Content | November 11, 2015
5 Simple Ways to Promote Your Event Online
Do you have an event coming up that you’re looking to promote? Well, you could hit the streets and flyer the entire city in the hope that someone might buy a ticket. Or alternatively, stay warm and dry inside, and try one or all of these online techniques instead.
Here are 5 simple ways to promote your event online:
1. Advanced Twitter Search
Here at Liberty Marketing we are currently raising funds for Movember in the run up to our event at the end of the month – the Cardiff Mo Awards.
And the most successful method for marketing our event has been using advanced Twitter searches. Twitter’s Advanced Search functionality allows users to cross-search a hashtag or word phrase along with a location and timeframe to reveal any users who have been tweeting about a given subject in the near vicinity. You can even specify that you only want to see tweets that speak positively about a given subject.
What does all this mean? Well, this advanced search can reveal the people in your area who may genuinely be interested in what you have to offer and therefore, are more likely to convert.
For example, we run regular Twitter Advanced Searches for ‘#Movember near: “Cardiff, Wales”’. This tells us who has been talking about the charity month within the city and as a result, may like to enter our awards.
Creating dialogue online is a great way of promoting an event and engaging with an audience. Just because you’ve made a page, it doesn’t necessarily mean people will find it and attend your event. Instead, talk to people!
2. Targeted Social Ads
Both Facebook and Twitter allow paid search marketers to utilise their social ads for targeted audiences. Yes, you’ll have to pay to get these ads in front of the right people; however, this can be an extremely effective method of promotion.
Target your ads by interests, keywords, location, age, gender or any other factor that may determine their interest in your event. If we were to run targeted social ads for our awards, we’d most likely aim them at men in Cardiff between 25 and 50 years old who have mentioned the terms ‘mo’, ‘moustache’ or ‘Movember’ in the past month.
3. Gmail Sponsored Promotions (GSPs)
GSPs have been around for a while now and are a brilliant way of promoting a major event. Gmail users will be familiar with the sponsored promotion ads that appear in their inbox. GSPs have their own tab in Gmail where they collect and teasers appear on the right of the inbox, which fully expand when clicked on.
Here are some examples of GSPs for products, services and competitions:
Like both of the above options, GSPs allow you to be highly targeted. They also have the bonus of reporting, with details of missed opportunities where campaigns have been opened and dismissed mentioned. This allows you to make informed decisions of how you can improve future ads.
4. Email Campaign
If you have an email list of existing customers then these are the perfect people to inform about your event. After all, they’re already invested in your product or services.
An email campaign that contacts your mailing list in the run up to your event is a great way of raising awareness. You could even offer them an incentive to attend by giving a discounted entry fee on presentation of the email.
5. Online PR
Last but not least is online PR and link-building. Outreach to local or nationwide news outlets and ask them if they would be interested in covering your event. You may get a homepage story or just a mention in their events listing page, but you won’t know unless you try.
Relevant websites and blogs are also well worth contacting, especially those that see high volumes of traffic. Not only will this help promote your event, but if they accept a follow link, it could also boost the authority of your website and improve your SERP rankings too.
So, take that coat off and put it back on the hook, those flyers will have to wait. It’s time to promote your event online!
And if you’d like to attend the Cardiff Mo Awards, take a look at the Facebook event page here.
