Using Social Media to Enhance your Next Event

One of the services that my PR company, Cross Border Communications, offers is event PR and marketing for small-scale events such as seminars to large-scale functions like conferences. In doing these events and also attending ones in the world of Web 2.0, I’ve noticed an increasing trend towards incorporating social media into event marketing strategies.

Social media can play a powerful role in the planning, promotion and execution of your event. Here are some ways you can integrate social media into your marketing activities:

Pre-Event

• Create a Facebook event page and an event hashtag for Twitter to get the word out about your event. This also offers your attendees great spaces to interact and get to know each other before the show.
• If you’re holding an annual event, consider creating a Twitter account and Facebook Fan page for it. This ensures you’ll always have a follower base to invite and get excited about your event year after year.
• Create a blog where you can post event updates like the speaker line-up, special details, and discounts, and blast these out regularly to attract attendees, sponsors, speakers, and media.

During the Event

• Set up a large screen where a Twitter stream of your event hashtag can be viewed in real time. Attendees can see their tweets, who’s at the event and activities happening throughout the venue just by looking at your “tweet wall.”
• Use location-based networks like Foursquare to provide attendees with check-in rewards like gift certificates.
• If you have speakers, reserve a portion of your event for questions posed by attendees and non-attendees through your social media channels.

Post-Event

• Do a wrap-up post on your blog of key highlights from your event. Include pictures from Flickr and videos posted on YouTube to create a more interactive recap.
• Pull social media stats from Search.Twitter.com or Searchtastic to gather metrics from your event.
• Encourage attendees to use your social media channels to post their feedback, favorite moments and key takeaways from your event.

How do you use social media to market your events? Let me know by posting a comment below, or by sending me a message on Twitter or Facebook.

Photo Credit: TweetWall Pro

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Elena is founder of a technology PR agency that works with startups to billion-dollar companies. She is passionate about helping marketers and small business owners with practical publicity strategies.

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