Twitter is UK’s second most popular social network, so if you’re going to use it to promote your event – make sure you do it right. A lot of the time event managers will set up a Twitter account, in hope to attract some interest but, they either don’t keep their efforts consistent or, they do not use Twitter to it’s fullest potential.
Whether your next event is a conference, exhibition, product launch, summer party, dinner and dance or any other event, Twitter can be the best place for you to start marketing and promoting.
Twitter is a great platform for you to project your message, network and communicate. But let’s have a look at some important things to remember as soon as you log in to your Twitter account, ready to start off the buzz, around your next event.
Don’t forget to use a #HashTag
Hashtags – if you don’t already know about it, are the perfect ways to narrow down your target audience. If for example you are planning a summer event, you could use the hashtag #SummerEvent to show up on the news feed where others are promoting or interested in summer events.
You can however be a little more advanced and create a hashtag that you can use, just for your event. During the Olympics the hastag #OpeningCeremony was predominately used during, the opening ceremony. People used this hastag to see what was trending, what people were saying and sharing. Why not do this for your event, create a unique hastag and use it to create a buzz for people attending, to get more people to interested and to get everyone excited around the news and trends on that hastag.
Imagine a page without Images
What would that be like? Remember web pages from before our responsive website era, some that are still around, that used simple coding, plain text and were just there for information? If you look back at these sites now – you’d be offended by the appearance. Websites now are image heavy, they make the page look more interesting and help the visitor engage better with the site.
Twitter works in a similar way. From all the tweets that you see on your newsfeed, the ones that stand out the most are the ones accompanied by an image. But you do not want to add an image to every single tweet that you make, as this could annoy your viewers and will make you seem too ‘salesy’ and pushy.
So, use images to promote your event, but don’t over-kill it. You can try alternative things such as Vine. Vine is the Twitter mobile app that lets you create and post video clips, up to 6 seconds. You can use this to create and post videos that capture moods and moments related to your event. Explore Vine and create great videos that can be used as alternative promotion techniques on Twitter.
Retweet + Respond = Results
When your followers engage with your tweet, retweet or favoruite it and, respond to them. The follower will appreciate this and if you get an interesting conversation going, people will retweet your tweets and retweets – effectively sharing and promoting your brand and the event all over Twitter – that’s results.
Dependent on the type of event you are having, tweet according to the behavior you expect from your attendees. For example if it is a corporate event, use professional language and be precise. If you are holding a summer party, make the language fun, creative and original.
You can go a step further and use the mentions @ sign to target certain people in your tweet. You may want to thank the venue for letting you hold your event there. You may want to mention how good the caterers were at the event after it has finished. You should use Twitter throughout the event planning process and that includes before, during and after. Use Twitter to thank everyone, to start conversations, to get opinions and comments from attendees – all so that next time, you have bigger and better ideas and, your attendees will be looking forward to you next event.
Remember, social platforms are there to support you with your event promotion; it should not be your only option if you are holding a huge event. Experiment with different mediums.
Create excitement and suspense around your event, get your followers wanting to know more, hold competitions if you’ve got the budget, for example to give away free tickets. Drip-feed your followers with information, and that way you will be present on their news feed and they will follow the conversation around your event, and contact you if they’re interested.
