In a society where everyone is time poor;
reassuring potential guests that your event is worth the investment, is vital.
Is your event lacking that pre-event ‘buzz’? Do you need to build interest in the run up to the main event? After a hectic month of back-to-back events at our events venue in central London, we want to share our first hand experiences on social media engagement with you for maximum optimisation.
1. CREATE A HIGHLIGHT REEL FROM A PREVIOUS EVENT
One of the best ways to get your guests/potential guests interested in your event is to show them what they missed out on previously. If they are returning guests then it reminds them of what a great time they had and could lead them to share their own media and experiences from the previous year.
Video is only getting bigger on social media and it’s well worth the investment to have someone make a video of your event. Live streaming is growing so use Periscope to live stream from Twitter or use Facebook Live to show off the event.
Don’t forget your audience demographics and upload it to both YouTube and Vimeo. Once it’s created you can share it across all social media channels.
Here is a video we created for New Year’s Eve using footage from the previous year:
2. USE VISUAL TESTIMONIALS
A testimonial is a great way to prove your event is worth the time and money. People like to see what they are getting for their money and in a society where everyone is time poor; reassuring potential guests that your event is worth the investment is vital.
Overlaying your quote on an image reinforces what it says. Extra points if you have video testimonials!
Example from our partners AlchemyLive at our events venue in central London:
3. USE ONE UNIFORMED HASHTAG FOR EVERYTHING
It may seem obvious but a lot of event planners overlook this and underestimate the power of a hashtag. It’s not just for Twitter; you can now use them on Facebook and Google+ so take advantage and use it across all channels.
Communicate your hashtag on the tables at your event and keep up the hashtag during and after your event. This will be a great basis for your next event.
We hosted an event here at our events venue in central London and we used the hashtag #eventvr to engage guests. Before, during and after we had constant tweets about the event as you can see here:
To get the hashtag circulating at the event, it was written on a small card that was placed on everybody’s seat.
4. SHARE BEHIND-THE-SCENES CONTENT
Giving your guests-to-be a sneak peek of what’s going on behind the scenes creates a build-up to the event using:
-The venue
-The event set up
-Signs
-Goody bags
-Bloopers
-If you have any celebrity guests drop hints to who they are
-Use already existing trends to widen your audience
For example:
5. We asked our tech partner and social media guru, Alex Smales from Tribe Mix, for a tip on how to keep up the engagement throughout your event
“Sometimes asking people to tweet or post about your event while they’re there isn’t enough. So create an irresistible photo opportunity for them, featuring your event logo and encourage them to share their photo with your hashtag for a chance to win a prize.”
“It can be anything, but fun backdrops, photo booths or tech installations all work well. The prize is an important ingredient. Otherwise people may just save the image on their phone, or just share it privately. Combined, this activity will massively increase the amount of posts going out about your event. If done well, it will show your event in a positive light.”
Example: Here at our events venue in central London, we ran a competition for the London Christmas Party Show where the guests tweeted us with their choice of our two Christmas party themes and went into a prize draw. Winners were taken on a beautiful day out to the Nyetimber vineyard in Sussex.
How can you put this into practice for your next event?
Email marketing@8northumberland.co.uk to register your interest in our social media workshop.
There are Venues in London, and there is 8 Northumberland Avenue.