In today’s world it is but obvious and necessary for everyone to make use of digital channels to give their marketing, sales and branding along with all other aspects of their business that required boost. It goes without saying that the events industry is not lagging behind on the current trends. After all they need the digital world more than the rest of us. We have for you a few points which have been put together courtesy of Event Course.
Check out these uber awesome tips on how to use digital marketing to boost your events.
1) First up is planning a killer digital marketing strategy. Using information gathered from previous events and competitor insights, think about who you are trying to reach out to. Who are your audience? Think about age, gender, where they live but also dig deeper and think about what they do for a living, how much they earn, what problems they encounter day to day, where do they go to find information? (social, google, websites, apps etc.) The more information you have about your audience, the better equipped you will be to reach them.
2) Create blog posts that are relevant to your event. The key to any successful marketing strategy is to create something that is valuable to your audience. This follows the popular inbound marketing techniques allowing people to come to you rather than the dated outbound marketing strategy where marketers had to go out and find potential consumers. A blog is a great inbound marketing strategy to showcase everything surrounding your event. Blog posts could be directly linked to the event such as an interview with a speaker or performer or they could be more subtle like a list of top 10 places to visit in the city it is being held. Each blog post you write could expand your reach to potential attendees. Make sure you share your posts on social networks and by email.
3) Use email marketing to promote your events to your existing audience. Email remains to be a very strong marketing channel in all industries. With most people connected to the digital world 24/7 thanks to mobile devices, email can be used to reach out to your audience anywhere and at anytime. Use it to build excitement during the run up to your event and send through any offers, contests or new information that will encourage people to sign up.
4) Online Video Content is becoming a vital digital marketing channel and one that every event planner should invest in. This doesn’t have to be a big financial outlay. Wistia have a great video showing you how to create a video studio on a budget. This could be used to film interviews or to announce new information about your upcoming event. If it is an event you have held before, post videos from the previous events to get people interested. Film any preparation or behind the scenes action. Video is the perfect visual tool to promote events so utilise it as much as you can.
5) Create a content calendar and include a plan for your social media posts, blog posts, emails, videos and other content. You can even schedule social media posts and emails to be sent out at various times/days in the run up to your event. Tools such as Hootsuite, Mailchimp and Hubspot are great for organising and executing email and social content ideas.
6) Use social media in all aspects of planning, promoting and executing an event. It is essential to utilise the world of social networking to expand your reach and get people talking about your event. Social media is about more than just reposting content. Use it to create a buzz; give your followers something to share and discuss. Think or original ways to engage with your audience. Create event listings on websites such as Facebook, Eventbrite and LinkedIn.
