Using Social Media As A Tool To Promote Your Event Management Career
When breaking news in nigeria hits the internet, the first place it
usually goes is blogs and forums even before the online newspapers. Why? Because it moves faster
than any other form of communication out there, online forums like nairaland are
all about sharing content, and sharing it quickly.
Online forums are the homes to over 95% of nigerian users as of. December,
2012 (Source: INTEL boss), and there are over 1000
Posts per hour posted to these platforms
There are several forums like yarnme,reviewlicious,naijapals etc but let's focus on nairaland for the moment, nairaland
is an online social networking and microblogging
service that enables users to create topics which vary from news opinion polls to short stories etc, it also enables users to send and read , which
are text messages of unlimited characters. Registered
Users can read and send posts, but unregistered users
can only read them.”
So what does this all mean to an event planner looking
to promote their next event?or like a nairalander would say, [b]how that one take concern me?[/b] well It means that your
potential attendees are probably using nairaland or other forums already,
and you just need to find them and connect.
Here’s how you can use this fast-paced, content-sharing,
high-volume social media platform to promote your
events.
· Use social media as a way to drive clients to your sites:
Since it is often used to help drive followers to
other places such as company websites, facebook pages,
and blogs, it’s the perfect way to send people to your
event website or registration page. However, remember
the 80/20 rule so that you don’t get the [b]if I open this link make thunder fire me[/b] post which most beginner bloggers get from
followers, clients and potential attendees. 80% of your
Posts should be helpful or entertaining. 20% of your
tweets should be self-promoting, meaning that they
relate to your business or event. If your website, or
registration page is lengthy, consider using linkshorteners online like tinyurl or bitdo
to shorten the link, and make it more user-friendly.
· Use hash tags: By now you’ve probably seen hash
tags everywhere. Use them to promote your event,
they’re great to use because you can track who used it.
Find out if the event you’re attending already has a hash
tag created. If you’re coming up with your own, get
creative by including your company name with the
name of the convention. But, be sure to keep it short.
Last but not least, check the web to see if this hash tag
already exists.
· Find conversations: Go to busy topics and sections to find
people to talk about your event, certain topics, and lots
of other things with. This may be a great way for you to
promote your event.
If you’re brand new to the internet (;D which I doubt), here are some other
general tips to keep in mind after you’ve set up your
account:
· Keep your posts to a maximum of 3-5 per day.
Again, you don’t want to overwhelm your followers.
Consider setting up a schedule of what you’ll post, and
when.
· Find out who your followers are, this way you can
know what to post about.
· Don’t link your forum account to your twitter or Facebook accounts.
They are different platforms, and have different
languages. They are each set up differently, so you
should use them differently. Take the time to use the
same content on both.