Read Buffer’s full guide to social media for events here.
When it comes to planning your social media event marketing, the most important step is choosing which networks you’ll focus on. It’s better to have a well-developed presence on a few networks than a few lackluster posts on every site. So how can you tell which networks are best for your social media event marketing?
The key is to choose a network where you can reach the most potential attendees in a meaningful way. That means you need to understand your event’s audience, then find the networks where that audience spends the most time.
To understand the profile of your attendees, rely on a combination of your event reporting, attendee surveys, and (of course) your own observations. Once you have a firm grasp of their characteristics, compare them to users of the top networks below, and make your picks.
Social Media Platform #1: Instagram
Instagram is a great fit for events — especially photogenic ones. With more than 800 million monthly active users, you can reach potential attendees for artsy festivals, swanky food & wine affairs, moving dance performances, and more. BottleRock Napa is a great example of an event using the beauty of their event to market the festival year-round.
Instagram is most popular among millennial women, many of whom are college students. The platform is used by 59% of internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 and 33% of internet users between the ages of 30 and 49, making it a good candidate for your social media event marketing efforts.
Instagram Stories have added another interesting avenue to reach potential attendees — one that can even include a direct, clickable link if your account has over 10,000 followers. This is a game changer for many organizers were hesitant to focus on the platform due to the inability to link to ticket pages.
Instagram works especially well when paired with Facebook, as pictures shared to Facebook from Instagram receive 23% more engagement than images published via Facebook itself.
Social Media Platform #2: Facebook
With over 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is far and away the most popular social network across ages, genders, and income levels, but the News Feed is a crowded place to make your event stand out — and the recent announcement of algorithm changes that will prioritize friends and family content over brand and business content has made many nervous. — but regardless, Facebook also has the potential to connect your event with more than 70% of online adults, and that’s some serious reach when you’re trying to sell more tickets.
The network is slightly more popular among women, and most widely used among younger generations. That said, the network is still used by more than half of 65+ year olds in the U.S., making it the best network to reach older generations as well.
Be sure to take advantage of Facebook Events, where you can invite people to your event and spread the word. To find out how to work the platform into your social media event marketing, check out this on-demand webinar from the Facebook Events team.
Social Media Platform #3: Twitter
With 330 million monthly active users, Twitter is the perfect fit to reach a younger, tech-savvy crowd. The site is most popular among high-income millennials — often college grads making more than $50k per year — with slightly more male users than female.
Topical and timely posts work great on Twitter. Be aware that a tweet reaches its peak after 18 minutes, so get your next tweet ready fast — and post between 12-1 pm to reach the most eyes.
Social Media Platform #4: Snapchat
Snapchat is the most trendy option for your social media event marketing. It will be most effective if your potential attendees are mostly women in their teens and twenties. Snapchat has more than 300 million monthly active users, 70% of whom are women and 71% of whom are under 34. Since these users are mostly students, nearly two-thirds of them make less than $50k per year.
Snapchat can have a bit of a learning curve, but there are low-effort ways to make a big impact using the network. For instance, you can create“geofilters” (illustrations that attendees can place over their pictures at your event) by following these instructions. If your social media event marketing strategy targets young attendees, it’s well worth the investment.
Social Media Platform #5: LinkedIn
With 250 million monthly active users (40% of which use the platform daily); LinkedIn is unique among the top social networks as a professional networking platform. The site is most popular with educated, slightly older users with a higher income level. It’s used by just over a quarter of online adults in the U.S., and half of American college grads. That makes it a great fit for potential attendees of classes, conferences, trainings, or educational events.
The key on LinkedIn is to share content and events that will add value to members’ professional lives. DIG SOUTH Interactive Conference does this well, using LinkedIn to highlight their sponsors and speakers.
Research shows that posts perform best when they’re about 25 words, and posted during working hours between Tuesday and Thursday.
Social Media Platform #6: Pinterest
Pinterest is a uniquely visual platform with 175 million monthly active users, 81% of whom are women. Most popular among well-educated women of all ages and higher income levels, it’s the only network with higher usage in rural areas than urban or suburban regions.
It’s a great fit for your potential attendees if your events cater to women or focus on categories like food & drink or DIY crafts and classes. That means it’s a smart place to promote craft fairs, pop-up dinners, or cooking and art classes. If you’re not sure how you’d use the platform to market your event, check out how Wanderlust Festival uses Pinterest to deliver inspirational content relating to yoga, wellness, and food to its audience.
Ready for more expert advice on social media event marketing? Check out Buffer and Eventbrite’s complete guide to social media for events here.
