Our top suggestions to get your event messages out there
Choose your channels
There are plenty of social media channels to choose from, however, you want to use the channels that will best suit your target audience and following respectively. For example, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook each have different audience demographics and general purposes, with LinkedIn being more business focused and the majority of Instagram users being under 35. When attending an event, it can be really beneficial to post not only before but also during the event, to actively engage other attendees and maximise your post’s reach, all whilst letting your followers know what you’re up to.
Support your wording
When posting on social media at an event, the majority of the time there is either an event sponsor that you can mention, or a specific hashtag to use – or both! Mentioning and using hashtags is a quick and easy way for your post to reach more people and potentially gain more engagement.
CAPTURE THE MOMENT
It’s well known that images and videos help your content stand out and can help increase post engagement. Therefore, don’t forget to include candid photos from the event; as these add authenticity to your posts, for example a photo of your team at a stand, or one of the speakers. Visuals makes it clearer for people to understand what the event is about and what’s happening.
EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT
At an event like a trade show, normally several employees attend on behalf of a company. A good idea to help boost your posts reach and engagement, is to ask your employees to engage – like, comment and share to their own social media channel. Or, your attending employees could even publish their own posts tagging the business page and showcasing that they’re attending the event to their own followers.
PLAN OUT THE DAY
Another way to make the most out of your social channels at an event is to plan the content beforehand. If you know what the event entails, you can plan ahead what posts you want to publish and when, in order to maximise engagement. This saves you having to make a quick decision in the moment about what to post, and saves you trying to think of content ideas while having a busy day out! For example, if you know there is a talk you want to attend at 3pm, get ready to post about it.
PUBLISH SOME ‘FUN’ CONTENT
Within the Financial Services Sector, it is common for social media channels and content to be professional. While we suggest this professional tone continues when posting during an event, you could always take a more lighthearted approach. For example, sharing photos of food or a drinks reception adds character to your channel and makes it feel more relatable to real life.
IT DOESN’T END THERE
You can continue to utilise your social media channels even after the event has finished. Whether you want to produce a round up blog of the event to share, or do an overall post of the day/days. Referring back to the event a few days later can again, help your post performance, while also spreading the message to people who may not have seen your live event posts.