If you’re looking for a successful marketing plan for social media at events, look no further than Lia Haberman’s session at Social Media Week titled, “How to Build Social Virality Into Offline Events.” We loved the tips we picked up in this session because they’re useful for everyone in the events industry; from event designers to producers, the success of your social media strategy is determined by each aspect of your experience. Here are some of our favorite tips from Haberman and how you can translate them into guiding principles for your next event!
“Whatever your goal is, having an event with a hashtag isn’t enough. You need to entertain, enlighten, and inspire people. That’s when they’ll be receptive to amplify your message.”
To stand out in the social world, you need a combination of innovative design, memorable experiences, and a reason to share. Professional event design is key to accomplishing these goals and giving a great first impression to your guests. Hiring a professional event planner is your best bet for letting your guests know that you’re there to inspire and entertain!
“It’s not expensive; big ideas count more than big budgets.”
People will often underestimate the power of a great idea. Trying to overcompensate for a lack of preparation with expensive decor and technology will never be as powerful in the social sphere as a simple, effective idea. In Lia’s session, she told us this story about an influencer event they hosted:
“We had hand-lettered bananas with guests’ Instagram handles at every place setting. It cost 25c per person. It was original, personal, and photogenic. This was one of our most successful events as far as online sharing.”
This was such a unique idea and really catered to their audience. Our team loves big ideas, and offers our creative minds and event planning services for free when you book your event with us! It’s important for us to make sure that clients big and small can focus on bringing to life a great idea rather than paying for one.
“It’s your job to create “sharable moments.” Events need to be experience-driven in order to get attendees to amplify your event’s message.”
Like the monogrammed bananas at their influencer event, you need to plan out the event highlights and moments you want people to share. If you leave the social aspect up to chance, you’ve given up control of what your event will broadcast about your brand. If you’ve planned out these “sharable moments” and provided enough of them, you’ll hold the reigns when it comes to what your attendees want to share and what it says about you and your brand.
“Always recap. What is there to be improved? Always try to find ways to be more efficient for each new event. See what other brands are doing. Take what other people are doing that is cool, then improve on it.”
The concept of social media at events is unearthing so many new skills, data sets, and possibilities for event planners. Because so much of social media at events is so new, it’s more important than ever to recap at the end of every event. Even if the event was 100% successful in achieving every event goal, there is always something new to learn and apply for the next experience.
We’d like to give special thanks to Lia Haberman and encourage everyone to subscribe to the Social Media Insider and listen to her complete session at Social Media Week LA!
Finding new ways to implement social media at events is something that event planners can’t miss out on. If you’re ready for social success at your next event, we’re ready to take you there. Our event planners, designers, and creators are ready to make sure you’ve got a space and experience worth sharing. Give us a call, or start building your custom quote today!
