Awesome evening at @JuanSanchez_chorlton getting some pics and trying the amazing food. #chorlton #manchester #tapas #spanishfood #spanishtapas

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6 Top Tips for Successful Event Marketing

We all know that social media is a great way to promote events, so why aren’t your promotions as successful as you’d expected? 

Probably because you are doing the same thing as everybody else, and you are not measuring your results. Not only do you need to be creative to impress your target audience, but you need to do it right, and most importantly, you need to keep track of everything. Failing to prepare and plan ahead is the first mistake a lot of businesses make when starting out on social media. To use social media marketing effectively, you need to watch trends and plan ahead of time. Here are a few tips to help you get more results from your social media efforts:

1. Keep up with trends: using Facebook and Twitter to promote your business is old news. Everyone is doing that. In order to stand out, you need to know what’s trending and take advantage of it. For nightclubs & bars, you should be working with Instagram (photos), Vine (short videos) and Snapchat (deals and sneak previews).

2. Create a content plan: making a post on Facebook 3 days before an event is not going to cut it anymore. There is a lot you can do to promote your events, so you need to have a plan. We suggest you start planning at least 2 - 3 months ahead, to ensure you cover all steps. That way, you’ll have time to spread the word online strategically, drip feed the details of your event and run other types of promos, like contests and giveaways. You can find more information on Content Generation here http://bit.ly/1Je00VQ

3. Identify your customers’ niche: where do your customers hang out online? Which social media sites do they use the most? Knowing that information will help you come up with the best plan. You don’t want to waste time on Facebook if your customers use Instagram. To find your customers’ niche, research what is popular around your area, have your employees ask customers, and test different strategies. Promote the same offer on different platforms, and see which one gets you the best response.

4. Be consistent and cross-promote: make sure to have the same message across all your social media pages. Keep the same designs and information, so you don’t confuse customers. Also, when deciding which strategies to use, combine social media promotions. E.g. run a contest on Instagram, but promote it on Facebook and Twitter as well. You can find more information on creating social media contests and competitions at www.hoopla-marketing.com

5. Get everyone involved and excited: especially your employees. Make sure you keep them in the loop on what is happening on your social media channels and how they can help you to promote the event. The more excited they are about your event, the more excited customers will be as well. Get your staff to share your posts on their personal pages to help you spread the word.

6. Track everything: In order for you to calculate your ROI you need to analyse key metrics such Clicks, Impressions, Reach, Engagement Rate, so you can compare and improve for the next promotion. Create a unique #hashtag for your event and your audience will include it in their tweets or posts resulting in even further reach on your messaging, increasing brand awareness. This will also allow you to easily monitor any discussions around your event or business.

For more information on getting the most out of your event using social media call 0161 731 0048, email info@hoopla-marketing.com or visit www.hoopla-marketing.com 

Don't miss out on our Social Media for Business training course! 14th July 2015 - Book your tickets here