Tapping the power of
social media for event
promotion

Eventbrite Hashup Contest
PodCamp Boston
#pcb4
3600+ tweets in 8 days

Agenda
• Why social media matters
• How to tap the power of:
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Becoming a social media marketing guru

Social media matters
• Social media represents a fundamental shift in the
way we communicate and make decisions
• It’s bigger than you think
• Facebook is the fourth largest site in the world
• The fastest growing segment on Facebook 35+
• Ashton Kutcher and Ellen Degeneres have more Twitter followers than
the entire populations of Ireland, Norway and Panama
• And it’s growing fast
• Years to Reach 50 millions Users:
• Radio: 38 years, TV: 13 years, Internet: 4 years, iPod: 3 years
• Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months
• Twitter is growing its audience at 2,614%

Social media matters for events
• Events are inherently social
• Events are inherently viral
• With the right tools, event-holders can
reach the right audience
• More quickly
• More effectively

Why we built SM tools into Eventbrite
• Our savviest users were doing interesting
things with these tools
• We noticed a lot of traffic was coming from
Social Media sites. Why?
• We realized these were important, new
promotional methods that needed to be
shared with all our customers.

Behaviors we Observed: Facebook

Behaviors we Observed: Twitter

Social Media: What we did
• Made it much easier for people to do things
they already wanted to do.
• Demystified the use of social media for
event promotion.
• Created tools everyone could use to drive
event success.

Facebook: What
• Took advantage of Facebook Connect – for
seamless integration.
• Facilitated event publishing to Facebook.
• Made event attendee registration a news
feed item.

Facebook: Why
• Publishing your event to Facebook lets you
take advantage of your existing networks.
• People you are already connected to may
be attendees or can help you promote your
event to their networks.
• Events “come to life” on Facebook.

Facebook: How
• Publish a doppelganger of your event on
Facebook.
• Invite people you hope will come.
• Invite people who hope will extend visibility
to their connections.
• Create a “nexus” where all sorts of content
related to your event can be aggregated
and shared.

Twitter: Why
• It really works.
• The Twitter follow is an awesome proxy
for the invitation.
• No social boundaries.
• Leverages human behavior.

Twitter: How
• Create a Twitter page for your event.
• Follow unashamedly.
• Create a unique hashtag.
• Participate in relevant discussion.
• Foster virality
• Ask for the sale.

Common Themes
• You have to socially “activate” your event.
• Expanding the effect of your event beyond
the day/time/place to touch many more
people than could ever attend.
• Enriching the experience for the people who
do attend.
• Content is king.

Obey the Tenets of Social Media Marking
• Be valuable and appealing
• Be sustainable and viral
• Inspire participation

Thank you!
• Jack Mardack www.facebook.com/Eventbrite
jack@eventbrite.com
• Tamara Mendelsohn @Eventbrite
tamara@eventbrite.com