Event Promotion with
Social Media
Michael Reynolds, SpinWeb
Business card: text “mrey” to 50500
Company Site: www.spinweb.net
Personal/Speaking Site: www.michaelreynolds.com

Goal #1: Butts in Seats

• Direct invitations can
get lost or ignored
• We are all busy and
tend to ignore things
• Difficult to get RSVPs
once invitations are
sent
• Phone/email RSVPs
are high-maintenance
• Paper? Yuck!

You Need Anchor Points

• Provides centralized information
reference points
• Make it easy to RSVP
• Makes it easy for others to help
you promote your event
• Gets your event in front of a lot
of people
Social Media • Makes it easy to add to calendars
Helps Bridge with one click
the Gap • Makes it easy to share media
• It’s FREE (or cheap)

Step 1: Event Landing Page
• Complete event info
• Complete location address
• Link to map
• Online registration link
• “Share” button
• “Remind me” feature
• Compelling description
(Your website)

Facebook
• The most heavily-used site
for social interaction
• Very easy to share event info
• Convenient RSVP system
• Great media sharing (links,
photos, video)

Set Up a Fan Page
• Fan pages are for
businesses or organizations
• A fan pages is your business
“home base” on Facebook
• Allows distribution of event
info and media

Creating a Fan Page
Footer of any page

Add “Events” Tab

Create Events

Fill In Basic Info

Fill In Basic Info

Customize

Send Invitations

Be Selective!
(Don’t spam people who aren’t targeted invitees)

Everyone
sees RSVPs!

Easy to add to calendar

LinkedIn
• Widely used for business contacts
• Convenient RSVP system
• Can reach more people who
are business contacts but
not necessarily social contacts

Events box located in
right column
Click to enter events area

Dashboard view of your events

Enter event information - use “Add more details”

Complete additional information with keywords

Be sure to link to your online registration page

Place an ad
Invite connections

Narrow your target using ad campaign

Invite connections

Click connections icon to filter your invitations

Filter by location...

... and industry

Send up to 50
invitations

Be Selective!
(Don’t spam people who aren’t targeted invitees)

Track your RSVPs

Everyone
sees RSVPs!

“Ning” Sites
(Social networks built on the Ning platform)
• Can reach smaller niches
• Convenient RSVP system
• Easy to set up events

Example: Smaller Indiana
(“Facebook for Indiana”)

View your events and create new events

Event information

• Email invitations
• Invite friends in
network
• Import from
address book

Invite all friends on all
Ning networks or just
on a single network

Be Selective!
(Don’t spam people who aren’t targeted invitees)

Track RSVPs...

... and comments

Easy to add to calendar

Popular Local Networks
Smaller Indiana
www.smallerindiana.com
ConnectBNI
www.connectbni.com
Make It Rain
www.letsmakeitrain.com

Local Chambers
• Good visibility
depending on quality
of chamber
• Reaches business
professionals
• Utilizes Chamber
endorsement

Twitter
• Can reach lots of
people in short
amount of time
• Easy distribution
• Builds future followers

Post announcement via company Twitter account...

Hootsuite helps you track stats and schedule tweets

• Re-tweet via your personal
account
• Ask your friends to re-
tweet
• Ask your employees or
members to re-tweet
• Re-post announcement the
day before the event
• More effective as your
following grows

Build your network over time to increase your reach and influence
The more employees/volunteers who participate, the more effective it is

Use ShoutNow to send invitations via phone

Pre-event Promotion
• Write a press release and post to
blog and chamber sites
• Announce event during networking
meetings (BNI, etc.)
• Write informational tidbits on the
wall of your event listing
• Add media to Facebook event wall
(photos, video, etc.)
• Answer questions posted by
interested people
• Call attendees the day before
• Ask your friends to help!

During the Event
• Take photos (or videos) to post later and build buzz
• Announce future events
• Ask key Twitter users to Tweet about event as it happens

After the Event
• Post photos and videos on Facebook wall
• Send followup survey via email (short, multiple choice)
• Comment on walls and event profiles thanking attendees
• Thank attendees publicly via Twitter
• Build buzz around this event so future events will get attention

Event Promotion with
Social Media
Michael Reynolds, SpinWeb
Business card: text “mrey” to 50500
Company Site: www.spinweb.net
Personal/Speaking Site: www.michaelreynolds.com