Social media is fast becoming an indispensable part of an event planner’s toolbox. Social media is described as a type of website that is based on user generated content and user participation. Examples of social media sites are Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, as well as blogs and forums and sites that have user generated content such as the customer reviews on Amazon.
Event organisers can use to social media to aid in the planning of events, promotion of events and the management of the event follow up. Social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are all free to use and are a brilliant way of promoting events and encouraging delegates and potential delegates to engage with you and each other before an event takes place.
However, social media doesn’t have to be used only during the promotion process alone. Social media sites are great at helping companies to encourage discussion, networking and debates about
events during the actual event and long after it has finished.
During an event, the organisers should try and encourage delegates to continue talking about and promoting it through social media channels. Event managers should create a Twitter hashtag exclusively for the event and persuade delegates to update their own Twitter feeds with tweets about the event using this hashtag. This means that every delegate at your event, or anyone interested in your event can immediately see what people are doing and saying about it.
During the event promotion stage, event managers should have created a Facebook page specifically for the event. If there are fans of the Facebook page attending the event, event planners can encourage them to add content, such as photos, videos and links. The more user generated content on the various social media sites, the better.
Once the event is over, it is important to persist with the social media use to ensure communication with delegates is kept high and to give delegates a channel through which they can continue their networking with other delegates. If the event is repeated on a regular basis, ensuring you update your social media channels will provide you with a source of high-quality content and marketing material:
* Add photos to your Flickr account, Facebook page and on Twitter photo sites (e.g. TwitPic)
* Add any videos of your event to your Facebook page and to your business YouTube account
* Continue discussing the event with delegates in your LinkedIn event page
* Update blogs with your thoughts on the event, possibly post a guest article from delegates or partners and add any updates or messages you would like your delegates to receive
After the event has finished make sure you pay close attention to what delegates say about it. Did your they really enjoy a particular topic, did they wish one presenter had longer to talk, was the food not up to standard? By listening to what delegates have said, you can improve the quality of your events in the future.
Social media is an effective way to reach a wider audience than you would usually have access to. Not only is it a popular and well used tool for many individuals, most of the sites are also free to use, making it one of the most cost effective marketing mediums available. Used carefully and appropriately, event organisers can utilise the popularity of these sites to help boost the success of their events.
Yet managing all these social media platforms can be a time consuming task. However, the majority of modern event management software solutions contain social media modules. These solutions allow event managers to integrate their social media channels into the one event solution – making them all easy and fast to update. Combining social media event marketing with other online solutions such as email marketing and online registrations is making the event planning process more streamlined and efficient. Event management software solutions contain all these modules and more, giving event planners time to concentrate on more tactical and strategic tasks.
Resource Box
For more information on event management software solutions, talk to evocos. In the past year alone evocos event & delegate management software solution has created over 7000 events, managed approximately 75,000 delegates and has taken over 50,000 online.
Incorporating social media, email marketing, website integration, registration, online payment, badge production, resource management, event surveys and integrated reporting and analysis, evocos is one of the most comprehensive event management software solutions on the market today.
evocos event management software team ensures our customers are able to seamlessly manage their events; gaining huge cost and efficiency benefits.