Imagine showcasing a beautiful painting to your audience but with no lights on. In essence, that's what virtual events are like when there is no marketing an event on social media. We don't want to break it to you, but more than half of online webinars go unnoticed or fail to reach their target audience due to ineffective marketing of events on social media.
We know what you might think—posting an Instagram photo and emailing your loyal customers should do the trick. That essentially did do the trick. However, in today's crowded digital space, these efforts alone are often insufficient to ensure your event stands out. Simply relying on basic posts and emails can lead to your event blending into the background noise of countless other online activities.
Did you know that as of 2024, there are over 4.7 billion mobile phone users worldwide, and 2.6 billion of them are active on social media? With such a massive user base, social media offers unmatched reach and cost-efficiency for promoting events.
Here’s why it’s crucial:
As per a ResearchGate report, it was found that 60% of consumers tend to buy stuff that they find while scrolling through their social media feeds. These impressive numbers explain why integrating social media into your event promotion strategy is essential for reaching a broader audience and achieving your event goals.
Now that we've established the importance of social media in event promotion, let's explore actionable pre-event strategies to boost your event's visibility.
Pre-event promotion is all about building anticipation and ensuring that your target audience is aware of your event well in advance. By strategically utilizing social media, you can create buzz, engage potential attendees, and drive registrations. Here are some proven strategies to get your audience excited and ready to join your virtual event.
Build anticipation with a countdown timer. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook Stories offer countdown stickers that create excitement and remind your audience of the upcoming event.
Why It Works:
Pro Tip: Pair your countdown with daily updates or sneak peeks to maintain momentum.
Your event landing page is the hub of your promotion efforts. Make sure it’s optimized for social sharing with clear CTAs, share buttons, and mobile-friendly design.
Key Elements:
Platforms like Hubilo make this easier. With just a few clicks, you can set up landing pages, conversion funnels, and more.
Interactive content like polls, quizzes, and surveys can engage your audience and gather valuable insights.
Benefits:
Example: Use Twitter polls to ask followers which topics they’re most excited about for your webinar.
Teasers are a fantastic way to generate buzz. Share short video clips, behind-the-scenes photos, or snippets of your event’s content.
Ideas:
For example, Vivatech used engaging teaser videos to promote the event on social media. The teaser was designed to be easily consumed with eye-catching visuals and emojis. They captivated viewers by posing questions about the future of technology. In the end you also get the event details like dates and registration information for those who watched through to the end.
A unique hashtag can unify all your event-related posts and make it easier for attendees to follow the conversation.
Tips:
Example: #TechCon2024 for a technology conference.
How Hubilo Helps: Hubilo’s social media integration allows you to promote and track your event-specific hashtags. Monitor engagement and conversations around your hashtag using Hubilo’s analytics tools to gauge the effectiveness of your promotion.
Create dedicated event pages on LinkedIn and Facebook to centralize information and updates.
Advantages:
Everyone loves free stuff! Hosting giveaways or contests can significantly boost engagement and spread the word about your event.
Ideas:
Implementing these pre-event strategies can create buzz and anticipation. Next, let's discuss how to maintain momentum during the event itself.
During the event, keeping your audience engaged is essential to ensure a memorable and impactful experience. Active participation enhances attendee satisfaction and fosters a sense of community and connection. Implement these strategies to maintain high engagement levels throughout your virtual event.
Keep the conversation going during your event by live-tweeting key moments and using your event hashtag.
Benefits:
Invite your attendees to share their experiences on social media. User-generated content (UGC) acts as an authentic promotion for your event.
Strategies:
These features are perfect for real-time updates and engaging content during your event.
Advantages:
Interactive sessions like live Q&As keep your audience engaged and make the event more interactive.
Benefits:
Keeping your audience engaged during the event enhances their experience. After the event, your promotional efforts shouldn't stop—let's explore post-event tactics.
Post-event promotion ensures that the momentum built during the event continues, reinforcing the value of your event and maintaining connections with your audience. These tactics help capture valuable feedback, extend the event's lifespan, and set the stage for future events.
Share UGC after your event to keep the momentum going. This will reinforce your event’s impact and reach a wider audience.
How To:
A detailed blog post or summary can extend the life of your event and provide valuable content for those who missed it.
Content Ideas:
Save your Instagram Stories as Highlights to preserve and showcase your event’s best moments.
Benefits:
Gathering feedback helps you understand what worked and what didn’t, allowing you to improve future events.
Tips:
Providing on-demand access to your event’s content can extend its reach and provide value to those who couldn’t attend live.
Advantages:
Post-event promotions help reinforce your event's value and keep your audience connected. To further amplify your efforts, let's examine how to maximize the utility of specific platforms.
Once people sign up for your event, they should be brought to a page thanking them for their registration. After thanking registrants, include a note about sharing the webinar with anyone else who might be interested in the event. Place a highly visible share button that links a user to the webinar landing page so they can learn more and register.
Make it easy as possible for attendees to share your webinar with others by including a button on the webinar site solely for sharing purposes. This will increase the chances of someone sharing your page with others directly or on their social pages.
Download Hubilo's Essential Guide to Repurposing Webinar Content
The best social media strategy is one that utilizes all available platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. According to Sprout Social, the average person bounces around between 7 different social media platforms per month. Promoting your webinar across a number of platforms will increase the likelihood that more people will learn about your webinar and register.
One way to grab people’s attention while promoting your webinar online is to include images in your posts. According to a study by Social Media Today, online posts with relevant images receive 94% more views and 12% more traffic with infographics. If you decide to include a video, even better - posts with videos receive 80% more conversions.
CTAs are a way for you to guide the audience into a desired action. Including calls to action in your social media posts will encourage your audience to take the next step in the registration process. Make sure when a user clicks your CTA button it’s linked to the registration page or webinar landing page.
While organic posting on social media is a necessary part of any good social media strategy, a paid social media strategy should be included as well. Running paid advertisements can help boost webinar registrations because it allows you to tailor who exactly will come across your webinar ads. You have the ability to reach a larger audience and get your webinar posts to accumulate views and conversions.
Facebook Ads are a great tool for getting exposure to your webinar! According to Social Pilot, 2.11 billion users can be potentially reached using Facebook Ads. With Facebook Ads, you can target different goals for your ads like website traffic which would get people to your registration page. You can target people with certain interests that involve your webinar topic or ones similar.
A key marketing strategy to help get your webinar exposure to as many people as you can is utilizing the power of influencers. It’s estimated that 61% of consumers trust influencers’ recommendations. Research influencers you can partner with within your industry and offer that you work together; they can promote your event to their audience in return for something, like your latest product or a free ticket to the event.
Read and Learn: How to Add Energy, Impact, and Results at Every Stage of Your Webinar
The perfect way to keep everyone up to date with your latest event online is to keep your event posts at the top of your page. Social media platforms now give you the ability to pin important posts at the top of your page, so whenever anyone visits your page they can see that post first thing.
The best webinar promotional strategy is promoting your event every chance you get - cover photos included! On the desktop versions of websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, users have the option to customize a cover photo on their profile. Change yours to one advertising your latest webinar event, complete with branded colors and logos. Make sure it’s in the correct sizing format so all elements can be seen by profile visitors.
Social media is the perfect place to get in touch with other webinar creators to share insights and work together. Do your research and find profiles of other webinar producers that you can get in touch with. Familiarize yourself with them and their content, then once you’ve interacted enough with their content, send them an email explaining who you are and what kind of webinar you’re creating. Offer them the chance to promote their next webinar in exchange for promoting yours on their page. Similar to working with influencers, this will open your webinar up to a new and potentially larger audience!
Podcasts have become a popular way to share valuable information that can reach just about anyone. If your company has its own podcast, dedicate one whole episode to everything about the webinar. Include a call to action in your episode and share it across all your social media platforms for everyone to listen.
When you promote your webinar event on Instagram, be sure to utilize all of the platform’s great features! Reels and stories are one of the most popular tactics to reach audiences and gain exposure for your webinar, as they’re growing in popularity! Show behind the scenes of your webinar, or cover the topic you’ll be talking about with any guest speakers you might have!
Create more buzz around your webinar by creating a separate page on all platforms that allow event pages. With sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, you can create event pages that allow you to invite people to join and post event information. You can also post exclusive webinar information on these pages that are only accessible to members who join.
What better place to promote your business’ webinar than on your Facebook business page? Through here you can fill your existing audience in with information on your latest event and encourage others to share it. Utilize Facebook Live to increase your reach even more and promote your webinar. Live streaming is becoming a new way to advertise events as it is cost-effective and has the ability to reach a large audience.
Not all social networks are created equal, especially when it comes to event promotion. Here's how to choose the platforms that best align with your goals and audience.
Different platforms attract different audiences. Understanding where your target audience spends their time is key to effective promotion.
Considerations:
Each platform offers unique features that can enhance your event promotion:
Align your platform choices with your event’s objectives:
Selecting the right social networks is a pivotal step in your promotion strategy. However, implementing these strategies can come with challenges. Let's discuss how to overcome them.
Promoting a virtual event on social media is exciting but without hurdles. From managing multiple tools to ensuring consistent engagement, the complexities can sometimes overshadow the benefits. Identifying these challenges early on allows you to address them proactively, ensuring a smoother and more effective promotion process.
Here are some common challenges you might face:
As webinar hosts and content creators ourselves, we designed Hubilo—a platform that addresses all the concerns- in one place.
Take the example of the PyCon Hubilo-powered event. Organized by the Python Software Foundation (PSF), PyCon US 2021 successfully transitioned to a virtual format with Hubilo’s features. Here are some highlights:
Challenge
PyCon US’s 2020 in-person event was cancelled due to COVID-19, resulting in a huge revenue loss for PSF. They decided to take the 2021 event virtually, both due to the ongoing pandemic and to help mitigate costs after losing money the year before. They needed a powerful virtual event platform to make the event engaging for their incredibly tech-savvy attendees.
Solution
PyCon found that Hubilo, with its multitude of customizable features, was a perfect fit for their conference-hackathon-career fair combo event.
Feedback
Overall, PyCon US 2021 exceeded expectations, with many —not to flaunt ourselves—calling it the “best PyCon conference ever.”
To sum it all up, promoting your virtual event on social media requires a mix of strategic planning and the right tools.
Marketing an event on social media doesn’t have to be so complicated. You can maximize your event's reach and impact with the right strategies. Consider using strategies such as creating engaging content, using the right platforms, and maintaining consistent engagement. Remember, the key is to start early, stay consistent, and keep your audience engaged before, during, and after the event.
But you can make it even easier with Hubilo. Our platform can streamline your event management process, making it easier to implement these strategies effectively.
Explore Hubilo’s features with a demo and see how it can transform your event planning experience in just a few clicks.
1. Why is social media an effective platform for promoting webinars?
Social media offers a wide-reaching and engaged audience, making it an ideal platform to promote webinars, build anticipation, and encourage registrations.
2. Which social media platforms are best for promoting webinars?
The choice of platforms should align with your target audience. Common options include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and even niche-specific platforms like Reddit or industry forums.
3. When should I start promoting my webinar on social media?
Ideally, start promoting your webinar 2-4 weeks before the event to build anticipation. However, the timing can vary based on your audience's preferences and your promotion strategy.
4. What types of content work best for promoting webinars on social media?
Engaging content such as teaser videos, countdown posts, infographics, and visually appealing images can grab your audience's attention and encourage registrations.
5. How can I use social media advertising to promote my webinar effectively?
You can use paid social media advertising to target specific demographics and reach a broader audience. Platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn offer effective ad targeting options.
6. Is it essential to create a dedicated event page or landing page for my webinar on social media?
Yes, creating a dedicated page with all relevant information and registration details can improve the user experience and encourage sign-ups.
7. Should I use hashtags when promoting my webinar on social media?
Yes, using relevant hashtags can increase the discoverability of your webinar posts and help you reach a broader audience interested in your topic.
8. How often should I post about my webinar on social media?
Posting frequency should be consistent but not overwhelming. Aim for a mix of promotional content, informative posts, and engagement with your audience in the weeks leading up to the webinar.
9. What are some creative ways to engage with the audience on social media before the webinar?
Host polls, ask questions related to your webinar topic, run contests or giveaways, and encourage participants to share their expectations or questions about the webinar.
10. Can I use influencers or guest speakers to promote my webinar on social media?
Yes, collaborating with influencers or guest speakers can expand your reach and lend credibility to your webinar. Encourage them to share promotional content with their followers.
11. How do I track the effectiveness of my social media promotion efforts for my webinar?
Use social media analytics tools to track metrics such as engagement, reach, clicks, and conversions. Track registrations and attendance through unique links or UTM parameters.
12. What should I do after the webinar to leverage social media for follow-up and engagement?
Share highlights, key takeaways, and post-webinar resources on social media. Encourage attendees to provide feedback and continue the conversation.
Hubilo is the webinar platform built for marketers that helps you 2X your pipeline. Founded in 2015, Hubilo's powerful engagement features, dedicated client experience team, and custom branding tools have helped create over 12K virtual events & webinars, creating hundreds of millions of minutes of high-engagement experiences and counting. Headquartered in Bengaluru and San Francisco, Hubilo's 200+ employees are dedicated to enabling webinars & virtual events that convert.
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