Social media should already be a key component of your promotional plans.

But with so many event-goers buying tickets on their phones these days (mobile traffic overtook desktop traffic in 2016), you need to reach them where they are.

That means mobile-specific social media.

Instagram and Snapchat are two of those next-generation social media networks, built specifically for the mobile generation and existing almost exclusively on mobile platforms.

Here’s why you should be targeting users on these platforms when promoting your event, and how to do it.

Why Snapchat and Instagram matter

They’re where people are

Instagram has an estimated 600 million active monthly users. Snapchat has around 300 million active monthly and about 150 million daily users — more than Twitter.

That’s a lot of potential ticket-buyers.

And especially certain people

Instagram users are mostly young, college-educated Americans, especially women. Thirty-one percent of women and 24 percent of men use Instagram. Just over half of 18 to 29 year olds use Instagram along with a quarter of 30 to 49 year olds. Nearly a third of Americans with some college education use it.

Snapchat is similar, but more female and younger. Seventy percent of users are women and 71 percent are under 25. Just under two-thirds of Snapchat users make less than $50,000 a year, although that’s likely because they skew so young.

Are you trying to reach younger people? You need to be on these platforms. (If you’re trying to reach different age groups, it might be better to focus on other platforms.)

How to do it right

Both of these platforms rely on strong visuals. If your event is already photogenic, this should be easy.

Instagram is a great way to promote your event year round. Use trends like Throwback Thursdays (#tbt) or, hey, just post a pretty picture, no excuse needed. Since Instagram doesn’t allow clickable links in captions, you’ll want to mention that followers should click the link in your bio for more information about the event pictured. And you could cross-post the photo on Facebook or Twitter to expand the reach outside of Insta users.

Snapchat is a little less intuitive to use (unless you’re under 25). And unlike on Instagram, you can’t really post photos from past events, only of things happening right at that moment — great for building your brand during an event but a little difficult when it comes to connecting with ticket-buyers beforehand (though you shouldn’t underestimate the power of brand building and FOMO to driving future ticket sales).

And there are some ways to make it work. Short videos work better on Snapchat than on Instagram. If it’s getting close to the event, post some clips of the setup. If event day is still a quite some time off, you’ll have to be creative to think of photo-worthy prep that might be happening. Examples that could work include tasting beers for your brewfest, meeting with speakers for your business conference, or checking out one of your band’s current shows.

Just don’t forget to include a call to action reminding them to get their tickets for your event.

Think about where they are

According to the analytics firm TrackMaven, the effectiveness of sharing photos on Instagram is the same any time of day, but videos tend to perform best 9pm and 8am. People are happy to engage with photos during work hours, but not so much videos. It’s probably slightly different with Snapchat since so many posts are short videos, but if you want your followers to watch your video with the sound on it’s probably best to post in the evening.

Also think about where potential attendees are and what they might be doing at the time of your post. Are they likely to be open to buying a ticket at that time of day? A fun event photo might do well late night on a Saturday to build excitement, but that might not be the best time to push ticket sales and registrations.

Think ahead to your next event

On the day of your event, be thinking ahead to your next event’s ticket sales, whether that’s tomorrow, next week or even next year. All those photos and videos on Instagram and Snapchat are not just building buzz about your brand, they’re snagging you new followers who, a few weeks, months or a year down the line, will see a post pop up announcing that tickets are going on sale for your event event.

Features like an Instagram photo booth or a Snapchat geofilter — an illustration layered on top of Snapchat photos that can only be used within a specific geographical area — can also boost fan engagement with your event on social media.

In conclusion

Instagram and Snapchat both have huge, targeted and highly engaged audiences for you to target.

The key is to engage with them on these platforms in a natural, authentic way that takes advantage of their specific strengths, rather than trying to copy/paste the same social strategies you might have used previously on Twitter.

You could quickly find that they become your favourite social networks for helping you achieve sold-out events.

For even more insights into how you can turn social media into a ticket-selling gold mine, check out our comprehensive guide to Mastering Social Media for Events.