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How to Use Social Media to Drive Attendance to Your Event and Engage with Your Audience 1

How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

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Tips on how to use social media to drive attendance and engagement to and during your next event!

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Page 1: How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

How to Use Social Media to Drive

Attendance to Your Event and

Engage with Your Audience

1

Page 2: How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

About Marcel Media

2

Marcel Media is full service interactive marketing agency specializing in

Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

We partner with organizations to provide creative and customized

marketing solutions such as Social Media, Interactive Facebook

Applications, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Conversion

Optimization, Website Development and Web Analytics.

goo

@marcelmedia

Facebook.com/marcelmedia

www.marcelmedia.com/blog

Page 3: How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

About Kelly Cutler

3

Kelly Cutler is the CEO of Marcel Media, an

award-winning, interactive marketing firm

specializing in search engine and social

media marketing.

Beginning her career in 1997 with companies

including AOL and Classified Ventures, Kelly’s

achievements include serving as the first

woman president of the Chicago

Entrepreneurs’ Organization,

and instructing at the University of Chicago

and DePaul University.

She is a sought after subject matter expert,

speaking on industry topics such as search

engine optimization, web analytics and

social media marketing across the country.

Connect with Kelly

Linkedin.com/in/kellycutler

or

@kfcutler

Page 4: How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

Social Media: An Overview

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Page 5: How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

Staggering Social Media Stats

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By 2012 half of the world‟s Internet users, 1 billion people, will have a Facebook

account – TIME

78.6% of consumers have joined an organizations community to get more information

on the organization – Universal McCann

66% of company community members note that the community has made them more

loyal to a brand – Universal McCann

46% of Internet users worldwide interact with social media on a daily

basis –TNS

Facebook accounts for 8.93% of all website visits in the

US. All of Google‟s properties including YouTube, Gmail,

Google accounts for 9.85% – Experian Hitwise

Social media accounts for ~ 25% of all time spent online

over 35 minutes per hour – Nielsen

Page 6: How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

Why Social Media Works

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Social Media tools are built for engagement.

Benefits:

Build an online community around your event

Establish credibility in the industry

Attract attendees and speakers for the event

Help attendees connect with each other

Broadens Participation throughout the event

Encourages information sharing

Leverages the event for media cover on and offline

Supplement existing marketing efforts

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Most Commonly Used Social Media Tools

Page 8: How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

Stages of Social Media

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Page 9: How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

Getting Started: The Strategy

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Page 10: How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

Make Sure Your Brand is Visible

Set up a Blog - Post updates, have speakers & previous attendees submit guest posts.

Link all social media profiles to the blog & “share this” functionality into your blog so

people can easily post your content to their profile.

Location Based Marketing – Assign a check-in

location on Foursquare.

Twitter – Create a hashtag and tweet out updates

before, during & after event.

Facebook – Create an events page and Facebook

fan page.

LinkedIn – Send out personalized invites and

create an event.

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Page 11: How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

Optimize Your Event for Sharing

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Create a catchy hashtag for the event.

Provide an incentive for attendees who share the event on their social networks.

Create a web page or virtual whiteboard where attendees can share their social

media contact information.

Consider setting up a live stream for those who cant travel to the event. You can

use Ustream, Justin.tv or Mogulus and stream portions of your event.

Monitor the conversation. Create a Social Mention email alert for your event.

Create a widget and post on the event site with a countdown to the event (Think ball dropping on NYE)

Create a cool badge that other blogs can add to their site with a link to the registration page.

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Event Marketing Tools

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Page 13: How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

Find Your Attendees on Facebook

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Page 14: How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

Facebook

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Create a Facebook Page

Be sure to leave the privacy settings on default so all attendees and fans can post to the page

and see your updates.

Pages have an advantage over groups because your updates will appear in your fans news feeds.

Create a Facebook Event and provide incentives for guests and members who update their own status

with links to the event.

Include an Events Tab on Your Facebook Page that has a registration link.

Visit the profiles of those that attended the event and leave custom comments.

Include a “Like” button on your event‟s website. Facebook “Like” Button now has “Share” functionality –

when users click the Like or Recommend button on a third-party website or within a Facebook app, it now

publishes a full news feed story.

Facebook Places – Allows users to share where they are at, check into a location and then post that

check in to their newsfeed and wall so others can see where they are as well. Events can offer incentives

for checking in like free drink coupons and sweepstakes.

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5 Great Applications for your Facebook Events Page

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1. Welcome Tab- Welcome Tab adds customization to a page by creating a custom landing page

for your Facebook visitors.

2. EventBrite for Pages – Provides another platform for online registration

3. Plancast – Great research tool for people to discover events

4. Nutshell Email – Allows you to send an email to all your fans and followers on Facebook at

once

5. LiveStream – Allows you to stream your event on your Facebook page

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Twitter

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Promote “following” the event‟s Twitter account for event updates.

Ask for people to share your event with the simple phrase, “Please RT!”

Give people an incentive to tweet out your hashtag; offer a free pass, door prize or other

giveaway.

Create separate Twitter lists of event speakers, sponsors, attendees and local restaurants

and attractions.

Have a designated “tweeter” at each session or event that tweets in real-time about the

event.

Create a unique hashtag for the event.

If your event is large enough create a separate Twitter account for it. @blogworld is an

example of this.

Twtpoll – Allows you to create polls and surveys on Twitter (this is a great way to get feedback

during and after the event)

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Tip Sheet: Twitter Hashtag Etiquette

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An Example: #SXSW.

This is a large event with tons of attendees and speakers and it can be easy to overuse

hashtags and update your feed too frequently. Some refer to this as Twomiting or tweeting

every word panelists say.

Rules to Twitter Event Etiquette:

1. Live stream popular sessions so people who cant

attend can follow online

2. Provide frequent blogs with round ups of content from

popular sessions

3. Create an official Twitter account summarizing keypoints,

linking to presentations or handouts.

Page 18: How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

LinkedIn

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LinkedIn Events App – allows you to promote global events to TweetUps

Send an invitation to the people who would be interested in the event based on region or niche.

On LinkedIn, once someone RSVPs to your event, it shows up on the home profile of everyone

that person is connected to, spreading the message for you.

Create a LinkedIn poll after the event to gather feedback quickly and distribute throughout all

social profiles.

Wordpress App- allows you to integrate your blog with your LinkedIn profile

The Slideshare.net app - allows you to showcase presentations yand add a video that autoplays

when people land on your profile.

LinkedIn Events App – allows you to promote global events to TweetUps

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Multimedia

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Choose one preferred site for photo‟s and video & create an channel for your

event/organization.

Post photos & video to Facebook Page & tag the people featured so the post

appears on their Facebook wall as well.

Encourage interaction by inviting participants to upload their own photos from the

event into your Flickr stream, on the event Facebook wall or with Twit Pics.

Online Video Platforms: YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, Metacafe, Tubemogul

Embed videos and speaking sessions on blog.

Interview keynote speakers and attendees and send out through the blog and

YouTube.

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How to Create a Viral Video

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Update Channel Regularly- Delivering useful information through video is more

interactive and increases user engagement.

Syndicate your videos on social media and social bookmarking sites

Tag Your Videos-YouTube allows for segmentation of

content to categorize and target a specific market

Keep your videos, short, simple (under 5 minutes)

and relevant.

Brand your content and videos (name, logo, URL)

Use annotations in your video

Create a playlist; playlists are fantastic ways to guide

your new viewers through your content the way you prefer them to experience it.

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Where Video’s Go Viral

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Facebook Dominates: With more than 500 million people on the

Social network, Facebook dominates the sharing of social video.

People share videos on Facebook 218 percent more than through

Twitter and e-mail combined.

76%

9%

15%

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Live Blogging

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Blog before, after and during your event.

Live blogging during your event can create buzz and excitement for those who were

unable to attend and provide them a snippet of what they missed, which will encourage

them to look for your next event.

Keep Live Blogs short, with all the highlights, quick intro and bullet points.

Blogging Best Practices

Integrate multimedia

Copy editing (Yahoo! Style Guide)

Incorporate data and infographs

Create a catchy headline

Keep entries consistent; we recommend once a week

Optimization; keywords, link building, mobile friendly

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Syndication Through Social Bookmarking

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In Order of Authority:

Twitter

Digg

Reddit

StumbleUpon

Delicious

Tweetmeme

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Incorporate Foursquare and Encourage Audience Participation

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Set up an account that reflects the brand name and details of your event.

Set up a venue (this will be included in event details) Include address, contact

information and links to other social media profiles.

Assign the event a category

Create a landing page weeks in advance of your

event and offer a tease towards some of the tips

and incentives for their participation.

Offer early incentives for „friending‟ the event

profile and develop a community ahead of time

to ensure participation during the event.

Add a Tip – Tips should be valuable to people and align with your brand (e.g. local bar or

restaurant that is having a happy hour special)

Offer incentives for checking into the event. All check-ins receive automatic entry into a

sweepstakes (check-in and win an iPad)

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Social Media Monitoring Tools

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Google Alerts(free): You can use Google Alerts as a buzz monitoring tool.

Social Mention (free): Allows you to set up email alerts and real time mentions of

your brand on social media

Trackur (free – nominal fees): Trackur is a buzz monitoring tool that is ideal for

small businesses and bloggers who are on a limited budget.

Radian 6 (enterprise level fees):This tool provides in-depth insight into real-time

conversation around your brand. It also includes sentiment analysis and allows

workflow assignments to attend to conversations you find relevant to your strategy.

Klout (free): Determines the level of influence your brand has in the social media

Marketplace.

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Advanced Promotional Tools

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Some organizers create their own social networks to build up hype and to keep

connections even after the event has occurred by using Ning.

Add yourself to major event websites like EventBrite, Zvents, Plancast and

Upcoming by Yahoo.

If your event is social media-related,

don‟t forget Mashable‟s Social Media Events

Guide as well.

Twitter applications that promote networking:

TweetChat, Tweetvite, and TweetMyEvents.

Put together a slide presentation of your

conference benefits, topics or speakers and

posting it to Slideshare. Leverage it on other

social media sites and the event blog.

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Cont...Advanced Promotional Tools

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Cinches: Simple to use and can record audio, either via the web or phone

(there are apps for iPhone and Android), so you can share audio messages with your

followers.

DailyBooth: Fast-growing social networking site that allows you to easily

upload and share pictures in seconds.

TwentyFeet.com: Social analytics tool that aggregate all your stats in one

place

Postling: Tool that brings together multiple social media channels into one

interface

Sorify: Tool that aggregates and curates content from around the web. Great

tool for events, product launches, etc.

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A Case Study: Is Facebook Worth More to Event

Marketers then Twitter?

A study performed by EventBrite, which used in-house social analytics

tools to track online ticket sales showed that an average tweet about an

event drove $.80 in ticket sales. An average Facebook “like” drove $1.34

in online sales.

The study also revealed cumulative activity on Facebook was greater than

activity on Twitter for Eventbrite. People shared Eventbrite events on

Facebook almost four times as often as they did on Twitter.

People are more likely to share events if they are attending. Their

friends, according to Eventbrite‟s data, are also more likely to buy tickets

to an event shared on Facebook by a ticket holder than one shared by an

uncommitted friend.

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Case Study Pie Chart

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Summary

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Social Media has revolutionized events and you have a lot of resources at your

disposal. Remember, quality beats out quantity. Start out on a few of the main

social networks, determine where your target audience is most active, and use

what works for you!

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Thank You!

Kelly Cutler

[email protected]

LinkedIn.com/kellycutler

Twitter.com/kfcutler

Questions?

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