6 Ways to Create a Live Event That Encourages Social Sharing

It takes a lot of work to create a live event that will attract the largest attendance possible. Having put the work in, you’ll want to pay just as much attention to getting those attendees to share that they are at your event with their social network of potential future attendees. It’s at these live events that attendees can really experience your brand. And when they have an engaging experience, they are more likely to share how it made them feel. There are many ways to create this social sharing urge. Here are six ways to get your eventgoers to open up about your events: Target the right social platforms To make it as easy as possible for your attendees to share, you’ll need to know which social platforms they prefer and what features on those platforms are most suited to your event. For example, you may want to use Facebook Live to provide visual content that those attending the event can instantly share. If you know your audience likes to check in, make it convenient for them to do so. Get personal For an event to generate excitement, it has to reach the audience on a personal level. As Ian McGonnigal, chief growth officer at Kenwood Experiences, an experiential marketing solutions provider, explains, “Consumers will see right through you if you incorporate a social element for the sake of it. The only way to actually win people over is to engage with their content along with your own. When your audience relationships are natural, you have a greater chance of converting consumers to lifelong loyalists.” It’s these personal connections to the event and exclusive access to content and event participants that leads to social sharing. Those personal event experiences will be different for each attendee, and they will vary from event to event. That means you’ll need to spend considerable time understanding your attendees so that you can nail their ideal personal event experience. Prepare relevant, shareable content Whatever social media platform they prefer, give attendees content on your own pages, as well as social sharing buttons so that all they have to do is hit “share.” This content could be visuals and video, which tend to be the most popular types of social sharing content. However, it may also include access to conference content or other valuable information that attendees believe their social circles can benefit from. The best approach is to plan and prepare as much of the content as possible. This will enable regular updates that can be shared and then reshared. This preparation should also include developing relevant hashtags for different social platforms so that those searching online can find the content connected to your event. Create an online spreadsheet that allows different team members to submit content for your experiential marketing strategy. It also helps to use a platform like Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule all of the content to be released at different points during your event. Do sweat the details While this may seem obvious, there are certain essentials that you need to provide to enable social sharing. Top of the list should be excellent Wi-Fi connections to ensure that your attendees can livestream video, upload photos or even podcast straight from your event. Test the Wi-Fi and ensure that you’re investing in technology that makes it easy for your attendees to upload, download and stream. It will get you the greater social sharing that you seek. Reach out to influencers Invite social influencers to your event so that they can share their experience with their social circle. These influencers play an important role. Their admirers could be in your target audience, and an influencer’s recommendation could convince them to attend your event this year or to participate in upcoming events. Plus, a social influencer’s followers may continue sharing the event-related content that he or she has uploaded. Appoint a social media event manager Engagement doesn’t just happen on its own. You’ll need someone to oversee it and promote ongoing interest in what you are doing, such as by uploading visual content throughout the event to keep people engaged. A social media event manager can also react to any online feedback about your event. The larger your event, the more likely you are to need more than one person to monitor this part of the process. In our social media age, holding an event that generates no online chatter is tantamount to not holding it at all. Following these tips will help ensure that your experiential marketing initiatives produce all the buzz you could hope for.

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6 Ways to Create a Live Event That Encourages Social Sharing

You’ve got to get people talking about it

Mary C. Long

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Mary C. Long