{"id":24447,"date":"2016-08-28T14:54:44","date_gmt":"2016-08-28T18:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webtargetinc.com\/newwp\/step-by-step-guide-to-promoting-your-events-using-social-media\/"},"modified":"2020-02-27T09:57:08","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T14:57:08","slug":"step-by-step-guide-to-promoting-your-events-using-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webtargetinc.com\/en\/step-by-step-guide-to-promoting-your-events-using-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Step-by-step guide to promoting your events using Social Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Social networks have become an essential media to leverage for promoting any event initiative. The social media platforms and engagement tools available are a must have for event organizers to promote “before”, animate “during” and share “after” the content of their events and conferences. We offer a step-by-step guide to 42 best practices for using social media to publicize your events.<\/p>\n

BEFORE THE EVENT<\/h3>\n

Setup social media platforms & tools<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Create a\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0account<\/strong>\u00a0(free). Twitter is the platform that will allow you to get the biggest benefits of social media for promoting and publicizing an event. It\u2019s the most used tool by participants and organizers to communicate and share their impressions of and comments on the sessions during an event.<\/li>\n
  2. Make sure that your Twitter account has been customized<\/strong>\u00a0with your brand so that visitors can identify your organization.<\/li>\n
  3. Create a\u00a0Storify<\/a>\u00a0account<\/strong>\u00a0(free for the basic options). Storify is an online tool that enables you to follow conversations on social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Instagram. It also enables you to make a selection (or curation) of the conversations you want to publish on a specific Storify page related to your event. This allows you to summarize the highlights of the event through the content that participants and you have published and then have cherry picked. Storify even enables you to include this summary page on your website or the website of the event with a widget, which is a great benefit, since you can promote your website, not Storify.<\/li>\n
  4. Create a\u00a0Slideshare<\/a>\u00a0account<\/strong>\u00a0(free for the basic options). Slideshare is an online platform that enables you to publish and share PowerPoint, Keynote and PDF presentations. Documents are published and available in an online reader that enables you read from one page to another. This reader can then be inserted into your website or into a blog post.<\/li>\n
  5. Download a conversation monitoring tool for Twitter such as\u00a0Hootsuite<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(free for the basic options) to track conversations using the hashtag you defined for the event (see # 8 below). Hootsuite is an online tool that enables you to centralize and publish messages on one or more social networks, and also to follow and participate in conversations on Twitter.<\/li>\n
  6. Create an account on a social video platform such as\u00a0YouTube<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Vimeo<\/a><\/strong>. These online platforms allow you to store your videos and then play them in a video player which can then be inserted into your website or into a blog post.<\/li>\n
  7. \n<\/div>
    <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

    [Optional]\u00a0Create an account on a social photo platform like\u00a0Flickr<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/strong>. These online platforms allow you to store your photos and to make them discoverable to a larger audience through search engines like Google that index them. This will help your SEO ranking if you add a link back to your website in the description of the photo.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Name the event on Twitter<\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. Define a Twitter hashtag for the event<\/strong>. Hashtag are used to centralize messages around a specific word on Twitter. You can read more about hashtags\u00a0on the Twitter support site<\/a>.<\/li>\n
    2. Try to create a hashtag with name that is unique<\/strong>. Because the creation and use of a Twitter hashtags are public and free, have an as unique as possible hashtag minimizes the risk that it will be used for purposes other than for your event. You can simply do a search for the hashtag in Twitter to see if it is already used by others.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Promote the event on social media and in your newsletters<\/h2>\n
        \n
      1. Communicate the hashtag of the event on all event marketing materials<\/strong>\u00a0(brochures, banners, emails \/ confirmation emails, tickets, badges, etc.).<\/li>\n
      2. Promote the event on all your social networks two weeks before<\/strong>\u00a0and put the emphasis on the speakers (make links to their bios if they are on the website of the event) and on the program of event.<\/li>\n
      3. Invite your audience to sign up for the newsletter or the event<\/strong>\u00a0to stay informed about the practical information and other news.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        DURING THE EVENT<\/h3>\n

        Create engagement with the event sessions on Twitter<\/h2>\n
          \n
        1. Present each session a few minutes before it starts<\/strong>\u00a0and use the hashtag for the event.<\/li>\n
        2. Share key sentences during the session on Twitter<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
        3. Follow the conversation on the Twitter hashtag\u00a0during the session<\/strong>\u00a0(by using a tool like\u00a0Hootsuite<\/a>)\u00a0and participate in the debates on Twitter by answering to messages or by re-tweeting them.<\/li>\n
        4. Communicate practical information to help the organizing of the event<\/strong>. For example: remind about gathering places and times, where to find the information points, who to contact in case of any requests, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Produce as much content as possible<\/h2>\n
            \n
          1. Take pictures throughout the day<\/strong>\u00a0of speakers, participants, the venue,\u00a0and if possible publish some on social media during the day (on Twitter and Facebook).<\/li>\n
          2. Make videos of sessions<\/strong>\u00a0(in whole or in part).<\/li>\n
          3. Make video interviews<\/strong>\u00a0of the speakers and participants.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Continue to promote the event on other social networks<\/h2>\n
              \n
            1. Promote the Twitter page listing the conversation around the event’s hashtag<\/strong>\u00a0on other social networks to allow many to share the conversation on Twitter. People don’t need to have a Twitter account to see the stream of conversation on a given hashtag, and it’s a great way to promote your activity on Twitter.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Monitor the level of engagement on Twitter<\/h2>\n
                \n
              1. Track the reach of the conversation Twitter in the “Tweetosphere”<\/strong>\u00a0(using a free tool like\u00a0TweetReach.com<\/a>)\u00a0to see for example how many people have read the messages related to the event hashtag.<\/li>\n
              2. Send a message on Twitter when a certain level of buzz has been reached<\/strong>. For example: 5000 Twitter accounts have been reached or the hashtag had 10,000 impressions\/views.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                End-of-day recap<\/h2>\n
                  \n
                1. Thank the participants at the end of the day on all social networks<\/strong>\u00a0and remind them of the time and location for the next event (if there is one).<\/li>\n
                2. After the last sessions go into Storify to make a selection of relevant messages<\/strong>\u00a0aggregated from social media into your\u00a0Storify account. Select the messages that illustrate the highlights of the day and publish them to your profile.<\/li>\n
                3. Promote the recap of the day on Storify (or on your website with the Storify<\/strong>\u00a0widget<\/strong>)\u00a0on social media and in the newsletter sent to participants of the event later in the day.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  AFTER THE EVENT<\/h3>\n

                  Publish a selection of media content produced on social sharing sites<\/h2>\n
                    \n
                  1. Publish a selection of the event’s photos on social media<\/strong>\u00a0(at least\u00a0Facebook, but also on Flickr, Instagram and Pinterest).<\/li>\n
                  2. Publish\u00a0the event’s presentations on your Slideshare profile<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
                  3. Publish\u00a0your edited videos on your\u00a0YouTube or Vimeo profile<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    Write summaries of the event<\/h2>\n
                      \n
                    1. Create articles with the summaries of the event and publish them on your blog.<\/strong>\u00a0Make sure you insert the associated Slideshare presentations, or videos of the sessions in them.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                      Share & promote the event<\/h2>\n
                        \n
                      1. Share your event summary articles from your blog on social media<\/strong>\u00a0as they become available.<\/li>\n
                      2. Send a newsletter to all participants of the event, promoting the summary articles<\/strong>\u00a0and the event’s content on Vimeo and Slideshare platforms.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                        Measure the performance of your marketing efforts<\/h2>\n
                          \n
                        1. Make an assessment of the performance of your marketing efforts<\/strong>\u00a0by looking at your analytics to measure:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                            \n
                          • How many visitors came to the website of the event before, during and after the event?<\/li>\n
                          • How many conversations took place on Twitter with the hashtag for the event, and what was their reach?<\/li>\n
                          • How many new fans did you get on Twitter and other social media platforms (Facebook, Slideshare, etc.)?<\/li>\n
                          • How many new subscribers did you get to your newsletter?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>
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