If you’re organizing an event, you need to market it – there’s no doubt about that. One of the easiest and relatively less expensive ways to do it, is through Social Media. Again, that’s a well-known fact. Using social media to market events is nothing new. It has been around for some time now. However, as with everything else, this too, is undergoing change, as in everything else. We will take a look at these changing trends here. Some things however, still remain the same.

Marketing efforts have to start a long time before the event is actually due; only then you will be able to sell enough tickets, or get the required number of attendees to register. This is because there are hundreds of events being conducted every year, as any event management company in Bangalore will tell you, and you have to attract enough attention!

This is what you need to do basically:

• Create a buzz around the venue through spoiler alerts – bits of info at a time

• Start posting about early bird offers for registration and create awareness about registration windows

• Create urgency regarding ticket sales and announce rewards for referral sales

• Use FOMO (fear of missing out) to your advantage. Relieve them of their tension by offering new opportunities to be part of your event. Some of the ways you can do this is by announcing discount codes to followers on social networks, announcing fun contests on social platforms with tickets as the prize, or even stipends for travel. To make it even more special, you can give away VIP access passes – with conditions attached, of course. You can base them on how much they have shared. This way you can expand your reach.

• Post countdowns to the event – use eye catching imagery to encourage sharing,

• Share what’s happening behind the scenes regarding event production; get a little creative and share stuff like what you’re eating on the go in the middle of preparations; what you plan to wear on the big day; what your color theme is likely to be – there are numerous possibilities.

Having said that, the medium to share these tidbits of information is slowly changing; some of them may take you by surprise:

• Posting sneak peeks on Facebook through posts is getting a little old. So, use the new feature – go Live! Make short videos either talking about the event – never let out the full details though – or show glimpses of the venue and its surroundings, speakers, activities that are likely to be there, and so on. Creating a buzz with short, personalized live posts on Facebook is hot right now.

• Video: this is very, very, big today. There is video everywhere: from eCommerce sites to social media to actual event venues. I’m not talking about short videos like you see on Facebook Live… these are professionally made videos that show many different things: curated snippets of your speakers at other events; the venue itself; preparation work going on in the background, and more. People today seem to have less patience, and prefer watching the videos rather than reading long blocks of text about the same subject. This is quite a popular way of marketing corporate events in Bangalore.

• Believe it or not, but Twitter usage is coming down; it’s being called the Twitter fatigue. So you may not really lose a whole lot if you don’t go at marketing your event on Twitter hammer and tongs. There are other, newer and more exciting ways that are becoming more popular by the day. As one of the top 10 event management companies in Bangalore, we are experiencing this ourselves; of course, whether this will again change in the future, can’t be predicted.

• Snapchat: This works very well with the younger crowd, so if that’s the age group you’re targeting, you can use Snapchat and Snapchat specs to wow your audience. The filters that you can use are a huge advantage. By sending images and videos that last for a few seconds before they get deleted automatically, you can easily create hype about the event. It’s also possible to create games and contests using Snapchat. You can continue marketing the event as it is happening using this tool. You can take advantage of the ‘Our Story’ feature to do this – live stream the event as it happens. Users actually attending the event can jump in and upload their images or short videos from the event and share it with their own followers. This way you can keep people on their toes for your next event!

• Instagram Live: Just as with Facebook, this new feature of Instagram lets people share live videos and connect with your audiences in real time. These videos will appear on the top of the news feeds of your followers for 24 hours! Isn’t that great? It’s a wonderful way to keep your story fresh. Instagram was already popular with younger users – and I don’t mean teens – but this feature has made it even more exciting for them. You need to leverage the platforms that are popular so that your marketing efforts are properly rewarded.

• Influencer Marketing: to put it simply, influencer marketing is using a well-known person in an industry to create awareness about a product or service through word of mouth marketing. So how will you use it to market your event? Let’s say you have hired some popular performer to entertain your attendees. They are sure to have their own followers on social media. Ask them to post updates or images about the event – their followers would certainly be interested in going to an event where their idols are performing. Conference organizers in Bangalore have started using this method with good success rates. Reach out to influencers in the same industry; for example, if you’re organizing a hackathon for startups to showcase their app making skills, write to a prominent programmer and tell them briefly about your event; they are likely to be interested even if they don’t attend the event – and will talk about it on social media, helping you reach a wider audience. Make sure to choose the right person – it has to be someone who people look up to, so that when they make a statement, it’s taken seriously. Build a relationship with the chosen influencers, so that you’re sure they will help your cause. Give them some incentive to promote your event – it can’t hurt!

• Bots: this is being touted as the ‘next gen’ marketing tool. If you don’t already know what a bot is, it is a program pretending to be an actual person, and you can communicate with it via text or voice message. This program is designed to automate many kinds of tasks, and is supported by AI. Chatbots converse with humans using lightweight messaging apps. So instead of a static image or passive video, you can now have something that is capable of actively interacting with your target audience – can you see the potential? It is so much more exciting and fun. Bots can ask specific questions to users too; this can help you gain feedback and personalize your marketing efforts.

Keeping on top of changing trends in event marketing is not an easy task. It takes time, effort, money and involves a great deal of research. It takes time away from your core business. You don’t have to do any of this when you hire White Massif , one of the best event management companies in Bangalore, to handle your event. Our expertise in event marketing has our clients coming back to us year after year, to conduct their events. Just call us on +91-990-0141-177, or contact us here.