The Future of Event Planning and Social Media

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In this day and time, event planners are using social media more than ever to promote their events. People tend to think that simple planning is all that it takes to promote an event. This is so not true. It takes strategic planning and creativity to make an event a success. How you promote your event determines the number of attendees. 

Geolocation platforms are very fundamental for event planning. When you use a geolocation platform for your event, you have the opportunity to engage the customer right at the beginning of the event. In the beginning of your event you can use promotional videos that can be used to captivate the attention of the attendees. Twitter and Facebook can be used as a handy tool by creating giveaways or by sending your customers special tweets or Facebook messages that can entitle them to free gifts at the event.

What about for those who could not attend the event? Would streaming live be an option? Yes it could be. If this is a paid event, the customer could subscribe and pay to watch the event or depending on the type of event, it could be watched for free. The video of the event could be archived on the company’s website as well for later viewing. Even though it is after the fact, the company could still market their business techniques and skills that could play a major role in promoting their next event.

Let’s not forget that even though you want to advance and promote your social media future, the traditional way, such as email, sending tweets, posting blogs and messages on Facebook, and word of mouth still works. Event planning takes a lot of time and work and in order to stand up and out above the rest, your technology and social media capabilities need to be innovative and have the potential to display something new and creative at all time.

http://mashable.com/2010/10/04/event-planning-social-media/

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2029-social-media-event-planning-marketing.html

5 Top Social Media Marketing Strategies for All Events

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          When you are promoting or hosting and event, it is imperative to market your event in many different ways to make your event a success. Even though there are many ways to promote your event that may cost money, there are ways that are free that can have the same effect. Social media has allowed people from around the world to promote their events with a click of a button.

          There are five social media marketing strategies that can help promote your event. The first strategy is to tag people in your photos. If you are on Facebook or Twitter you can tag people in your photos.  It is always good though to have a good photographer and very nice pictures if you are going to post them. Remember, image is everything. What you present to people will indicate your level of professionalism and class.

         

         The second strategy is to utilize your share button. Your website or event page should allow people to come to your page, click on the Facebook or Twitter share button, and share the event on their page and others.  This is a great tool because it alleviates wrong information from being posted in error. If you share a page, the actual page will be shared as a photo or as a link.

         The third strategy is to use Twitter shout outs. With Twitter being a major platform for social media, you can reach thousands by just giving a shout out.  If you send your friends a shout out, all of their friends can see it. Also hash-tags have become very popular as well.  If someone sees your hash-tag they can review your shout out as well. This a great tool for sharing information instantly. I would advise that you make sure the information is accurate before sending a shout out, because once it is out there you can’t retract the information.

          The fourth strategy is to do research. When you are hosting an event you need to know your competition and what is going on similar to your event. Research other event planning websites and try t network with other companies. It is amazing how many other planners may support your event and even attend. Also, for your own use it’s good to add those companies as friends so when you are having something in the future you can include them in the invite that you send out on Facebook and Twitter.

The fifth strategy is to recognize your partners. If any of your partners are promoting or supporting your event whether it be financially or other ways, make sure that they are representing you on their social media sites as well.

Marketing your event takes time and patience.  There will be hiccups from time to time that may cause your social media marketing to not run as smooth as expected, but don’t give up or push it to the side. Stay on top of it because the more you promote and market your events, the better you will be at it. Your goal is to be seen and to be known. Whatever steps you take in that direction is a positive move towards your event being more successful than the prior event. 

http://viktorix.com/5-top-social-media-marketing-events/

http://www.eventmanagerblog.com/social-media-strategy