New Social Media Rules for Engaging Event Design

When you’re mapping out your event design strategy, think in 4D:
Digital – how your event looks and where it lives in social media
Direct – how you connect with your community via social media}
Dynamic –how you will tell stories all across the event cycle
Data – how you will demonstrate event response and ROI

Let’s dive in to each of these four quadrants a little bit deeper.

Digital

Go where your people are. Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, or Twitter?

Each one of these platforms has a different look, sound, feel and experience.

As you develop your content, think about how it will appear visually. To be successful on social media, you’ll need a range of sizes and images. A social media graphic designer’s magic touch can stop scrollers and command attention in social media’s crowded and busy space.

Action Step: Map out where your people are most active online. Focus on how to integrate personality into your look and sound.

Direct

Next, plot out your event participant experience journey. How will social media connect you two?

Traditional event engagement points break up into before, during and after: save the date, speaker announcements, registration, event updates and recaps.

Connect the dots along the way and sprinkle in some creative surprises like a weekly Facebook live show, an AMA [ask me anything] podcast, or lead-up webinars with speakers or association member leaders using zoom.us.

Action Step: Merge social media strategy with your marketing plan. Use social media to support and propel interest and engagement all along the way.

Dynamic

Now that you know where to be active and when to check in, you’ll want to bring the event experience alive with a mix of creativity and innovation.

How can you get creative – on a budget?

One way is to lean in on your speakers. From the start, prioritize speakers who have not only social media reach, but an actively engaged audience on the platforms where your attendees hang out.

Action Step: Think about who will write your event story: staff, leadership, speakers, influencers, or members. What chapters and stories are grabbers?

Data

Everyone loves data and numbers, right? If they’re useful and good, yes!

When you build in response measurement tools into your social media event design, you can look forward to insights about your industry, community and what works best, when.

For example, Facebook ads can start as low as $10 and can be targeted in a variety of ways by audience. You can also test ad creative to see what performs best before launching the best look.

But, you don’t have to invest anything to get results. A goofy 37 second video on LinkedIn promoted an association event and snagged over 5,000 views, which spread the news way, way out to infinity and beyond.

Action Step: Decide on the data you’re looking for, set it up and test, test, test! Then, analyze, adjust and report good news.

AUTHOR
An international speaker, Amazon author, and 4D marketing advisor, Barbara Rozgonyi leads CoryWest Media. Known for positioning its clients as highly visible, attractive, and influential thought leaders, the company’s client list covers a wide range of industries in sizes ranging from Fortune 500 to startups. An international speaker, enthusiastic event marketer and a spirited social influencer, Barbara founded Social Media Club Chicago. Need ideas? Schedule a complimentary discovery session at www.BarbaraRozgonyi.com.