Social Media in Event Planning
To access a PDF version of this brief please follow this link: Event Planning Brief
Introduction:
Social media is emerging and constantly changing how individuals do things. One of the benefits of social media is the ability to connect with others. In the event planning space, social media is a powerful tool that groups can use to skyrocket their potential. There are more benefits to using social media than there are costs, which is why most organizations should be using it.
The prudent use of social media will set the organization up for success. Social media reaches those of all ages and has the potential to spread to individuals who would not have seen the event if it had not been posted. With the event being posted virtually, it will attract a larger audience. Many organizations are using social media to promote their events, but there is room for growth. Many sites inform about best practices when it comes to incorporating social media into event planning.
Overview of social media and the industry:
According to Strategy Driven Marketing (2019), "77% of Americans had a social media profile.” this is a large enough population that it is crucial to use social media as a way to boost your event. With this statistic in mind, it could be seen as a weakness for an organization not to use social media to promote their event. Also without social media, organizations would be losing out on the benefits of creating a relationship with individuals. From an article on Event MB’s website, it states that “52% of event planners specified that Facebook is the most effective social media channel for event promotion” (Solaris, 2018). Facebook has been a popular channel to advertise an event because organizers can create the event, invite people to attend, and provide information on what the event is about. Event planners also mention that Facebook “came out top as a community building tool” (Solaris, 2018). Even though Facebook is the top platform for event planners, this does not mean that an organization should only promote with it. Organizations should try to be well rounded and promote to Instagram and Twitter as well.
Benefits and challenges:
The top three benefits of using social media when it comes to event planning are advertising/marketing, audience engagement/networking, and creating a brand image. It is important for event planners to use each platform strategically. This is because “ adopting a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach for the social media marketing of an event is not likely to work”, each platform has its own affordances (Eventify, 2019). By posting on multiple social media platforms, organizers can tailor their post to ensure that it is up to par with other trending content on that specific platform. The reason that advertising/marketing is so beneficial is due to the range of individuals that you can reach. Organizers can post the event and people will be able to share this event with their friends who can in turn share with their friends, and then this cycle continues which could exponentially grow the amount of audience members they reach. This will provide the planners “with important event feedback and help [them] get involved in industry conversations” (Enlightened Digital, 2018). Creating a brand image is something that will entice attendees to look further into the event or future events. With a positive brand image the audience will continue to grow and spike attendance in the future.
The challenges and risks associated with the usage of social media include “things like poor-quality, blurred images, spelling errors, and even incorrect tags” (Eventify, 2019). The main reason that these are the challenges are because they are more likely to negatively showcase the event or the organization. If an organization posts something that is poor quality or blurry, the audience is more likely to be put off by the post. This could affect the way that the individuals feel about the brand and how seriously they are taking their event. This is the same thing with spelling errors. If an organization is not taking the time to catch spelling errors, they could be seen as lazy. There is a benefit to using hashtags or tagging other accounts. The challenge comes into play when they use the incorrect tags. For example, if a company uses a tag that includes an “s” it could be common for the audience to leave it off or for the organization to accidentally leave it off as well. This is an issue because they could not be reaching as many people as they have hoped to.
Case studies:
Many event organizers are starting to use social media to reach their audiences. One example of this is Emporia First Friday. This is something that happens the first Friday of every month. Their goal is to connect the local businesses with the communities. They have both an Instagram as well as a Facebook. On their social media, they showcase information that is needed for the event; this includes the time, location, and special prizes. A takeaway from their social media is how frequent they post. They are also strategic about what they are posting. They post the prize packet of what someone will win if they complete their “passport” as well as photos that captivate the viewers attention. These posts will show what the event has to offer and highlight key information they may need. A lesson to takeaway is to constantly be posting about partners that your organization is working with.
Another organization that is using social media to promote their event is the organization GIVE, Getting Involved in Volunteering in Emporia. GIVE currently only has a Facebook and due to COVID-19 they have not been meeting. Prior to COVID-19, they would post photos from the events that they held. A takeaway that I noticed was that it could be more beneficial to their organization to post about what they are specifically doing at the events. They had been posting photos of the items created or the places that they had visited but they did not specify what they did. By doing this they could potentially increase the number of people that they have at the event.
Recommendations and best practices:
There are many things that individuals in this industry could do but the top 5 include: being actively involved, being strategic about what to post, utilizing links, understanding the audience, and engaging with the audience.
Being actively involved consists of best practices such as “posting 3-4 times a week” (Murphy, K., 2020). The reason organizations should be posting frequently is because if they don’t, audiences may choose other events or not see information. It is also important to be strategic on what is being posted, “avoid sharing anything that might have political or social or cultural connotations” this is because “not all types of publicity is ‘good publicity’” (Eventify, 2019). By posting things like this, it could draw away individuals due to not agreeing with the post or making the assumption about the brand that may not be true. Important things to post include photos, hashtags, telling stories and being personable are also beneficial to post.
It is important to be strategic on which platform to post to. According to Enlightened Digital “Twitter is great for interacting via short messages and sharing content you think would benefit your audience. LinkedIn is perfect for sharing more in-depth, thoughtful content pertaining to leadership that appeals to a more professional audience, and Instagram is the ideal place to advertise your product, venue or service through visual content” (Enlightened Digital, 2018). By knowing this, you can better tailor to your audiences.
Another practice to adopt is to post links to other resources connected to the event or organization. Links could be posted as an actual post or be incorporated into the organization’s bio or information page. It is also key to understand the audience. If a brand does not know their audience, they may be posting things that are not relevant. By understanding their needs, posts can be tailored specifically to each platform that they post on.
There is also the opportunity to create new events in the future based on the interests of the audience members. It is also important to engage with the audience. Ideas on how to engage the audience include giveaways, reposting their photos if they include the organization’s hashtag, commenting on their posts, and posting questions to entice them to comment.
References:
Enlightened Digital. (2018, August 28). Why social media is vital in the events industry. Retrieved March 13, 2021, from https://enlightened-digital.com/why-social-media-is-vital-in-the-events-industry/
Eventify. (2019, August 05). How can event planners make best use of social media platforms? Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://eventify.io/how-can-event-planners-make-best-use-of-social-media-platforms/
Murphy, K. (2020, November 13). Volunteer program social Media Ideas. Retrieved March 13, 2021, from https://www.trackitforward.com/content/how-volunteer-organizations-can-use-social-media
Social media tips for event planners. (2019, February 11). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.strategydrivenmarketing.com/news/2019/2/11/social-media-tips-for-event-planners
Solaris, J. (2018, November 09). Social media for Events (2019 Edition): A Complete guide to marketing your events using social media. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.eventmanagerblog.com/social-media-events#actions
Appendix:
Links to both the Emporia First Friday and GIVE social media profiles:
Two sites that I recommend checking out: