Social media platforms have always been used as a major digital marketing strategy tool. But their myriad of uses continues to grow in 2022. With more digital marketing options than ever, it's crucial to keep up with the latest social media marketing strategy trends and ensure that your events reach their target audiences.

Your brand may be using social media channels to promote an upcoming event, or you may be eager to upload the best photos afterward. However, many companies do not take advantage of social media during their events. This leads to them missing out on plenty of social media marketing opportunities that could help them reach more of their target audience.

By using social media creatively in their event promotion, brands can help their experiences reach a wider audience, and can more effectively promote their company and future events.

Reels, Reels, Reels!

Reels are short videos, up to 90 seconds long, where brands can share their personality, creativity, and engaging information with their followers. They have proven to be an amazing way for businesses to raise brand awareness and add a visual experience that reaches far beyond the original grid post. Instagram and TikTok users can record, edit, and share their videos to their feed, stories, and Reels tab all within the app. Here’s a list of our 3 favorite advantages of making reels at events:

• Shows Off Your Brand’s Personality:  We often see reels of people, even businesses, dancing to trending songs or participating in silly internet challenges. The added features of music and text make it even more entertaining and charismatic, no matter what information you’re sharing. This type of content from your events is sure to show off your personality and humanize your brand. 

• Raise Brand Awareness: Reels get automatically added to the “explore page” on Instagram, where they are available for potential followers and customers to find. This is where you can reach new people that might not have known about your business before and raise brand awareness.

• Work the Instagram Algorithm: Understanding the Instagram algorithm will provide a great advantage to your company and event. The algorithm highlights videos with high engagement, such as likes, comments, shares, and saves. Using creative tools like text, filters, or the various camera effects provided by Instagram will bump you up in the algorithm. Reels that perform best in the algorithm are entertaining and/or thought-provoking.

Pro Tip: Make sure your videos are taken vertically and in high resolution. Research the trending music on Instagram and take advantage of the Instagram music library to accompany your content. 

The benefits to reels are clear and the power they possess at your events is unsurpassable. Don’t forget to capture your next event with quality video content and turn it into a series of reels for your followers to enjoy!

Hashtags

Using hashtags is a great way to engage with audiences and social media followers around your event. They not only increase brand awareness and visibility, but they make it easy for people to track your event across all social media platforms and search for photos and information regarding your event. Use the same hashtag in all your social media posts and ask your guests to follow suit. You can then collect the best photos and audience testimonials and with permission, re-post them on your brand’s social media accounts.

Need a little help creating an event hashtag? Here are some tips!

• Make it simple, short, and memorable.

• Make it relevant to your event- Try event using the name of your event for a hashtag!

• Make it unique, so you don’t have to compete with others and clarify which photos and information belong to your event.

Collaborate With Influencers & Celebrities

Influencers, much like celebrities, hold a lot of pull with their loyal fans and followers. When you invite them to your events, you end up reaching a much larger audience and increasing the credibility of your event and brand. Invite presenters, speakers, and musical entertainment that will get your target audience excited about your event. Your chosen celebrities or influencers will build a buzz leading up to your event, thus encouraging their followers to support them by attending. Once at the event, collect content of your influencer or celebrity engaging with your guests. You can always use this content later on your social media platforms to encourage attendance at future events.

Quality Videos

Much like reels, videos can be incredibly effective for your brand. By taking high-quality videos with the best equipment at your events, you can show off all your brand has to offer. Here are some ideas:

• Interview your Guests and Attendees: Ask your guests what they think of the event, your product/services, and your company

• Behind-the-Scenes: This is great for companies to show what goes into making the product that your company is launching, or for event production companies to show off their setup and design skills

• Feature Product/Services: Show off your brand’s goods that will also be showcased at the event

• Live videos: Gather live content at your event. Take videos of people enjoying conversation, dancing, food, and the entertainment

Share Your Story

Storytelling is crucial to a brand’s success in social media, digital marketing, and in-person events. This is where Instagram stories play a major role. If events are an important part of your business, you want to document as much of the live experience as possible. It’s important to share your story with your online community before the event takes place. This humanizes your brand and is the beginning of a relationship between you and your audience. Once at your event, incorporate and capture elements of your company’s story. Maybe it’s the Founder of your company sharing the origin of how it all began or its beautiful custom builds that have the related story written out next to it for your guests to read at their own pace. Whatever it may be, take a video or picture of it and share it on your social media platforms. Sharing your story is a wonderfully human way to connect to both your in-person and online audiences at your events. For more tips on how to connect with your audiences, visit our blog article, “Connect With Your Audience On A Whole New Level”.

These simple tips will take your social media presence to the next level. Generate leads, increase your social media marketing impact, and draw in new customers. Making the most out of your event marketing strategy and sharing it via social media, will only motivate your followers to want to be a part of the magic. Contact Wizard Studios and get started on your next event today!