Category: social media
How to Use Instagram Stories for Events
In this day and age, Social media is arguably the most useful tool for event planners! Recently, Instagram has come out with a new feature, Instagram Stories, that rivals Snapchat Stories. At ABCey, we want to keep you updated with all of the newest social marketing developments and how they effect the event world. So, here are our tips so you can use Instagram Stories for your next event!
How similar are Snapchat Stories and Instagram Stories?
If you recently updated your Instagram, you’ve probably noticed little circles above your regular feed. This new feature is Instagram Stories which is their version of Snapchat Stories. Like Snapchat, Instagram Stories can be edited with text and emojis and only last for 24 hours. In addition, you can see which of your followers (similar to Snapchat friends) have seen your stories. Although they may seem the same, there are some important differences that all eventprofs should know!
How are they different for events?
1. Social Media Marketing
One huge thing that sets Instagram Stories apart from Snapchat Stories are their audiences. On Snapchat, you have to be friends with someone to watch their stories. However on Instagram, it’s a whole different story! With a private account, all your followers can view your story. But if you have a public account, anyone can see it. This means your company and upcoming events can get tons of exposure from social media marketing!
2. Privacy Feature
In addition, only Instagram Stories have a privacy feature. This feature lets you block anyone from seeing your story. Take advantage of this for your events, and keep the event a secret from certain followers! Also, you can reward your followers by making your account private for a certain period. During that time, you can post special coupons or inside info on your story and only your loyal followers can see these prizes!
3. Permanent Posting From Your Story
Although Snapchat and Instagram Stories are alike, Instagram has some extra bonus features! Now you can easily take videos or images of an event from your story and post them permanently on your Instagram. This keeps the memory of an event alive, even when the event is over!
4. Audience Interaction
Instead of a chronological order like Snapchat, Instagram Stories are sorted by who you interact with the most. Now you can see who your best followers are and reward them with prizes! Also, it’s super important to engage with your guests! Encourage them to post event images and ask questions on their Instagram story. After, give your guests a unique event experience by answering their questions and giving them a shout out on your story or by directly messaging them!
5. Use Snapchat How To’s
Because this feature is similar to Snapchat Stories, you can use these Snapchat event tips for your Instagram! Instagram Stories give you great features of Snapchat and more of their of their own. You can post everything from behind-the-scenes footage of the event production process to shout outs from important speakers and sponsored advertisements during your events!
Do you plan to use Instagram Stories for your events? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!
5 Tips to Successfully Use Instagram for Your Event Business
Instagram has easily become one of the most popular social media apps. In 2016, it’s estimated that 500+ million people use Instagram monthly, 300 million daily, and 58% of Instagram users are 18-29 years old. Why is this important to Event Profs? Because this means Instagram can allow you to reach a larger audience, including millenials!
There are tons of research on the Instagram usage and the ways businesses can utilize it. Also, it’s important to stay up to date with what’s going on with your instagram account. So ABCey Events has created 5 tips to successfully use Instagram for your event business!
1. What to post
First, you need an Instagram account! If you don’t have one, just scroll down to #5 for tips to create the perfect account. Okay, you have an account or just created one, but now what? What do I post? hint: See below to see what types of content to post!
Types of Posts
1. Have a story: Let your followers feel like they are a part of your business and on the inside of the event action with story-like posts! However, don’t post straight advertisements. Instead, have a variety of images from selfies to video interviews. There is no limit to the content you post!
Similarly, studies suggest users want to experience the story rather than see plain objects. Salesforce found most users liked, “amusing, creative, beautiful, and inspiring” content. So maximize your Instagram reach by captivating images, posting entire event processes, features of event speakers and famous attendees, inspirational quotes, and especially human faces!
2. Relatable posts: Keep followers by posting stuff they can relate to! By fusing scenes and possible scenarios that can happen in everyday life with your products and services, followers can see how useful your products and services are!
https://www.instagram.com/p/0tpeJfAUUf/?taken-by=nike
3. Business posts: Advertise your business by posting your sponsors, events, and brand. Do this by sharing images about your sponsors in colorful and fun photos. Additionally, try to get other users, special guests, and famous people to post/tag/hashtag about your event and company. More and more people are basing their decisions on what they see on social media. Therefore, you can grow your business by having ambassadors give you some exposure!
But be careful! No one wants their entire feed filled with obvious advertisements. Learn about event marketing on Instagram below (#4 Instagram for Events).
2. Strategic Posting
Previously, we mentioned that Instagram accounts are more successful when the types of posts are different. But here are other things you can do to boost likes, follows, and comments!
1. Editing your posts: Studies have found what specific aspects of a post make them more popular. They found more people like photos with the Mayfair filter! Also, the 2nd and 3rd most liked filtered photos are #nofilter and Inkwell, respectively. In addition, you’re more likely to get likes on images that are brighter with a single dominant color, especially blue, and background space than others! Don’t forget to use Geographical locations and connect with users by a shared location. Check out Curalate’s full study for more tips.
2. Posting times: Don’t pester and annoy followers! If you are posting multiple times a day, spread them out. However, most studies suggest posting only 5-7 times throughout the week. Specifically, your best bet is to get the most likes by posting on Wednesday from 5-6pm! Additionally, don’t stress about posting right on time and schedule posts with apps like Hootsuite and Schedugram.
3. Gain followers, grow your business
1. Instagram interaction: By interacting with users, you’re sure to gain and keep followers! First off, you can simply ask questions and inviting captions that lead people to comment. From re-gramming someone’s post related to your business/event, tagging companies, responding to comments, commenting on and liking posts, and giving shout outs to your loyal followers, show your followers you care and value their support!
2. Spoil your followers: Reward your followers well by posting announcements, contests, and special offers! You can have them follow, like photos, comment, hashtag, and tag your account to be entered to win prizes and special offers! This encourages people to follow you, as they will be the first to see when you are holding contests. Now you have followers promoting your event and business to others!
4. Instagram for Events
Now, for all you event profs, we have Instagram tricks to make your next event a success!
1. #Hashtag: Make sure you use hashtags to help people discover your Instagram. Use both specific hashtags and popular hashtags so people can find your event/company easily! One study found that interactions increased with 11 hashtags, but most studies suggested using 5-10 hashtags. If your choose to include many, hide them by commenting your hashtags or hiding them many lines below your main caption. This way followers don’t get annoyed seeing them!
2. The Event: You can use Instagram to entertain your attendees and market your next event! Encourage users to post images and include your event specific hashtag in the caption. Then, companies like instafeedlive, will display them on screens around the event, making your guests feel special!
In addition, by simply using your event hashtag, your guests can leave your event with memorabilia! Printers, like Photoboxx and Luster, scan Instagram for your event hashtag and print the images out instantly. Also, you can allow guests to print a postcard and polaroid picture when they hashtag their photos! Learn more about them here. So give your event and company immediate publicity and get these tools at your next event!
3. Event hype: When showing the story of your event, there are tons of things to capture! Post about the event before, during, and after to keep the event fresh in your follower’s minds. First get them excited with behind the scene images of the venue set up with your event team hard at work! Moreover, use Instagram to not only remind followers when tickets go on sale, but also hype up attendees with event fliers and countdown day photos. This makes them feel like they are right in the middle of the everything happening at the event!
5. Creating Perfect Profile
Your profile is extremely important as it’s how they judge your account! Therefore, you need to be sure that your Instagram looks like something they should follow.
1. Your Bio: First, create a bio description that is short, fun, and interesting. But it still needs to say your business name or who you are, what your business does, and make it unique!
2. Get them to your website: If you didn’t know, links on your photo captions don’t work. Thus, the only link to get people to your website is in your bio. So make sure you include your website link, and any other informative names you want people to search and find you by (ex: Event Planner).
3. First impression/Profile pic: Along with photos and your bio, users see your profile picture first. Get a good quality photo of your logo or a picture that represents your company to bring in more followers!
How are you going to use Instagram at your next event? Tell use in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter. Also, follow us on Instagram!
4 Ways to Enhance Your Event Using Social Media
Social media is one of the main tools event planners use to market events, distribute information, engage with guests and solicit feedback. Here are a few tips that will help keep your event buzzing from beginning to end!
1. Create pre-event buzz
Excitement is key to attracting attendees and establishing a good atmosphere at your event. You can create pre-event buzz by meaningfully posting on social media and creating a hashtag. Put the hashtag on presentations, handouts, goody bags and signage so people don’t forget to use it! You can also tease people with content to get people excited through contests, giveaways or a guest’s blog post.
2. Free Wifi
Wifi is key, so make sure it’s available and that the venue has the bandwidth to support your needs. Your digital marketing centers around your guests ability to post on social media. Guests not only share your event content, but their own generated content which helps promote your business.
3. Socialize your event
Live stream, live post, and enable the folks that are there! Post photos or short videos of what’s going on, or try Ustream to stream live video. You can also give away prizes for the most liked photo of the day or most favorited tweet to give people incentive.
It is also important to have a point person at the event responding to posts. They don’t have to respond to every single one, but there is a reason people post publicly and it is because they liked to be engaged with.
4. Post-event engagement
Keep the dialogue going post event, and keep using that hashtag! Ask for feedback from attendees, and post a slideshow or a fun time lapse video. Be sure to post a recap blog letting people about speakers key points, highlights of the event and more.
Were these tips helpful? Let us know by commenting below or on Twitter or Facebook!
Best Practices in Leveraging Social Media to Expand your Network
As event planners, we are constantly interacting with large networks of professionals and meeting different influencers. If you’re a professional of any kind, you’ve likely had to walk the fine line between seeming desperate and building a healthy network. Luckily, leveraging the right social media tools will help you connect with the contacts you have made, without being intrusive. Here are some tips we’ve put together on how to best use social media to help expand your network!
1. Identify Your Target Influencers:
Try focusing on connecting with people in a profession that’s relevant to yours. This way, you won’t waste your time on people that don’t have an impact to your business anyway. You might find your target influencers on social media or industry events. so take a peek at industry publications or get recommendations from your colleagues.
2. Use Twitter:
Most accounts on Twitter are public and therefore easy to find. Look up your target influencers and send them a tweet. Fully exploit your 140 characters. The more personality you give your tweet, the more chance they reply!
3. Use Linkedin:
Linkedin is the biggest online network of professionals. Sometimes, it is not possible to “connect” directly to a person if you don’t know them personally. In this case, you can easily join a group that your target influencer is part of and participate in discussions to call to their attention. You can also send connection requests using the group, which doesn’t make you seem like a stalker!
4. Write a Personal Email:
Email addresses are often challenging to find, but if you have actually located an email address, write a message – but make sure to keep it short. Illustrate exactly what you want and get to the point quickly. Including that you like your influencers’ work or point of view is a great way to obtain their attention. This way they can see that you’re genuinely interested in them and they would be more are likely to share perspectives and advises.
Have any of these social media tactics worked for you?
Tell us about it or share other ways to connect professionally with influencers in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!
Step it Up: The 5 Most Influential Words in Social Media
Social media is a strange and delicate thing. It has the potential to drive in hundreds of prospective customers or alienate you completely! ABCey helps you hone in on what’s important so YOU won’t be the one in a social media dead zone!
1. Share | Social media exists because people like to share and make connections! In the end, your goal is to successfully share your message with the world, and you love seeing “shared” and “retweeted” pop up on your notifications! Before you post, ask yourself, “would I share this with my friends?” If you don’t find it interesting, others probably won’t either!
2. Interaction | Tweeting can sometimes feel like sending messages off into the void of cyberspace. The only way to know what people think of your tweets is through interactions under the “connect” tab. If you’re not seeing as much interaction as you want, include language like “tell us your opinion” and “what do you think” to encourage your followers to respond. Also, try following those you think would be interested in what you say!
3. Reach | Your message can be witty, well-worded, and interactive, but it won’t matter if only 15 people see it! Below every post, Facebook will tell you home many people saw what you said, whether it was shared, on their news feed, or found through a friend. Beef up your reach by adding more people, especially people who are friends with those who “like” your page! Go on a friending rampage a few times a week and you’re sure to expand your audience in no time.
4. Network | LinkedIn and every other social media site are constantly encouraging you to expand your network with “people you may know” and “who to follow.” Our advice: listen to them!! Following someone on social media is a low-pressure way to keep in touch with someone and maintain relationships. You never know when you’ll want to reach out to them someday, and being “friends” is a good advantage to have!
5. Like| Whether you’re a company promoting a product or a teenager posting vacation pictures, you know that more “likes” is key! Like, duh. Amp up your liking potential by targeting the audience that will be most likely to generate business for you. When you start getting positive feedback (tons and tons of “likes!”), keep the momentum going!
What do you think of our social media tips? Agree? Disagree? Tell us your opinions! Leave us a comment or reach out to us on Facebook & Twitter!
10 Interesting Social Media Facts
Social media plays a huge role in our lives, whether we like it or not! To honor our Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts, ABCey compiled a list of the most interesting social media fun-facts. Enjoy!
1. Half of all smartphones connect to Facebook every hour of every day!
2. 20% of Google searches every day have never been searched before. Which begs the question: what the heck are you searching??
3. The most optimal photos (ones that get the most likes and repins) on Pinterest are photos of salad.
4. “Earlybird” is the most popular Instagram filter, yet 47% prefer #nofilter.
5. The average LinkedIn user is a male college graduate.
6. Twitter handles more search queries per month than Bing and Yahoo combined!
7. Links about sex are shared 90% more than any other link. (Doesn’t its inclusion on this list say it all?)
8. 53% of people on Twitter recommend products in their tweets, which is important because most people trust recommendations from friends versus the 14% of people who trust advertisers. Social media is more important to business than you’d think!
9. 7% of Americans have never heard of Facebook. We don’t know how this happened.
10. More than 350 million users suffer from Facebook Addiction Syndrome.
Want to channel some social media yourself? Tell us what you think of this article with a comment here or on Facebook & Twitter!