How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

How to Use Social Media to Drive Attendance to Your Event and Engage with Your Audience 1

About Marcel MediaMarcel Media is full service interactive marketing agency specializing inSearch Engine Marketing (SEM).We partner with organizations to provide creative and customizedmarketing solutions such as Social Media, Interactive FacebookApplications, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), ConversionOptimization, Website Development and Web Analytics. @marcelmedia Facebook.com/marcelmedia www.marcelmedia.com/bloggoo 2

About Kelly CutlerKelly Cutler is the CEO of Marcel Media, anaward-winning, interactive marketing firmspecializing in search engine and socialmedia marketing.Beginning her career in 1997 with companiesincluding AOL and Classified Ventures, Kelly’sachievements include serving as the firstwoman president of the ChicagoEntrepreneurs’ Organization,and instructing at the University of Chicagoand DePaul University. Connect with KellyShe is a sought after subject matter expert,speaking on industry topics such as search Linkedin.com/in/kellycutlerengine optimization, web analytics and orsocial media marketing across the country. @kfcutler 3

Social Media: An Overview 4

Staggering Social Media Stats By 2012 half of the world‟s Internet users, 1 billion people, will have a Facebook account – TIME 78.6% of consumers have joined an organizations community to get more information on the organization – Universal McCann 66% of company community members note that the community has made them more loyal to a brand – Universal McCann 46% of Internet users worldwide interact with social media on a daily basis –TNS Facebook accounts for 8.93% of all website visits in the US. All of Google‟s properties including YouTube, Gmail, Google accounts for 9.85% – Experian Hitwise Social media accounts for ~ 25% of all time spent online over 35 minutes per hour – Nielsen 5

Why Social Media Works Social Media tools are built for engagement.Benefits:  Build an online community around your event  Establish credibility in the industry  Attract attendees and speakers for the event  Help attendees connect with each other  Broadens Participation throughout the event  Encourages information sharing  Leverages the event for media cover on and offline  Supplement existing marketing efforts 6

Most Commonly Used Social Media Tools 7

Stages of Social Media 8

Getting Started: The Strategy 9

Make Sure Your Brand is Visible Set up a Blog - Post updates, have speakers & previous attendees submit guest posts. Link all social media profiles to the blog & “share this” functionality into your blog so people can easily post your content to their profile. Location Based Marketing – Assign a check-in location on Foursquare. Twitter – Create a hashtag and tweet out updates before, during & after event. Facebook – Create an events page and Facebook fan page. LinkedIn – Send out personalized invites and create an event. 10

Optimize Your Event for Sharing  Create a catchy hashtag for the event.  Provide an incentive for attendees who share the event on their social networks.  Create a web page or virtual whiteboard where attendees can share their social media contact information.  Consider setting up a live stream for those who cant travel to the event. You can use Ustream, Justin.tv or Mogulus and stream portions of your event.  Monitor the conversation. Create a Social Mention email alert for your event.  Create a widget and post on the event site with a countdown to the event (Think ball dropping on NYE)  Create a cool badge that other blogs can add to their site with a link to the registration page. 11

Event Marketing Tools 12

Find Your Attendees on Facebook 13

Facebook Create a Facebook Page  Be sure to leave the privacy settings on default so all attendees and fans can post to the page and see your updates.  Pages have an advantage over groups because your updates will appear in your fans news feeds. Create a Facebook Event and provide incentives for guests and members who update their own status with links to the event. Include an Events Tab on Your Facebook Page that has a registration link. Visit the profiles of those that attended the event and leave custom comments. Include a “Like” button on your event‟s website. Facebook “Like” Button now has “Share” functionality – when users click the Like or Recommend button on a third-party website or within a Facebook app, it now publishes a full news feed story. Facebook Places – Allows users to share where they are at, check into a location and then post that check in to their newsfeed and wall so others can see where they are as well. Events can offer incentives for checking in like free drink coupons and sweepstakes. 14

5 Great Applications for your Facebook Events Page1. Welcome Tab- Welcome Tab adds customization to a page by creating a custom landing page for your Facebook visitors.2. EventBrite for Pages – Provides another platform for online registration3. Plancast – Great research tool for people to discover events4. Nutshell Email – Allows you to send an email to all your fans and followers on Facebook at once5. LiveStream – Allows you to stream your event on your Facebook page 15

Twitter Promote “following” the event‟s Twitter account for event updates. Ask for people to share your event with the simple phrase, “Please RT!” Give people an incentive to tweet out your hashtag; offer a free pass, door prize or other giveaway. Create separate Twitter lists of event speakers, sponsors, attendees and local restaurants and attractions. Have a designated “tweeter” at each session or event that tweets in real-time about the event. Create a unique hashtag for the event. If your event is large enough create a separate Twitter account for it. @blogworld is an example of this. Twtpoll – Allows you to create polls and surveys on Twitter (this is a great way to get feedback during and after the event) 16

Tip Sheet: Twitter Hashtag Etiquette An Example: #SXSW. This is a large event with tons of attendees and speakers and it can be easy to overuse hashtags and update your feed too frequently. Some refer to this as Twomiting or tweeting every word panelists say. Rules to Twitter Event Etiquette: 1. Live stream popular sessions so people who cant attend can follow online 2. Provide frequent blogs with round ups of content from popular sessions 3. Create an official Twitter account summarizing keypoints, linking to presentations or handouts. 17

LinkedInLinkedIn Events App – allows you to promote global events to TweetUpsSend an invitation to the people who would be interested in the event based on region or niche.On LinkedIn, once someone RSVPs to your event, it shows up on the home profile of everyonethat person is connected to, spreading the message for you.Create a LinkedIn poll after the event to gather feedback quickly and distribute throughout allsocial profiles.Wordpress App- allows you to integrate your blog with your LinkedIn profileThe Slideshare.net app - allows you to showcase presentations yand add a video that autoplayswhen people land on your profile.LinkedIn Events App – allows you to promote global events to TweetUps 18

MultimediaChoose one preferred site for photo‟s and video & create an channel for your event/organization.Post photos & video to Facebook Page & tag the people featured so the post appears on their Facebook wall as well.Encourage interaction by inviting participants to upload their own photos from the event into your Flickr stream, on the event Facebook wall or with Twit Pics.Online Video Platforms: YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, Metacafe, TubemogulEmbed videos and speaking sessions on blog.Interview keynote speakers and attendees and send out through the blog and YouTube. 19

How to Create a Viral Video Update Channel Regularly- Delivering useful information through video is more interactive and increases user engagement. Syndicate your videos on social media and social bookmarking sites Tag Your Videos-YouTube allows for segmentation of content to categorize and target a specific market Keep your videos, short, simple (under 5 minutes) and relevant. Brand your content and videos (name, logo, URL) Use annotations in your video Create a playlist; playlists are fantastic ways to guide your new viewers through your content the way you prefer them to experience it. 20

Where Video’s Go ViralFacebook Dominates: With more than 500 million people on theSocial network, Facebook dominates the sharing of social video.People share videos on Facebook 218 percent more than throughTwitter and e-mail combined. 76% 15% 9% 21

Live Blogging Blog before, after and during your event. Live blogging during your event can create buzz and excitement for those who were unable to attend and provide them a snippet of what they missed, which will encourage them to look for your next event. Keep Live Blogs short, with all the highlights, quick intro and bullet points. Blogging Best Practices  Integrate multimedia  Copy editing (Yahoo! Style Guide)  Incorporate data and infographs  Create a catchy headline  Keep entries consistent; we recommend once a week Optimization; keywords, link building, mobile friendly 22

Syndication Through Social BookmarkingIn Order of Authority:TwitterDiggRedditStumbleUponDeliciousTweetmeme 23

Incorporate Foursquare and Encourage Audience Participation Set up an account that reflects the brand name and details of your event. Set up a venue (this will be included in event details) Include address, contact information and links to other social media profiles. Assign the event a category Create a landing page weeks in advance of your event and offer a tease towards some of the tips and incentives for their participation. Offer early incentives for „friending‟ the event profile and develop a community ahead of time to ensure participation during the event. Add a Tip – Tips should be valuable to people and align with your brand (e.g. local bar or restaurant that is having a happy hour special) Offer incentives for checking into the event. All check-ins receive automatic entry into a sweepstakes (check-in and win an iPad) 24

Social Media Monitoring ToolsGoogle Alerts(free): You can use Google Alerts as a buzz monitoring tool.Social Mention (free): Allows you to set up email alerts and real time mentions ofyour brand on social mediaTrackur (free – nominal fees): Trackur is a buzz monitoring tool that is ideal forsmall businesses and bloggers who are on a limited budget.Radian 6 (enterprise level fees):This tool provides in-depth insight into real-timeconversation around your brand. It also includes sentiment analysis and allowsworkflow assignments to attend to conversations you find relevant to your strategy.Klout (free): Determines the level of influence your brand has in the social mediaMarketplace. 25

Advanced Promotional ToolsSome organizers create their own social networks to build up hype and to keep connections even after the event has occurred by using Ning.Add yourself to major event websites like EventBrite, Zvents, Plancast and Upcoming by Yahoo.If your event is social media-related, don‟t forget Mashable‟s Social Media Events Guide as well.Twitter applications that promote networking: TweetChat, Tweetvite, and TweetMyEvents.Put together a slide presentation of your conference benefits, topics or speakers and posting it to Slideshare. Leverage it on other social media sites and the event blog. 26

Cont...Advanced Promotional Tools Cinches: Simple to use and can record audio, either via the web or phone (there are apps for iPhone and Android), so you can share audio messages with your followers. DailyBooth: Fast-growing social networking site that allows you to easily upload and share pictures in seconds. TwentyFeet.com: Social analytics tool that aggregate all your stats in one place Postling: Tool that brings together multiple social media channels into one interface Sorify: Tool that aggregates and curates content from around the web. Great tool for events, product launches, etc. 27

A Case Study: Is Facebook Worth More to Event Marketers then Twitter?A study performed by EventBrite, which used in-house social analyticstools to track online ticket sales showed that an average tweet about anevent drove $.80 in ticket sales. An average Facebook “like” drove $1.34in online sales.The study also revealed cumulative activity on Facebook was greater thanactivity on Twitter for Eventbrite. People shared Eventbrite events onFacebook almost four times as often as they did on Twitter.People are more likely to share events if they are attending. Theirfriends, according to Eventbrite‟s data, are also more likely to buy ticketsto an event shared on Facebook by a ticket holder than one shared by anuncommitted friend. 28

Case Study Pie Chart 29

SummarySocial Media has revolutionized events and you have a lot of resources at yourdisposal. Remember, quality beats out quantity. Start out on a few of the mainsocial networks, determine where your target audience is most active, and usewhat works for you! 30

Thank You! Kelly Cutlerkelly@marcelmedia.comLinkedIn.com/kellycutler Twitter.com/kfcutler Questions? 31

How to use social media to drive attendance to your event

by Marcel Media

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