Measuring Your Social Media Event Promotion Efforts
Have you ever stopped and asked yourself, "What exactly am I getting from my social media efforts?" As with any marketing endeavor, you should always measure for a specific result. You cannot afford to confuse activity with productivity.
Lots of Updates with Zero Results
Recently, the topic of social media effectiveness came up with a Canadian event organizer. The event committee is fortunate enough to have a volunteer to manage their social media promotion strategy. Their Twitter and Facebook accounts are currently being updated on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis. For all the hard work being done, a look at Google Analytics for the last 30 days shows no referring traffic from Twitter or Facebook. Some people might argue that social media is all about goodwill and branding. Unfortunately it's difficult to directly tie branding and goodwill to something substantive.
Everyday more event organizers jump on the social media bandwagon. They treat it like it’s a magic event promotion bullet that will solve all their marketing challenges. That simply isn’t the case. Your social media strategy should be viewed as part of your overall event promotion strategy. The amount you engage in social media should be directly proportionate to its return on investment. In short, don’t invest more time and money into an activity that doesn’t bring you a desired result.
Bringing Them Back to Your Site
If you want to measure the effectiveness of your social media marketing, insert links into your social media posts that bring people back to your event website. You can announce event performers or ticket discounts. This is known as a web centric marketing approach. Then, take a look at what your incoming social media traffic is doing on your web site. Are they purchasing tickets or signing up for your e-mail list? Your web stats will give you an answer. At the simplest level, measure for traffic, leads, and ticket sales.
Diversify Your Post Links
Not every post on Facebook and Twitter needs to lead back to your web site. Your focus should be on delivering high quality content. If you get people good content, they’ll note who passed it along to them.
Social Media as a Market Research Tool
Another way to use social media is as a market research tool. Post a question to your followers or friends and allow them to answer. Note the response you get. In doing so, your social media efforts become form of interactive marketing. You're much more likely to get attendees to your event if you take into account attendee wants, needs, and desires.
Here are additional articles on using social media to promote your event:
- How to Leverage Facebook and Your Event Marketing
- Using Twitter for Your Event Marketing
- Beware of the "Social Media" Event SMACKDOWN!
- Social Media, Your Event Marketing, and "Insider Info" . . .
- How Long Before Social Media Advertising Gets Too Noisy?
- Social Media Comments and Your Event
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