Why should you promote events on social media? Promoting events on social media empowers your customers to share your business with their network of friends, who are your potential customers and your untapped audience. When shared by a number of people on their networks, your brand and Live streaming pay-per-view event becomes much more recognizable and therefore credible.
71 percent of consumers are more likely to make a purchase if referred* (Hubspot).
The following tips will navigate you through a pre-event promotion to reach your untapped audience. We’ve prepared them with input from our biggest and most successful publishers to help you grab and keep attention. Here’s how to get people to talk about your Live streaming pay-per-view event!
1. Create a hub for engagement.
Create a hub for engagement. Which channel should you use? Think about where your target audience is hanging around and is already engaging. This is where you want to spread the word about your event. Use advanced search options to identify existing communities on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and also on blogs and forums. Pay special attention so you can connect with influencers in your industry and also in the area where your Live streaming pay-per-view event is happening.
A couple of examples of how you can use the platforms:
Twitter: Be an active conversation partner. Notice people who mention your event and reward them by mentioning, retweeting and commenting on the highlights of their message. You’re likely to get the same in return! Continue to use the Twitter account to provide fodder for future promotion of your upcoming events (such as early-bird access) and/or to up-sell additional materials like VOD or physical goods.
Facebook: Facebook: Use its visual potential to the fullest with eye-catching graphics before, during and also AFTER the event to keep and build momentum (for example, by letting people know you offer a VOD after the PPV is over). Post at least twice a week and let people in on the ‘behind the scenes’ details. Add videos, polls. Ask directly about what people are looking forward to before the event. Gather feedback after the event. If Twitter and Facebook are the channels where most of your audience is, use Facebook as the place to share materials about your event and then discuss them and spread them through Twitter. You may want to try out the blend of organic and promoted posts to increase online sales and registration. Because the average Facebook user has 130 friends, the odds that you’ll get more traction are really high!
LinkedIn: Groups are the best place to do a shout out about your Live streaming pay-per-view event, especially if this is a business related event. Find and leverage the groups your event fits into and share a short description, an enticing photo or two and, of course, the link to the event pre-booking page. Post the event details and the pre-booking page link on your profile or company page.
2. Start early enough
Set up your event’s social stream a minimum of 2 weeks ahead of your event. You’ll thereby increase your chance to sparkle more interest among potential attendees. Further, it’s more probable that you’ll sell more and also create early on an opportunity for people to express how much they’re looking forward to your event!
3. Plan and time it well!
Plan and time it well! Create a simple editorial for your social messaging by using a spreadsheet or you can use a spreadsheet or a template created by Hubspot team to easily schedule your messages ahead of your event (possible with many tools such as Buffer, Hootsuite and Tweetdeck). Do you wish to attract an international audience? Don’t forget to schedule your messaging according to the local times and work days in those areas. Customizing them to the local language pays off, too! See this great scientific guide on how to schedule your social messaging, written by Belle Beth Cooper from the Huffington Post.
4. Track it from the start. Use bit.ly to create a unique tracking code, different for each channel. This way, you’ll know which channel is getting the most clicks and traction, and embark upon that channel or channels in advance. Check your Cleeng Dashboard regularly for booking stats, traffic sources, and real time feedback of your audience.
5. Tie your hashtag black belt. The simplest means of nurturing, following and monitoring what’s being said about your event is by creating a hashtag. We give you this option while setting up your Live streaming pay-per-view pre-booking page with Cleeng. Hashtag is an amazing buzz-builder once it becomes ubiquitous, publicizing your event in advance across all channels (including through social media and your website, as well as in printed programs and promo materials or on the stage). This way, the chance that your hashtag and event will be etched in the memory of your audience suddenly becomes much larger!
Also, you can easily discover what your future attendees are hoping to gain from your event. Cleeng gives you an amazing opportunity to gauge whether your plans represent what your audience is looking for. Use this knowledge to fine-tune your event content in advance and delight your audience! In the end, you’ll be able to move more smoothly and with finesse into your event!
Have you thought of:
6.. ... inviting not only your friends and family, but also all employees and colleagues to help spread the word about your event? Create a set of standard messages that contains the link to your pre-booking page from your signature line in e-mail, Quora and other forums. Allow others to do the same on your behalf with their messages!
7. ...finding the local community? Publish info about your Live streaming pay-per-view event online on Eventful, offering discounted access to everyone living around, for example, Chicago.
8. ...revealing it bit by bit. For example, you can use the week before the event to add additional highlights that you haven’t mentioned before. Make people die to learn more!
9. ...live interaction on Twitter? During an event, you should monitor mentions around the event, and also reply back and retweet them. Tools like Hootsuite will help you tremendously here. Simply create a column with your hashtag and also columns with keywords that you may need to track (such as the names of artists participating in the event and the name of the venue, etc.).
10. ...live blogging? During an event like big conferences, you have 2-3 days to comment on the ‘goings on’ in a more elaborative manner. Posting 1-2 blogposts a day and sharing them on Twitter will get you more traction! You can use your existing event for this and tag it with the event hashtag, create a separate tab for it or even set up an entirely new blog for the event,
11. ..keeping an eye on the twitter stream of the event sponsors and artists who participate? They will probably Tweet about your event as well. Retweeting and mentioning them in your own stream is great for building stronger relationships and enhancing the live experience of your event.
12. ..running a contest? Post some questions on Twitter about your event and ask your audience to submit an answer in a Tweet that contains the event hashtag. Or go for a ‘Retweet to win’ idea and gain even more exposure for your Live streaming pay-per-view event! As for prizes, how about a discount coupon or free access?
>> Have more tips? Share them with us in the comments or tweet them to us @cleeng. Thanks!
