I presented to an event planners group about how to use social media effectively for managing and promoting events.

1. Using social media to manage and promote your events University Event Planners meeting, Oct. 13, 2010

2. About me Jessica Soulliere Social media communications coordinator & senior PR rep for UMHS Founder of Social Media Club Ann Arbor Tech geek Not an expert! jesssoul@umich.edu @jesssoul

3. A step-by-step approach: When it comes to social media, time and advanced planning are your friends.

4. A step-by-step approach: Get your event details down first Name of event (should be short and sweet): “Event Camp Ann Arbor 2010” Description: “A yearly networking conference for event planners to share best practices, learn new techniques and trends in successful event planning and more.” Time, date, location, speakers, schedule, costs for attendance/tickets, etc. Who is going to manage the online promotions/communications once your plan is launched

5. A step-by-step approach: Define your audience(s) Administrative assistants, donors, students, general public, etc. Who needs to be here? Who should want to be here?

6. A step-by-step approach: Start listening and looking (30 days) Use Twitter, Facebook and Google Search key words related to your event and your audience See who is talking about or engaging online about your event topic or speaker topics Connect, follow, fan/friend (pay attention to who is talking about what) This can be a way of getting speakers, and/or possible sources for registrants when you are ready to begin promoting

7. A step-by-step approach: Create a digital home as soon as possible before you start promoting Static website hard to update not very social media friendly definitely not interactive) WordPress site MANY templates to choose from easy to update and integrate with SM there are plug-ins and widgets for almost anything you want to do doesn’t have to be a blog doesn’t require Web designer/developer to manage

8. A step-by-step approach: Decide on content for your digital home Example: http://detroit.140conf.com/ Logo/representative image of your org or event If you have one, use it, if not, have one created (Fiverr.com $5) 150x150 px for Facebook and Twitter avatars 600 -900 px wide for Web site banner/headers depending on design

9. Content continued: Main content area Contains event description, articles and/or blog posts Sidebars Left bar = navigation and sponsor ads Home – key details about the importance of your event Registration – Deadlines, discounts and costs and online registration form that takes online payments and/or manages your registrations: Eventbrite – www.eventbrite.com (integrates very well with WordPress) BrownPaperTickets – www.brownpapertickets.com

10. Sidebars continued: Left bar: Schedule – detailed schedule of what attendees can expect Speakers – Photo, bio and topic of talk Location – address, building/room names, and a link to a Google map! Sponsorship (optional) – Opportunities for sponsorships (levels and fees) Press info (optional) – press releases, who to contact, where to meet for interviews, how to get credentials, etc.

11. Sidebars continued: Right bar Search field Twitter feed Widgets Blog categories Ads Tag clouds Latest posts/articles/comments Whatever you want!

12. Create your social media outposts: Create your social media outposts Helps you: drive traffic/people to your site Creates buzz once you launch Assists others with sharing information about your event Integration with social media tools helps visitors propagate the message

13. Twitter outpost: Twitter profile – good for listening, building connections EventCampA2 (limited number of chars in title) Create a hashtag for your event “Event Camp Ann Arbor” becomes #eventcampA2 or #eca2 (the shorter the better) Example: #WCDET (Wordcamp Detroit) Ask followers to use same hashtag when discussing the event before, during and after

14. Facebook, other outposts: Facebook page – Event Camp Ann Arbor Fill out information and links to your site Use same logo on FB and twitter accounts Link FB to Twitter to simplify updates Flickr – EventCampA2/Event Camp Ann Arbor (whichever fits) Ask attendees to tag their photos on Flickr with the same hashtag Post photo feed on page Use same generic e-mail account for each Gmail is easiest way: EventCampA2@gmail.com

15. Manage your time: Create a communications calendar: Launch date (with ample time to promote and planning time for get speakers/attendees to get to your event) What will be communicated when and by whom Periodic tweets/Facebook posts Blog posts Registration updates Photos/videos of speakers, etc. Whatever you want; it doesn’t have to be the kitchen sink Launch, listen, adjust …

16. Keep the conversation going: During the event Post mobile images and status updates to Facebook and Twitter people who didn’t sign up will be jealous Tweet the key points (use same hashtag) Be sure attendees provide slides/presentations if you are not taping the event for posting afterwards

17. Keep the conversation going: After the event, be sure to engage attendees with follow-up: Thank you’s Lessons learned Videos Photo albums Downloadable presentations/freebies, etc. Invitations for feedback Next year: Update site, rinse and repeat

18. Thank you! Questions?