It seems like everyone is involved with event
planning. Whether it’s through
work or volunteering, event involvement is part of the picture. Promoting an event is essential to successful
results, no matter how that’s quantified. Social media has become a cornerstone of event
promotion. It’s a vital tool in the promotional toolbox.
Richard
Retyi, Social Media Director at Fluency
Media shared his expertise on using social media to promote and
cover live events before a receptive audience at LA2M. Retyi’s has impressive experience in working
with social media for a who’s who of big name clients.
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| Richard Retyi |
Retyi’s talk was an enlightening and practical step by step
tutorial in maximizing social media benefit for live events before, during and
after. Any successful marketing effort begins with planning whether it’s
for your own event or if your organization is part of an event.
Begin by researching who will be there and what social media
channels they use. Look for participants, influencers, speakers, bands
and whatever applies to your event, Retyi recommended. Include their
feeds in an online hub that will aggregate all things informational and social
surrounding your event.
The hub you create can be part of your website or a separate
site. The hub should include access to all important event information,
explained Retyi.
Create a FourSquare geo location
and most importantly a hashtag that is short and specific to the event.
Use other media like email to round out your promotional picture, Retyi
suggested.
Retyi said when it comes to planning for the day of the
event you need to ask yourself, “What do you need and what will work best for
the event?” He said, “You need to plan your equipment and support for the
equipment and prepare for the weather.”
Advance preparation also includes knowing what channels will
be used and staffing for appropriate coverage. “One person on site can
tweet, get information and take photos,” but two is more ideal explained Retyi.
“Twitter is where live events live.
Twitter is a quick glimpse with photos, it gives people a flavor,” said
Retyi. Tweeting 5 times per hour and every other hour posting on Facebook
and using on online photo book is about optimum for most events, explained
Retyi. Google+ and Instagram
are also good social sharing assets.
“Make sure to send all posts to your online hub for complete
updates,” said Retyi. Photography doesn’t need to be fancy. “Get
creative. You aren’t a professional. You aren’t getting the highest
quality with mobile. So get unique,” advised Retyi.
Coveritlive can generate a unique live
interactive experience that allows for live chat, video and more. Google Hangout can be used for live backstage
chat, Q & A and more. Moderate and display tweets and meet ups to add
another dimension, suggested Retyi.
Build a pre-event play list on Spotify if you are promoting a music
event. Utilize Turntable.fm to create an off line music
experience that replicates a live show. These are some of the tips and
tools Retyi suggested to make your event audience experience unique on and off
site.
Once the event is concluded Retyi recommends doing a wrap
up. “A photo heavy blog is easiest. The next time you do the event
you can push people to the post.” WordPress or Tumblr
are suggested blog sites.
Storify
for curating hashtags, photos and tweets is preferred. “Curate your work
as a repository to use in the future,” said Retyi. Event generated
content can be re-purposed on your website, in an e-newsletter and other
collateral channels.
Retyi said you can gauge the success of your event and
social media promotional activities by looking at impressions for hashtags, how
many impressions the account got and how authoritative the re-tweeters
are. He also suggested looking at what were the most re-tweeted tweets,
as well as engagement with photos on Twitter and on Facebook.
You can follow Richard Retyi at @RichRetyi. To view
the entire presentation, go to the LA2M
event archive.
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