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Big event looming?
Whether it's your annual event, trade exhibition or a charity run, the pressure is on you to create hype amongst the social media masses.
Capitalising on engagement now could turn business leads into business sales - and how your boss will thank you for that at the end of the event!
Here's my 5 simple steps to create the most effective social media strategy you've ever done.
1 - Define your goal
New business? Exposure? New recruits? What do you really want to achieve from the event?
Whatever it is, this is your starting point for any strategy, so be clear on what the company wants to achieve and how social media can help.
If it is required, set aside a business lead figure that social media is accountable for and can target.
2 - Define your audience
Who are you trying to target? Who would you like to attract as a new customer?
Whoever they are, make sure you're doing two things: follow them, and create social media posts that are aimed at them.
For event marketing it's also essential to follow people within the industry press and anyone who can help spread your message. List creating in Twitter is a great way of doing this.
Look out for popular hashtags too. These can be a great way to attract your audience, but also look out for hashtags created by the event organiser.
3 - Set up your social
Get all your social media accounts integrated. Make sure the logos are the same throughout the accounts and you have some specially designed banner images for the event too.
Now start to draft some messages taking into account your goal and your audience. Whether you draft these on a spreadsheet, or a funky scheduling device like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite it doesn’t really matter, just make sure the message is engaging to the people you want to impress and includes any important hashtags.
Remember, there is no shame in sending out a link for the same thing in the same day. Just vary how you say it and when you post the message and this will ensure you reach a bigger audience.
Make sure these posts go out before, during and after the event too.
4 – Post wide and live
If you’ve got your own hashtag you want to promote, make sure these aren’t just on your social media posts, but they are also on your collateral including any PowerPoint Presentations you may be giving.
The more you expose people to hashtags, the more they are likely to use them.
Also, something that people don’t do is actually tweet live from their own event. You should have someone at the event that controls all social media accounts giving updates of what’s happening at the event.
For those that cannot attend, they may be relying on their Twitter feed to keep abreast of what goes on.
5 – Review your success
After gradually scaling down the amount of social media posts you do after the event, take time to go over the social media success you’ve had as part of your overall digital marketing strategy.
- Did it add value to your event marketing?
- Have you managed to engage new contacts?
- Has your web traffic benefited?
- Have you had any direct business leads as a result?
These are just some of the questions you need to pose to yourselves to make sure the social media strategy is worth doing again.
Guarantee customer acquisition
Hopefully these 5 steps will help you improve your event social media strategy but how can you ensure the effort was worth it?
Of course not everyone is going to see customers immediately after an event, but you need to have a system in place so you can guarantee customer acquisition further down the line.
Having landing pages, event specific blogs and email automation can really help you acquire new business leads - just remember not to shun social media, its importance in your digital marketing strategy is paramount.
Photo Credit: Flickr,