How to use social media to leverage your event

Even better, social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are virtually free! Simply put, social media is great news for event holders. It’s helpful to remember that events are inherently social. It’s natural for people to tell their friends about events they love: Social media hardly invented word-of-mouth. What it does offer is game-changing acceleration, plus metrics for what’s working.

So just how much are those event shares on Facebook and Twitter worth? In October 2010, Eventbrite released a Social Commerce report that put a dollar value on shares for the first time. We discovered that on average, the Dollars Per Share (DPS) of an event on Facebook is $2.53. This means that a share on Facebook generates $2.53 in ticket sales and, in addition, 11 visits back to the event page.

In the festival space, the news was even better. Eventbrite found that when an attendee shares, for example, a Wine/Food/Beer event on Facebook, it generates more than $5.50 in ticket sales.

Looking at additional social networks, Eventbrite discovered that a share on Twitter equals $0.43, a share on LinkedIn equals $0.90, and a share through our ”email friends” application equals $2.34.

Getting Started with Social Media

According to Alexa.com, five of the top 10 most visited sites in the United States are social networking sites. These sites have caused a sea shift in the way people purchase. And when used correctly, they’ll have a direct impact on the success of your event.

However, these sites don’t do all the work themselves. Just opening a Twitter account for your event isn’t going to get it done. It’s critical that you first understand them and decide how to deploy them.

So, what are your basic objectives? Before deciding how to use social media, you first must determine what your goals are. For example, you can leverage social media to achieve any or all of the following objectives:

• Sell out your event

• Increase awareness for your event and brand

• Gain sponsors and donors

• Establish yourself as an expert in your specific field

Check out Web sites like quantcast.com. Here you can search any Web site and discover demographic information about the traffic they receive, such as age, geographic location, income and interests. This information should be in mind before you make any marketing decision. It will help you understand where your future attendees spend time online and how to deliver correct messages to them.

Redefining Registration: Meetings and Conferences Simplified.  Eventbrite delivers a complete conference registration solution that’s intuitive,  social – and powerful.  Check out eventbrite.com/conferences to learn more and get started for free today!