Social Media has rapidly gone from a way of sharing goofy photos with your friends to one of the most powerful marketing tools in the world. While you can choose to ignore it and depend on alternative methods and techniques, a few simple guidelines can help you to harness the amazing power of platforms like Twitter and Facebook, massively increasing the awareness of your upcoming event or conference. Here are few tips on how to make the most of social media.

Have a strategy

For the most part, social media emphasises the ‘nowness’ of their interactions. A tweet is no sooner posted than it’s buried under an avalanche of fresh content. Other platforms, like Instagram, don’t even allow you to pre-schedule posts. However, that doesn’t mean that your every post should be a spur-of-the-moment affair – far from it. Having a detailed plan of exactly what you’re going to post and when is essential. You need to consider exactly what you’re going to post, where you’re going to post it, when your post will go out and what audience you’re targeting.

Choose a network

The choice of social media is extensive and getting longer all the time. The big ones are Facebook and Twitter, but there’s also Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Reddit and more. Each has a specific audience or specialises in a specific type of content, and not all of them will be appropriate for you. Facebook is a good all-rounder and should probably be on any marketing strategy, but you might choose to ignore some of the others to focus on those most used by the sort of people who’d be most interested in your event.

Build your social presence

A lot of people – not just events organisers – forget that the essential feature of social media is that it is social. If you just use it as a distribution network, your posts will get limited interaction and, therefore, limited exposure. Instead, you need to make sure that your profile is detailed and informative and that you interact with people. This will create a conversation, which will create a buzz which will improve the effectiveness of your marketing.

Be generous

Social media users appreciate getting something a bit extra, so be generous with your available resources. Give behind-the-scenes peaks at the organisation of the event, post photos and videos of previous events, give snippets of what they can expect this year. Give people a taste of what you’re offering and they’ll come back for more. Just give them a price tag and they’ll walk away.