Use social media to pack your next event

You’ve got an event coming up, and you want to fill every seat. How do you throw a champagne event on a beer budget? With social media!

Here’s how:

Have a unique, event-specific hashtag. The key here is to research it first. You need to make sure it hasn’t been used before or associated with something negative.
Encourage attendees to tell the world they’re going. After they register include a “share on Facebook” button. Or write a tweet for them — with a call to action, like “Click to Tweet.”
Answer back when your biggest supporters talk about the event on social media. Engage them in conversation.
Offer discounts through social media and create social contests.
Before the event interview the speakers or attendees and post those interviews on all your social media platforms. Ask the interviewees to post on their platforms, too.
During the event give people a reason to take photos and share, share, share. For example, have a box of cool photo props available by the step-and-repeat.
Give a sneak peak behind the scenes by sharing snippets of video.
After the event, put any presentations up on SlideShare, releasing them once a day to keep people engaged.

With these easy tips, your next event is sure to be a success.