How to Effectively Market a Business Networking Event on Social Media

Whether you're planning to host an online (webinar, teleclass) or offline event (summit, expo, conference, etc), social media marketing is an effective and cost-efficient way to reach your target audience. The trick is to know which online channels to use and when to use them.

The first things you need to do is pick out 3 or 4 social media platforms where you’re likely to get the most engagement from your target audience, and focus the bulk of your marketing efforts on these platforms. Remember that you must have a different approach for each platform to make sure that you’re engaging your audience the right way.

Here are smart tips on how you can maximize online exposure for your networking event on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn:

Twitter

On Twitter, you can either create a separate account for the event (with the event name as the Twitter handle) or opt to just use your existing business account to promote the event. 

For example, I could have created a Twitter account for the upcoming 6th Annual MACsWomen’s Summit & EXPO 2015 and use @macswomensummit as the handle. I prefer not to do that because MACsWomen’s Group current twitter account and its handle, @MACsWomen, is branding enough and I want to manage everything in one place.

As for tweets, make sure that you are not just tweeting about the event all the time because that would just annoy your followers. A 1-2 ratio would be a smart strategy – for every 1 event-related tweet, you send out 2 non-event tweets.

You should also ask people to share your event by asking them for a re-tweet.

Facebook

You can do a range of different activities on your Facebook account. For one, you can post/announce sponsors and speakers just as soon they are confirmed, you can highlight discounted ticket promos using images, you can post a series of marketing images about the event, etc. Always include links in your photos/images.

Just like on Twitter, you can also make a dedicated Facebook page for you event, but for the same reason state above, I just used MACsWomen's official Facebook page and opted not to create a separate, dedicated account for the MACsWomen’s Summit.

Also, make sure that you create an RSVP and invite your friends weeks before the event. This will attract more interest and engagement.

LinkedIn

Most often than not, you and the people in your network already share the same interest or are already in the same niche. This means that it would be a lot easier for you to reach out to them and invite them to join your event. You can also RSVP people on LinkedIn.

Hashtags

To increase the discoverability factor of your event, don’t forget your hashtag. Put a hashtag on all of your promotional materials (if possible). Even when the actual event is already over, people can still use hashtags  like #macssummit when they have something to say about their experience at the event. Hashtags are incredibly useful especially if your event is recurring. 

Over to you..

Any tips you want to add? Please share your thoughts, comments or opinions below, the MACsWomen community would love to hear them.