96% of event organizers use social media to promote their events. ⁽¹⁾ While B2C events may seem to have a more obvious fit here, you can promote your B2B events on social media too. In fact it’s a great idea. Most B2B events need a targeted set of audience, and social media can be used to identify and reach out to these particular individuals directly.

Benefits Of Using Social Media For Promoting B2B Events:

1. Social media platforms allow you to reach a wider audience. You go beyond your existing network.
2. Compared to traditional marketing methods, social media is a cost-effective way to promote B2B events.
3. Social media platforms offer highly targeted advertising options, allowing you to reach your ideal audience with specific demographics, interests, and behaviors.
4. These platforms allow you two-way communication. This means you can engage with potential attendees, answer their questions, and build relationships with them.
5. Social media allows you to share real-time updates about your B2B event.
6. The platforms offer analytics tools that allow you to track the engagement, reach, and ROI of your social media campaigns.

These are some of the reasons why major corporations depend on social media to promote their B2B events. Here are a few examples for you!

Some Of The Best Social Media Campaigns:

• Adobe Summit: Adobe Summit, an annual B2B conference, has a strong social media presence. Their social media campaigns include sharing teasers, live streaming keynotes, and providing exclusive behind-the-scenes content to engage their audience.
• HubSpot INBOUND: HubSpot’s annual INBOUND conference leverages social media to create buzz around their event. They use Instagram Stories, Twitter polls, and Facebook Live to promote their conference, provide updates, and engage with their audience.
• Salesforce Dreamforce: Salesforce Dreamforce is one of the largest B2B events in the world, and they have a significant social media presence. They use social media to create anticipation for their event, promote keynotes and sessions, and provide real-time updates to attendees.

Now that we have established that social media is an important tool for b2b event promotion and engagement, let’s go through the essential steps.

How To Promote An Event On Social Media?

1. Identify Your Target Audience:

Identifying your target audience is crucial for creating the content strategy. This is because it allows you to tailor your marketing messages and outreach efforts to a specific group of people who are most likely to be interested in your event. When you create content that resonates with your target audience, they are more likely to convert. The target audience for your products and services can be vast and varied but the target audience for an event is determined by the content of the event which could be limited to a product/s or a service/s or a specific need.

Here’s how you can define your target audience and their preferences:

• You must define the nature of your event in terms of industry and type of function.
• Identify their characteristics, such as job titles, roles, departments, company size, and interests.
• Use social media analytics tools to analyze your followers and engagement levels. This data can help you identify trends and patterns among your audience.
• You can also conduct surveys to gather feedback from your target audience on their preferences, needs, and interests.

2. Choose The Right Social Media Platforms:

Once you know who your target audience is, select the social media platforms where they are most active. Selecting the right platforms is all the more important if you go for paid marketing. This is because you need to be sure that you are using the marketing budget to reach the most relevant audience only.

Platforms for B2B event promotion may vary depending on the specifics of the event and the target audience. However, LinkedIn is often considered the most effective social media platform for corporate event promotion:

• Start by creating an event page on LinkedIn. This will allow you to share event details and updates, and engage with attendees before, during, and after the event.
• Use engaging visuals, such as photos and videos, to make your updates stand out.
• Use LinkedIn’s targeted advertising options to reach a specific audience based on job title, company, industry, and other criteria.
• Join LinkedIn groups related to your industry or topic to promote your event and engage with potential attendees.

3. Create A Dedicated Hashtag:

A hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by the hash/ pound (#) symbol to identify and group content related to a particular topic or theme. When a user adds a hashtag to their social media post, it makes the post discoverable by other users who are interested in the same topic or theme.

So, create a unique hashtag for your event that attendees can use when they share their experiences or post about the event on social media. This will help increase your event’s visibility on social media platforms. The best part is that a hashtag can help you track the success of your social media promotion efforts by monitoring the number of mentions and engagement level.

Now how do you create one for your event?

• Choose a short and easy-to-remember hashtag that reflects your event’s theme or brand.
• Check that the hashtag you want to use is not already in use or associated with a different brand or event.
• Make sure you use a consistent hashtag on all the platforms.
• Most importantly, encourage your attendees, sponsors, and partners to use your hashtag when sharing content related to your event.

4. Share Important Updates From Time To Time:

We are talking about pre-event social media posts that include event updates. Regular posts about your event on your social media channels can help keep your audience engaged and build excitement. Aim to post at least once a day leading up to your event. Prefer using images and videos. Here’s how to go about it:

• Share important event details such as date, time, location, agenda, and registration information on your social media channels.
• Share information about your event speakers and sponsors to build excitement. Share their bios and any interesting information about their presentation topics.
• You can also post testimonials from previous attendees or sponsors to build credibility and encourage others to attend.

5. Engage With Your Audience:

Engaging with your audience during social media promotion of an event is essential for building trust and credibility, creating buzz, gathering feedback, increasing engagement, and building a community.

• Polls and surveys are a great way to ask questions about what your audiences are looking forward to at your event, what topics they want to hear about, and what they hope to gain from attending.
• Create fun contests. For example, you could ask them to share a post about your event or tag their colleagues for a chance to win a prize. You can also offer discounts or gifts for early registration.
• Share behind-the-scenes content on social media to give your target audience a sneak peek of what’s to come. This could be photos of the venue or speaker interviews or any other highlight.
• What’s most crucial is to respond to comments and messages on social media in a timely manner. This shows that you value their input and are actively engaged with them.

6. Use Paid Social Media Advertising:

Incorporating paid social media advertising into your event strategy can help increase awareness to a huge extent. This is because it lets you go beyond your existing followers and connections on social media. The most favorable aspect of running ads is that you get advanced targeting options, allowing you to reach your ideal audience based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and more. The platforms allow you to set your budget and only pay for the clicks, impressions, or conversions you receive. However, you must keep the following in mind:

• Be clear with your advertising goals, such as increasing event page visits, ticket sales, or RSVPs.
• Develop visually appealing and engaging ad content, including images or videos, relevant ad copy, and a clear call-to-action.
• Continuously monitor your ad campaigns and make necessary adjustments, such as changing targeting, ad content, or bidding strategy.

7. Live Stream Your Event:

You can use social media even DURING your event. Stream it live! This will allow people who are unable to attend the event in person to still be a part of the experience from anywhere, at any time, using their preferred device. It’s not as basic as you probably think it to be! Live streaming allows for real-time engagement with your audience, through Q&A sessions and live polls.

• Choose the platform that best suits your audience and event. For B2B events, you can opt for Facebook Live and YouTube Live.
• Make certain that your equipment is set up correctly and tested before the event starts. Test your live stream beforehand to ensure that the quality of the video and audio is adequate.
• Promote your live stream on your website, social media channels, and email newsletters to build anticipation and increase attendance.
• When you go live, make sure to monitor the comments section for any questions or feedback.
• After the event, save and share the video on your social media channels and website for those who missed the live stream to view at a later time.

8. Follow Up After The Event:

Post-event social media posts can help you keep your attendees engaged and foster a relationship with them. This keep your brand in their mind and motivates them to participate in future events. Here’s how you can keep the conversation going:

• Use your social media channels to thank everyone who attended your event. You can also tag them in your posts to increase engagement.
• Share highlights from your event, such as photos and videos and encourage them to share their own memories and experiences.
• Ask for feedback from your attendees.
• Encourage attendees to register early for their future events. You can also offer discounts or incentives for early registration.

Conclusion:

Social media has become an integral part of promoting events, including B2B events. By creating a well-planned social media strategy, using content marketing, and social media analytics, event organizers can meet their promotion objectives. They can reach a wider audience beyond their existing network, cost-effectively promote events, target specific demographics, engage with potential attendees, share real-time updates, and track their social media campaign’s engagement and ROI.

Want to create a comprehensive to promote your b2b events on social media that maximizes audience reach and engagement? Go no further! With our expert event management services and digital marketing services, we can help you in planning, promoting, and executing your event effectively.

FAQs:

How do you promote a B2B event?

• Email Marketing: Build a targeted email list of potential attendees and send out regular newsletters and promotional emails leading up to the event.
• Social Media: Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to promote the event. Share updates, photos, and videos from past events to generate interest.
• Public Relations: Work with industry publications and influencers to secure media coverage leading up to the event.
• Content Marketing: Create engaging content that promotes the event, such as blog posts, videos, and infographics. Share this content on social media, email marketing campaigns, and other channels to attract potential attendees.
• Partner With Sponsors and Exhibitors: They can help spread the word about the event through their email list, social media channels, and website.

How does social media help promote an event?

Social media is a powerful tool that can help promote an event in many ways:

• Increases visibility (event page, hashtags, and engaging content).
• Builds anticipation (behind-the-scenes photos and videos, teasers about keynote speakers, and sneak peeks of the event agenda).
• Creates engagement (questions/ answers, updates, and polls).
• Provides real-time updates (keynote speeches or panel discussions, live streaming, event photos and videos).
• Targets specific audiences (based on demographics, interests, and behaviors).
• Builds relationships (with potential attendees, sponsors, and partners).

How do I create a social media post for an event?

• Start with a strong headline. Use action words and phrases that create a sense of urgency, such as "Join us now" or "Don't miss out.”
• Include essential information such as the date, time, location, and registration details. Make sure this information is easy to read and stands out.
• Include high-quality images, videos, or graphics that relate to the event.
• Use a clear call-to-action (CTA) to encourage people to take action, such as "Register now" or "Get your tickets today." The CTA should be prominently displayed in the post.
• Use relevant hashtags to increase the visibility of your post and make it easier for people to find. Use event-specific hashtags and industry-related hashtags to reach your target audience.
• Keep your post under 280 characters for Twitter and Instagram, and around 40-80 characters for Facebook and LinkedIn.
• Encourage people to engage with your post by asking questions, starting a conversation, or inviting them to share their thoughts. Respond promptly to comments and messages to build a connection with your audience.

What do you post after attending an event?

• Share photos and videos of your team and audience
• Share your key takeaways
• Thank the organizers and attendees
• Share content related to the event such as clips from the keynotes
• Like, comment and share your attendees’ content that they posted about your event
• Follow up with any new connections you made at the event by sending them a message