One of the most common questions people who use social media ask themselves is “are we doing it right?”.

Many blogs and articles may claim to have found the ‘holy grail’ that is the formula for social media success, but the truth is, what works for one person, may not work for another; not to mention that success can mean different things for different people.

Related: Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Setting Up Your Social Media

So, we decided to get some top tips from leading Eventprofs on what it is that they do well to gain social media success. Read on to learn how their tips can help with your approach to social media.

Gareth McTiffin, Marketing & Events Manager, Merlin Events

Don’t feel pressured to utilise every social media platform out there! Your choice of social network depends on your event type and target audience, so limit yourself to a handful and focus on quality over quantity.

If your social media profiles are still in their infancy, it’s likely that your following will be small and limited. Instead of growing disheartened, recognise this shortfall and build your networks via targeted adverts. Facebook ads are a prime example: they allow you to pinpoint users by a wide range of qualifiers including location, age and occupation. Twitter’s Auto Amplify tool is very effective too.

Related: Your Guide to Using Facebook and Twitter Advertising For Events

David Weaver, Director, Pongplexed

Give them something to take away. Ponglexed invested in high quality stickers that we hand out at events. This has meant far more people like our Facebook page after being at one of our events, the sticker being the reminder they need later on.

Martin Keane, Head of Marketing and Communications, Alexandra Palace

The key to successful social media engagement is to provide your followers with access to content they can’t find anywhere else. For us that means behind the scenes coverage throughout our live events, exclusive competitions and pro-active engagement with our customers when they attend events at Alexandra Palace.

Jill Ubdergrove, Marketing Director, Showmasters Events

We have recently started to use social media advertising as a means of quickly raising awareness not just for our new events, but long established ones as well – focusing on both profile targetting, and location of people that may be interested in the content of our shows or looking for things to do.  We have found this is more successful now than when we first tested it a couple of years ago, probably because there was a resistance to ads showing up on profile pages, but these seems to now be an accepted ‘intrusion’ or so our results find.

We also use the smart tease. It’s fairly well known that making a post to say something is happening at a time or place is guaranteed to get your audiences attention but if you add a puzzle or a clue – using visuals or smart wordplay – this is really what captures the imagination of your audience. It can give a teaser post a huge engagement, as people try to work it out on their own or as a collective – this can be either a solo post, or a series of posts – just make sure the clues or puzzles are not too easy so the actual reveal doesn’t become a non-event!

Matt Farthing, Creative Partner, Joypad Bar

Over at Joypad we’ve found that having a consistent and unique tone in your written copy does wonders. Communicating a genuine passion for your event’s subject matter helps your potential audience connect with you on a human level (just remember to run a spell check!) so don’t be afraid to allow your personality into your blurbs.

Also – make yourself a nice big header and matching colour scheme for your eventbrite page. It makes your page ‘pop’ and helps it to stand out above the crowd!

 

Related: 20 Great Examples of Customised Event Pages

Nick Pahl, Communications Director, Hot Tub Cinema

Firstly get the best professional photography you can afford for your hero shot PR / Announcement posts. Nothing beats the power of an amazing photograph to give greater social media punch and share-ability.

Secondly – Love it or hate it we live in the #selfie era. Build experiences and opportunities for your guests to photograph themselves having an amazing time for their channels. Use photobooths, build branded step board areas with props, train your staff to offer to take photos for your guests. Put up signs with your social media handles around your event space and offer wifi for free if you can.

Post any in-house photography ASAFP after the event – we’re talking minutes and hours afterwards not days. All simple things that helps get greater social boost to your event.

Related: The Importance of Photography and Social to a Brand Experience

Dasha Plotnikova, Digital Assistant, The Art Fund

Photos on social media tend to outperform other types of content. To maximise engagement, look to capture people’s experiences (especially of previous events).

Everyone likes a bargain and feeling part of a community, so highlight any offers (like early bird) to your fans and followers.

Summary

As you can see, there are many different approaches to achieving social media success. Each leading eventprof has chosen a strategy with their goals in mind. Whether re-trying a previously unsuccessful strategy due to a change in audience behaviour, encouraging attendees to share photos of the event (helping to build FOMO), or creating additional content, to add a different level to your audiences’ experience; these Eventprofs have analysed what that want to gain from social media and created a strategy based around this.

So the first question you should ask yourself is “what am I looking to achieve on social media?” Once you know the answer to this, you can start planning your strategy and experimenting with what works.

If you always remember to keep this question top of mind you’ll be much more likely to achieve your goals and enjoy social media success, which will help to grow your audience and your events.