Use Social Media Wisely for Effective Event Promotion

Do you remember how it used to be when it came to promoting an event a few years back? Pamphlets were distributed, advertisements were published in every local newspaper and with the word of mouth, such events were marketed. The options were limited and the targeted audience was local. Today, Social media makes everything easy. 

Facebook has over 2.45 billion users and is still growing. It is a holy grail for advertisers when it comes to any kinds of promotion of an event or a product. But is it really that easy to promote an event on social media? According to a study, more than 50% of the people seem to be struggling with event promotions.

The key factor in promoting an event on social media is to know that every social media platform is different and has different uses. A failed event promotion example can be - If you advertise your event on Twitter through a video only, it’ll definitely won’t get any attention, because twitter is all about #hashtags and small tweets. There are many tips and creative ways to promote an event on social media. But if you divide the event promotion as pre-event, during event, and post-event, it becomes easier to follow through.

Social media promotion timeline is important. One needs to make a plan and have a strategy for any kind of event one is planning to host or promote. You can use Facebook and LinkedIn to create event pages, while Twitter, Facebook and YouTube can be used for live tweeting and Live video streaming the event respectively. This way a large number of audiences can be reached for the event promotion. Instagram can be used to post photos and small videos of the event, including the pre-event and post-event photos and videos. Similarly, you can use Pinterest, SlideShare or Snapchat based on your targeted audiences. 

Let’s now dig into the tips on how to promote an event successfully, taking into consideration the above 3 mentioned scenarios:

Pre-Event-

Pre-event is all about creating buzz for the event. It is about strategizing and planning with your team. It should be done well before the time of an actual event. Knowing the audiences and targeting the specific audiences on social media is important. It gives you a clear perspective. Select a venue for your event, and don’t keep procrastinating about it till the end moment. Getting a venue which is convenient for the people to reach is equally important. Advertise the event by promoting it with a nice catchy hashtag. Twitter, Facebook, instagram love #hashtags! 

Make the hashtag short and understandable. 

Make the appropriate use of Facebook. How to use Facebook for event marketing? You can create an event on Facebook with an interesting logo or a photo, and invite people in your list asking them to RSVP. With this, you’ll know the probable number of audiences. Also, when your followers will RSVP, it’ll get added to their own feed and thereby you’ll get promotion indirectly. Make sure to add the venue, date and timing of the event on the Facebook event page. For extra promotion, make the ‘Event’ tab appear on your main page. Change all your ‘bio’ and ‘about me’ on every social network and promote your event there with your event hashtag. Ask your twitter followers to retweet the event tweet with the event hashtag too. 

Nearly 80% of the audiences are browsing on their mobiles these days, so making the event content mobile friendly is also necessary. Send out event teasers and pre-event news in short, on Twitter and Facebook. Upload the short videos on Instagram in the form of short stories about the guests and speakers. Post infographics about your event on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter too, to let the audiences have an understanding about the event and drive ticket sales. Target the professional audience via LinkedIn, and promote your event with LinkedIn ads. Post event content and updates through your personal as well as company’s page. Use paid ads because that will reach a much larger audience than just a concentrated group of people on social media. 

To make things fun and interesting for the people and to increase their participation, start a quiz or contest on Twitter and Facebook, although a contest is much more interesting than a quiz. Make the give away prizes interesting too. You can add your event ticket as a prize also, if the cost of your event ticket is 1000/- to start with. Posting behind the scenes videos on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube about the hard work and fun the team is having will definitely make your audience want to be part of your event.

It is obvious that when it comes to promotion, we need to invest. Although the investment is not as much when it comes to social media coverage for events, you need to make sure that whatever you are investing, you are getting paid off with the results. Using social media tools to measure the ROI is of vital importance in this scenario.

During the event-

Most people don’t do any kind of promotion on social media sites during the event. The promotion mainly is limited to the local newspaper coverage. 

Make sure you have a great Wi-Fi to broadcast your event LIVE. Use Facebook Live or YouTube for Live video streaming. Apart from that, you can live tweet about the important happenings about your event too with photos and short tweets! Even if people couldn’t or didn’t attend your event, this method makes sure that they’ll attend your next event. 

Request all your attendees to opt for check-in of your event on social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Foursquare. Encourage the people to use the event hashtag while posting on the social media networks. This will help in gathering more audiences digitally while the event is still on-going. 

Use TwitPic to post the photos and the happenings of the event live on Twitter.

Post-Event-

Post-event is all about thanking the involved teams, audiences, guests and speakers. Thank your team members for their dedication and hard work. Be thankful to your influencers and brand advocates because of whom your event was promoted by the word of mouth. You should also thank the followers on each social media for their support and participation. You need to thank your sponsors too personally and on social media too. Since you’ll be needing them next time also to sponsor your event. Writing about the success of your event on Facebook through blog posts or videos on YouTube might help in getting attention of the unattended people, and will help in improving the attendance for the next event. Post a blog about the event on your company’s website because that will help in gathering audiences professionally.

Post a survey or a poll on social media to get feedback from the audiences about improvement and ideas, which can be helpful for the next event. Give ideas about future dates of events and for follow up sessions if needed. Publish your success on all social media platforms and post the photos on Instagram and Facebook.

These are definitely the important tips to be kept in mind when it comes to the promotion of any event on social media,  but apart from these, there are some Don’ts too that need to be taken into consideration. Posting about your event promotion is good, but don’t post them too frequently or don’t make a habit of posting too many posts in a day, every day. When you post on social media, people comment and ask questions. Entertain those without ignorance. It’ll build confidence between the audience and you. 

Please make it sure that you shouldn’t be spamming the inboxes of your followers and social timelines. As it won’t help you in establishing your good image. Don’t post small and blurry images on any digital media, they catch no one's attention. Most important is don’t advertise your company or your products when you are promoting an event. That’s not a wise idea and it’s a way to lose respect among your audiences in a professional capacity. 

Lastly, don’t forget to thank each and every person who was behind the success of your event.

Using Accurate SEO Tools Gives you Better Efficiency

I have a colleague and she looks after the SEO at the workplace. On enquiring her how it is, her reply was that it becomes pretty confusing which tool to use at times for a specific work, as there are so many SEO tools available on the internet.  It made me realize that SEO sometimes becomes difficult even for an experienced Search Engine Optimizer, unless you are aware which tools to use. 

 

There are mainly 3 most used tools, namely SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz. All the 3 SEO tools provide best search results for any SEO program. These are paid tools, but the advantages of using a paid tool are a lot. Just pick one of these as per your ease, and use it for your website’s SEO. Apart from these, you should know how to utilize all the features offered by the Google tools – Google Analytics and Google Search Console. They are free and can be used along with a paid tool for higher efficiency in everyday SEO operations. 

 

If you consider all the aspects of SEO, then you need to choose a main paid SEO tool, because you need to gather every information efficiently as much as you can. If you have a WordPress website or content, then choosing Yoast Plugin makes sense. If you have a big website with too many contents on it, then you need a Crawling tool. Another tool can be added for Link Building. And along with all these tools, you can use the free Google tools. I think this strategy will make the SEO operations pretty easy! YAY!

 

Let’s talk about these SEO tools. 

 

1. SEMrush: We can call it a tool for beginners as SEMrush is easy to use and straightforward, compared to Ahrefs and Moz. It is a paid tool and finds the keywords that your competitors rank for. It has a keyword magic feature, where you can get a list of more than 78K keywords for a single keyword. It’s really cool, isn’t it?

The rank tracing reports of SEMrush are the best in the industry. Also, the usability quotient is quite easy with SEMrush. It has other features too, like link analysis and competitive analysis. SEMrush has a 7-day trial plan, using which you can understand if you are compatible with using this SEO tool or not.

 

2. Pitchbox: It is a good outreach tool on the web. When you are working with people, it becomes difficult to keep the schedule of duties in mind about everything. Pitchbox helps you with these aspects of work. It can find contacts, bloggers, and influencers in a limited time, and follow up on emails by customizing it for all the outreach contacts.  It’ll make your work easier, just like that. 

 

3. Ahrefs: It is an advanced tool and you can really learn a lot from it if you love your SEO operations. For beginners Ahrefs might twist their heads, but for experts it’s like a playfield to learn new features every day. You can use this tool for Link building. 

The site Audit feature in Ahref is considered to be the best SEO analysis tool. It allows you to notice the parts on the website which need improvements and changes. It thus can help in the betterment of the search engine ranking of your website. You can also have a sneak at your competitors backlinks through Ahref. Very Sneaky!

 

4. SEO Crawler- Screaming Frog: It is the best SEO crawling tool. It can be used for auditing the website and in the fixing of issues related to content, bloated HTML redirections and link building, JavaScript rendering issues, HTTP header errors, and crawl errors etc.

 

 

The best feature about Screaming frog is its ability to detect duplicate content. 

 

5. Yoast: Are you using WordPress for your website or have any content on WordPress? Yoast SEO plugin is the best for WordPress. It makes the updating of meta titles and description extremely easy and has the most advanced XML sitemaps functionalities. 

The best part is, Yoast is free!

 

Other tools which can help in your SEO daily operations are Google Search Console,  Google Keyword Planner and Google Analytics. These are great tools from Google and are free too. All you need to do is have a google account and authenticate your website. Google Search Console gives you keywords and data in real time. Other than these, there are many SEO features which these Google tools offer and they are simply incredible. You might want to try those!

 

By using all these tools, you can make your SEO efficient in every aspect.

Facebook Desktop Messenger App For Windows And Mac

Just a month or two ago, I was happy chatting with my friends about all the varied things on the Facebook messenger, and as usual, it made a few of us discuss a desktop version of this messenger so we can face-time on a laptop. Although, it was just a thought then. Now it seems like we have been living in an alternate reality where some virus has taken control over the movement and lives of the common people, and to stay safe, people are using the video calling apps to be connected with family and friends whom they can’t meet.

 

Facebook has finally launched the desktop version for its messenger with unlimited calling. It was in the pipeline since 2016, although Facebook launched an app for Workplace for the desktop in 2017. Facebook messenger app for desktop wasn’t announced till last year by Facebook though. The app was to be launched at a Facebook event this year, but due to the COVID-19 scenario, it had to be launched without an event, keeping in mind, it was the right time to launch the app, as people needed to be connected through free video calls.

 

The desktop app for the Facebook messenger is simple and clean. It gives access to the main Facebook features too. It also features dark mode as well as GIFs. The app for Mac and Windows has the same features as the Facebook messenger which makes it seamless. Moreover, chats can be synced on desktop and mobile versions of the messenger. The feature of getting a notification, muting or snoozing is also made available in the desktop messenger app. 

 However, the downside of this app is that it doesn’t allow screen sharing and can only allow 8 group members to participate in a video call. Also, one can’t share URLs to join the ongoing calls. 

 

With video conferencing and calling apps like Zoom which have privacy concerns, Facebook seemed to have launched the app for desktop messenger in an appropriate time. As it is, the main feature of any video calling app is to keep the friends and family in contact with each other in all given circumstances. Even though the Facebook messenger app for desktop can’t be used for work purposes much, it can certainly be used in the current times to be in continuous touch with the loved ones.

 

You Know How to Leverage your Consumers’ ‘I Want To Know’ Micro-Moment

“I want to know” micro-moments can be related to anything that someone wants to know. It can be to know the temperature of a certain place that one is planning to visit or can be queries regarding which car to buy. Today, with the use of mobile phones daily in tremendous ways consumers are seeking & getting the knowledge they need in the moment. As a result, micro-moments are becoming progressively important for the market strategy for all types of businesses. 

 It has been seen that 69% of smartphone users are more likely to indulge in buying a product from companies who have mobile-friendly apps/ websites, have helped them get answers to their questions or have answered their queries adequately. This approach towards consumers can help in your brand perception.

For marketers and brands, 3 approaches can help win this ‘I want to know’ micro-moment: - 

1. Be there for the customers with the information. 

2. Be helpful to provide relevant information. 

3. Be smooth and quick with the mobile experience.

The crucial thing is, to let the consumers find you in their ‘I want to know’ moments. Use Google for it. See if your search on the smartphone shows your website if you look for something related to your business. Get an idea about the questions which might be asked by the consumers and be ready with your answers for those. For instance, if you are a toothpaste manufacturer, your content should appear on Google searches when someone puts up a query such as - “I want to know what is the best way to brush my teeth clean.”

 

It’s seen that when customers look for any information to know something on their smartphones, 65% of the population prefer the relevant information, irrespective of which brand and company is providing it to them. So, keep the information available, which is easy to search for ‘I want to know’ query, on every stage of the journey of the consumers.

 

87% of the population used smartphones for everything they wanted to KNOW, NEED, BUY or FIND on the spot. Keeping this in mind, make your website mobile friendly and seamless. This will help in the successful marketing of your company, for the ‘I want to know’ search.

 

When your website or product is instantly found through Google services like Google News, Google Shopping or Google Knowledge graph, for the ‘I want to know’ search, then you can get attention from the audiences in the first go, and will help them in purchasing your product next time.

The ‘I Want to Do’ Micro-Moment - Use it in Content

“I want to do” are the moments where a consumer searches for help on how to perform a specific action, or try something new, which they never tried before. If one wants to learn anything new, or wants to do something new, like want to do a course, or sign up for a hobby class, etc., the process is long and time-consuming. There may be the instruction manuals or go through the long conversations with the customer service after waiting to get the information one needs. With the mobile search, it becomes all instant and quick – like The DIY YouTube videos and training videos.  These ‘I want to do’ searches have been growing year after year by almost 70%.

 ‘I want to do’ moment is about searching for answers about something one wants to do. The occurrence of these moments may be before or after the purchase. It is observed that people try to search for things to improve their skills and to try something new. In such a situation, it becomes important that a brand should be ready to provide the content for what the customer is looking at that moment.
 

5 ways people search for the ‘I want to do’ moments’: 

• 72% use for a general search

• 34% visit non-retailer websites

• 31% watch videos online

• 25% look at images or photos

• 20% ask someone else via call or message

In the ‘I want to do’ moment, 76% of the population takes an action before purchasing because of the mobile influence, while 59% of the people are influenced by the search and decide on making a purchase, based on the relevant search results.

Eg: Of ‘I want to do’ moment: M.A.C. is an international cosmetic brand. To drive the sales in the market, M.A.C used the ‘how to do’ video content about beauty and makeup to attract their customers. They collaborated with Google and using the YouTube gadget, viewers were allowed to shop directly from the ‘how to do’ video series. If you are watching a video in Spain, you will be automatically driven to the Spanish purchase site for making a purchase. 

 

 

How to win this ‘I want to do’ micro-moment, if you are a company or a brand? You need to get attention from the consumer by influencing their decision. Providing the information to the consumers which they are searching and need is the first step of winning the ‘I want to do’ micro-moment. If you are already doing it, then you are all set!

You need to identify the ‘I want to do’ moments that a consumer comes across. Make note of the common questions which are asked about a product and be ready with the answers. Make the information relevant to the consumers and that it is easy to find.  Study the data and analytics to understand how the customer will find you for a particular product. Make sure you pop up in their mobile search for a particular product. This way you can increase your product sales.