How to Leverage Social Media Influencers Effectively To Drive Attendance

This year, social influencer marketing has received a lot of attention. It’s likely that it’s on your list of event marketing techniques to attempt, and if it is, you’re not alone. In 2017, over 85% of marketers want to employ some form of influencer marketing.

The good news is that many of the sectors or professions served are overflowing with influencers. Unfortunately, the opportunity to leverage their power to expand audiences has gone unrealized. Follow these influencer marketing tips to break through the promotional clutter, give credibility to your next campaign, and ultimately increase attendance, whether your event is in-person, digital, or a combination of the two.

Many developments in marketing techniques have occurred in 2020, most notably the shift to virtual events. For many businesses, this has redirected digital marketing efforts away from physical event promotion and toward online webinars, participation in online industry events, and other virtual seminars or meetings.

As digital marketers, it is critical to rapidly adapt to the changing landscape in your clients’ sectors and the marketing industry as a whole. Let’s look at how social media marketing may be utilized to swiftly and efficiently alter strategy in order to boost attendance, involvement, and exposure for your customers’ online events, webinars, and virtual occurrences.

In this blog, we will learn about all the tips and techniques to drive attendance using social media influencer marketing. 

Amplify Voice of Attendees

Committed participants at an event are usually the most qualified and authentic influencers. While some participants may not have a large social media following, their uninfluenced words of praise can connect with like-minded professionals and develop trust in prospects. Testimonials from large buyers and executives from well-known businesses such as The Coca-Cola Company were featured throughout the social-media campaign, demonstrating the event’s worth in the eyes of industry peers.

Go Beyond Social Media

Event organizers that limit their influencer marketing efforts to organic social media miss out on influencer ROI. The best practice is to use influencer-created material and testimonials as “ROI amplifiers,” carefully integrating them into omnichannel attendee-acquisition efforts like press releases, emails, display advertisements, social media ads, and more. An email featuring influencer endorsements produced more than double the usual conversions for one of the events MGD markets. Influencer marketing should be viewed not only as an awareness technique but also as a

conversion driver.

Compensate your influencers fairly

Influencers may deliver a large ROI for an attendee-acquisition campaign, and it is critical that they be fairly paid for their efforts. While renowned influencers will almost certainly demand payment for their services, Nano- and micro-level influencers frequently see value in collaborating for visibility and cross-promotion. Inquire about their goals and think imaginatively about how your event might help them. Can you provide complimentary VIP event passes, meet-and-greet or book signing spaces on the exhibition floor, event speaking engagements, or cross-promotions? 

Create Facebook Events and Then Share Them

When you have an upcoming event, the first thing you should do is create a Facebook event for it. Facebook events are one of the best tools available because they not only help you spread the message about what’s coming up, but also provide users with useful information, interact and respond directly to comments and questions from potential attendees, but they also allow you to build social proof on the platform.

This means greater exposure, and when everyone sees that their friends are interested or attending, they will want to go as well.

Prepare Well-Researched Influencer Marketing Plan

The key to influencer marketing is not just discovering the appropriate influencers or just the right influencer marketing platform, but it is also about developing genuine and mutually beneficial connections with those you choose to work with.

Keep the following three suggestions in mind as you develop your influencer strategy:

Align your campaign strategy with your objectives: What do you hope to gain from this campaign? Are you attempting to raise awareness for your event? Sell more VIP tickets? Or if your event is sold out, but you want to generate a lot of buzz in order to increase demand for next year’s event? Define your objectives and ensure that your influencer request aligns with them.

Don’t simply consider what they can accomplish for you. Influencer marketing is a two-way street, and whether you’re dealing with influencers or ambassadors, you must offer a compelling proposal. This may be as simple as inviting them to your event for free, offering a VIP upgrade, or providing exclusive behind-the-scenes access.

Personalized promo codes are a wonderful way to emphasize the influencer’s status while simultaneously spreading the message about your event and boosting ticket sales. Approach influencers in the same way you would approach event partners or sponsors. You can first develop a connection with them by connecting with them on social media and demonstrating interest in their material.

Signing Off!

These strategies will assist you in developing a successful influencer marketing strategy & the right influencer marketing platform to promote your events. Most importantly, match your influencers with your brand and objectives, since this will foster trust and credibility among your target audience.

If you can effectively implement your influencer marketing plan and choose the right influencer marketing platform, not only will your return be enormous, but it will also provide the groundwork for any future events you choose to organize.