Tag: Promotion
ABCey Presents: 10 Creative Event Promotion Ideas
Event promotion is essential for putting on a fantastic event. However, it can start to feel like you’re using the same techniques over and over again. ABCey recognizes that keeping your event marketing strategy fresh can be a challenge, so here are 10 creative event promotion ideas that are sure to attract huge audiences!
1. Comp Passes
Offer sponsors, exhibitors and vendors attendee free passes so that they can share them with their best clients or invite their colleagues, family, and friends. They can help return the favor by sharing them on social media to help spread the word!
2. Chatbots When People are Buying Tickets
Use chatbots to take care of anyone looking for answers on your website before they commit to buying tickets. Live chat on your website, Facebook messenger, and text chatbots can answer any questions potential attendees might have, so that there’s less of a chance they’ll leave the page and forget to purchase tickets!
3. Create a Live Spectacle
Plan a live activity that can grow and develop in a busy public place over a period of a few hours so that passers-by can stop and watch! This could be a group of artists making a huge structure or art piece of some sort. Try to make it relate to your event and create a timelapse of progress, so you can share it online to further promote your event!
4. Gear Your Content Marketing Efforts Towards Leadership
When it comes to creating your own content, it can be tempting to focus on search engine optimization and stuffing your copy with keywords, but this isn’t an effective way to increase your attendance. Instead, try to create thoughtful content that showcases your event brand as a thought leader, so that people view your company as a place they can turn to for new, insightful information. The more people trust your brand, the more likely they are to support you!
5. Host a Free or Sponsored Webinar
If your event is business related or offers some sort of expertise, a webinar can offer a preview of what to expect to draw people in. If you give them valuable information in the free webinar, it’ll make them wonder how much more they can gain from attending the actual event!
6. Set Up a City Photo Booth
Instead of just using a photo booth at the actual event, try using one as a promo opportunity by setting it up somewhere in the city beforehand! This can be simple by just getting a polaroid camera or an iPad, signed backdrop curtain with event dates and details, and fun props to get people excited!
7. Use Image Quotes From Past Attendees
Gather quotes from past attendees and overlay them on images from the event. Note their name, job title, and organization if they give you permission to share it. These make for great social media and blog posts to promote your next event!
8. Pop-Up Henna Wall
Who doesn’t love Henna? Set up a pop-up stall at a local event or the local supermarket and have an artist offer Henna tattoos to people passing by! Have the Henna artist create a unique style that incorporates your logo or represents your event theme. Use this opportunity to hand out event details, and offer free swag or discounts to those who show up on event day with their henna tattoo!
9. Social Media Takeover
Let someone else from your company who doesn’t usually control your social media accounts to take the reins. This could be your interns or bloggers, for example. It will offer an alternative voice and can present a different perspective. The goal is to encourage people like them to start following your event account!
10. A Photo a Day
In the months leading up to the event, try to share a photo every day from your past events on social media. This will give potential attendees a taste of what your events are like. If previous attendees appear in the photos, tag them (after getting their permission) to encourage them to share the photo as well!
Which event promotion idea will you use?
We’d love to hear from you! Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter!
10 Ways to Use Snapchat For Events
Here at ABCey, we like to keep up with all the latest tech trends. As Snapchat has arguably become the most popular social network among teens and millennials, we’ve caught on to the idea that it can be used for event marketing, to enhance guest experience, provide event messaging, and even promote your speakers or sponsors. Here are 10 ways to use Snapchat for your next event using geofilters, ads, lenses and more!
*A snapchat account is needed in order to post stories, chat, and send snapchats directly to users; we suggest your company uses an account at least for the duration of the event.
1. Pre-event Hype
From the very start, you can build up suspense by event marketing with Snapchat! Send invites to guests via snapchat to create important interaction with guests. Long before the event, keep your guests informed and excited by sending them snaps and posting about your event through the transformation of the venue, decor, or anything else that goes into the event prep!
2. BTS (Behind The Scenes)
Market your event by showing behind the scenes snaps on the event prep. From snapchats of swag bag prep, setting up guest registration, or watching the AV team set up an awesome projection mapping display, guests will be excited long before their arrival.
3. Speakers/Sponsors/Performers/VIP’s
Are you bringing in speakers, sponsors, or VIP’s? Follow in the footsteps of other event producers and let them take over your Snapchat to talk about the event and post snaps!
4. Live Updates
Engage with and update your guests! Utilize Snapchat by sending snaps and posting throughout the event when there’s a speaker or performer. You can even use it to post info on the event/time changes, etc. With this app you can bring event engagement to the next level!
5. Thank you’s
After the event, engage with attendees to solidify relationships built and keep the success of the event in their minds. Use Snapchat for post-event engagement with your guests by sending snaps to them personally, messaging them, and posting on your event, and of course thanking them for attending!
6. Coupons, discount, or gift
One brilliant yogurt company let users send a snap of them with their product at their locations to the company’s snapchat account, so that they could receive a reply snap with a coupon. You can do the same thing for an event, possibly for a product launch. Just give users a discount on the event admission or a cool gift for buying the product!
7. Prizes for promoting
You can also give out prizes to people who use their Geofilter, and post the snap on Facebook or Instagram with the event or business hashtag. This can help promote your event through your attendees!
8. Ads: Lenses & Discover
Use lenses relating to your business or event to help with event promo’s by reaching tons of users. Snapchat’s Discover feature also has channels (ex: ESPN, Cosmopolitan, BuzzFeed) that create new content daily. Get your ad featured on a popular channel to help spread your content!
9. Snapchat Live Story
Snapchat’s feature called Live Story is great for major sporting events or music festivals. This allows users in the vicinity to post to this story, and every snapchat user worldwide can view their snaps. If you are hosting a large enough event that gets OK-ed from Snapchat, Live Story can be an incredible tool. Over 100 million people use snapchat daily, so imagine what getting a live story can do!
10) On-Demand Geofilter
The On-Demand Geofilter feature allows anyone to make a filter that users who are at a certain place can use, during a specific time range. Whether it’s for the Oscars or for a birthday party, anyone can buy one, and they’re cheap! Event promotion is enhanced as guests use the filter and post their story or send snaps.
Do you use Snapchat for your events? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter.
#TechTuesday: 5 ways to use drones for events
#TechTuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. ABCey would like to recognize these up and coming technologies for their innovative ideas and impact on the event world. ABCey has compiled 5 innovative ways event planners are utilizing drones!
Although they were first used for military purposes, drones are becoming extremely useful tools for the event planning industry. Drones are not only used to capture stunning aerial images, but also in previously unimaginable ways that go beyond just pictures and videos. Here are 5 great ways to use drones for your next event!
1. Aerial Event Photos and Videos
Drones are now a popular tool for event planners, because they can capture amazing aerial footage from an infinite number of angles. They are also extremely versatile and can be used at conferences, trade shows, galas, festivals, and sporting events! This tech allows for extraordinary 360 degree views of all attendees, as well as close ups of speakers and performances.
2. Choosing the Perfect Venue/Site Selection
Drones can also be used for pre-event prep to collect venue images. Photos and videos make it so easy for clients and planners to choose the perfect site for an event! From images of massive event properties to inside meeting rooms, there is almost no place a drone can’t fly!
3. Entertainment Drones to Wow Your Guests
Companies have outdone themselves by using drones as a new form of entertainment for their guests! Intel is one company that impressed their guests and set the world record by having 100 drones create a unique light show! Others, like Amsterdam Drone Entertainment, have programmed their drones to dance for crowds which has truly set a new standard for event entertainment!
4. The Best Delivery Service
Some other ways to use a drone? How about deliver food, drinks and invitations! This interactive way of distributing items to people is mostly used by restaurants to give food to their customers. But, this kind of delivery service can just as easily be adapted to fit the event industry’s needs. Using a drone to deliver items to guests is extremely innovative, interactive, and a great way to make your event stand out!
5. Extra $ From Advertising and Sponsors
Drones can also be lucrative for your business! If you are hosting an event, sponsors may offer to pay you if you use drones to promote their business. Attendees are often drawn to drone tech which is seen as a great opportunity for companies to advertise. Because drones can drop off samples/products, hold up company posters, and display a brand logo, they are becoming the newest advertising trend!
Apps are also being made and adapted to incorporate drone technology. Facebook recently announced they have updated their live video stream application, Facebook Live. This update allows users to stream videos live from a drone. Twitter‘s similar live video streaming application, Periscope, also announced this feature.
By capturing stunning footage, helping venue selection, entertaining and serving their guests, delivering items, and increasing revenue and an event’s wow factor, drones are the new must-have gadget for anyone in the event industry!
Know any other ways drones are used? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and on Twitter!
Startup Spotlight: Snapcastr
Startup Monday is ABCey’s weekly post that features some of the best and brightest companies in the Bay Area. They are often companies that we have our eye on or have worked with in the past & would like to share with friends and followers of ABCey Events!
A growing trend that has been sweeping almost every event blog is the necessity for audience engagement and interaction! Conferences, Festivals, and Sporting events all call for larger scale audiences that must be enticed to attend, excited through out, and anticipating the event return for the coming year. So, the question is, how do we as event planners create this buzz? This Monday, we would like to highlight Snapcastr, a tech-driven company that provides all of these solutions through their social media platform!
THE BUILD UP!
Before we get to the main attraction, we must have a plan of action, and Snapcastr certainly does! Their #Hashtag Campaign supplies companies with clear marketing and event strategies from the very beginning to ensure that promotion is being maximized. In addition, their Social Event Display optimizes on audience connection. These event displays are customizable to create a unique and exclusive feel that can educate and boost audience interaction! By the way, sponsors they did not forget you! These displays have a space for your logos to market your companies and thank you for your support!
WE’VE ARRIVED!
Integrating social media interaction at an event is no longer a question, it’s a MUST. Snapcastr’s Live Social Wall enables guests to feel connected with their live tweets, posts, and shared experiences utilizing the hashtag you created with the #Hashtag Campaign! However, it doesn’t stop there.
Hosting a sporting event anytime soon? The FanPhoto feature creates guest incentive to tweet and promote your event at a chance to be featured on their team’s video board or Jumbotron!
Not sold yet? We have a few more to share! The Leaderboard feature highlights your top fans, top contributors, and/or top influencers! This is a great way to recognize your fans for their dedication or your contributors and influencers for their amazing support!
Have an opinion you want to share? Twitter Polling enables guests to participate in polls concerning your event, which will not only keep them engaged, but it will give you some great insight to their interests and what they’re looking for!
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!
One of the best features of this company is the data capabilities that come with it! With all of these social media platforms being utilized, moderation and control is a necessity, and Snapcastr provides it. Interested in knowing your guest’s thoughts? The reporting features enables you to measure fan impact based on conversations. As well, you can monitor the growth of your social media accounts with real time analytics. This capability is a great way to track your success and pinpoint any problematic errors to ensure growth for the upcoming year!
What’s your favorite feature of our Startup Monday featuring Snapcastr? Let us know in the comments below or message us on Facebook or Twitter!