outreach.

As an event producer yourself, whether you are trying to increase your likes on Facebook, followers on Instagram or subscribers on YouTube, here are some ways you can get more people to land on your social media accounts and convert them from “window shoppers” to long-term followers.

Go live

Online broadcasting makes it possible to stream live events free. And stream you should, because every viewer is a potential follower. Between YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, more than 1.1 billion hours of online video is watched every single day! And according to Livestream LLC by Vimeo, live video is more appealing to brand audiences than standard video promotions or even other social media posts.

But why?

Well, simply because people today want to watch their favorite brands, content creators, entertainers and online celebrities raw, unedited, in-person and in real time rather than in a choreographed advertisement. For that reason, if you want more brand exposure, stream your event!

That being said, you need to go beyond merely live streaming your event. Acknowledge your viewers, be attentive and engage with them to create personalized interactions on social media during your live stream. Take live questions, run a poll or take your viewers behind the scenes at your event through Instagram Stories and Snapchat – this is a unique opportunity for you to humanize your brand and engage in a two-way conversation with your viewers. If enough people watch your live stream, it will get recommended to other users as a “trending” topic, making it even more discoverable and thereby, expanding your social media outreach.

Create a trend-worthy and intuitive hashtag

Whether you are hosting a sporting event, a charity gala or a business conference, your event needs to have a catchy hashtag attached to it. You can add your unique hashtags to your promotional items or feature them on your pop up stand and media display. This will increase your hashtags exposure and people will be encouraged to use them to share their experience of attending your event. Using these hashtags, your attendees can upload photos they took during the event and comment about the presentations. After the word has been spread, your hashtags will not only be creating buzz around the event, but they will also make it easier for your audience to interact with your event/brand, further amplifying the conversation and thus, your social media outreach.

When using hashtags, however, there are a few things you should keep in mind. These include:

  • Keep your hashtags short and sweet! Long hashtags are not only difficult to search for and read, but they also take up most of Twitter’s small 280 characters limit, leaving no space for the tweet itself!
  • Do not go hashtag crazy! If you are planning to use hashtags in a social media post, make sure that you only use it once or at most twice. The main idea of using hashtags is to focus your post on one or two key subjects, after all.
  • Make sure that the hashtags you have chosen have not yet been used to promote another event(s) or special promotional campaign(s).

Offer giveaways and run contests

People love freebies! Indulge the attendees at your event by giving away event promo codes or other giveaways. For example, you can post on your social media –“3 lucky followers will each win the brand new iPad.” Event giveaways like this, give people a strong reason to follow your brand on social media – in this case, a chance to win the prize you offer. This way, giveaways and contests can generate a consumer “buzz” and trigger a huge spike in your social media audience. On another note, make sure your prizes involve something related to your brand!

Captivate with share-worthy stories

A good story can compel people — emotionally and neurologically — to act with a “like,” a “share”, a “retweet” or a “follow”. So, it would make sense if you share such stories about your event on your social media. Maybe share the origin story of your event or an anecdote about your keynote speaker. If you want to come off as an authority in your industry, you can even share with your audience some recent game-changing trends in your industry. If your stories are truly entertaining or valuable, they will surely be appreciated by your audience. Once your audience’s responses reach their online friends, it will bring new people into the conversation (and onto your social media!).

The last word

Amplifying your social media outreach should always be at the forefront of your mind when planning for your next event. Why? Because a larger social media outreach leads to increased brand recognition, improved customer loyalty, more opportunities to convert and of course, higher conversion rates.

Your perfect event starts here. TOAST can help you design, plan and manage an affair that will not only leave your attendees in awe but also build your social media presence, earning you many new “followers.”

Social Media Outreach

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Whether you’re a professional event producer or this is your first foray into hosting a business conference, your number one priority should always be exceeding your attendees expectations – not just meeting them. If your attendees actually engage with you and the activities you have planned, you can easily steer your conference into a glowing success that will be talked about for years to come.

With that in mind, here are some tips and tricks that you can use to ensure your next conference is a success.

Give your attendees knowledge they can benefit from

The way you structure your event content can be the key to whether the attendees benefit from it or doze off in their seats. To ensure your attendees enjoy the content, you need to recognize their needs and make sure that your sessions, as well as the core theme of your conference, is suitable and useful to them. Try to offer knowledge and innovative ideas that your attendees can take back and apply in their professional lives or organizations. When you design your agenda while keeping your attendees unique needs in mind, they will feel like the “star” of the event and you will have a successful conference on your hand.

Get a mobile app

The knowledge doesn’t end when the conference does. Does it? This is precisely why your handouts, recorded sessions and conference proceedings need to be made available in a mobile app. If your attendees can access conference materials from anywhere, at any time, they are more likely to have a fulfilling experience. What’s more, you can also use your conference app to send push notifications and alert your attendees on important updates before and during the event itself so they don’t miss out on anything that might be of value to them.

Secure the right speaker to deliver the keynote speech

A keynote speech sets the tone for your event, so it’s important to choose the right speaker to kick it off. A good, well known keynote speaker would act as sales tool as their name alone can sell your event. Make sure you secure a speaker your audience would be interested to see and lend an ear to - someone who can inform, inspire, educate and entertain your attendees.

Another word on speakers: “A tight five is always better than a sloppy fifteen.” No matter how polished, most speakers cannot hold the attention of an audience for more than 60 minutes. Be sure to never have your speakers go too long without a break.

Use visuals to enhance the presentation

In order to make the most of your keynote, outfit each speaker with a killer presentation that will wow your attendees. Whether it’s typical slides created in Keynote or PowerPoint, interactive charts or a cool opening video, supporting visuals can be much more effective than words. Your audience may be able to understand the ideas or points your speaker is trying to get across a little more easily when they are presented with visuals that relate to it.

Caffeinate your conference

Serving coffee at a conference is always a good idea. By setting up breaks and making sure that everyone has a cup of coffee when they need or want one, you can keep your attendees intact and entertained during the long conference. Serving coffee at your event will surely be appreciated by your attendees and also makes for a wonderful opportunity for networking. And speaking of networking…

Make time for networking

Once the basic needs are provided for, it’s important to think about your attendees social needs. One of the primary reasons attendees will attend your conference is to network with other industry experts, so make sure you have made arrangements for plenty of networking time. Your attendees would also love to meet your vendors that can help them in their everyday business. Make sure your conference has opportunities like a tradeshow or sponsored mixer for two-way conversations between the vendors and attendees.

Your Business conference shouldn’t be all work and no fun

Keep your attendees motivation and morale up by making sure there’s some “fun” on the menu. You can have live music played throughout your conference: during breakfast, main stage arrivals, lunch and breaks, photo booths filled with themed props, experiential learning sessions and more. Organizing a swanky opening night cocktail reception at one of the trendiest restaurants in town is another way you can make your conference more exciting and have all of your attendees singing your praises. Whether you’re promoting a new product, building brand awareness or securing new clients, kicking up the level of fun can make your convention “The event of the year!”

The last word

A big part of building a successful conference is to understand what your guests expect to get out of the event. You might have to scramble to implement a new feature, but if it fills a need, then it’s sure to pay off in the long run. That being said, if you’re new to organizing corporate events and need a helping hand, TOAST is here to help. We can make sure everything is set up and in gear to ensure that your business conference comes off without a hitch – and your attendees leave the venue feeling that it was time and money well spent.

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