Creating traction online

Posted by writer | Exploratory topic: Are clever ways of marketing events online ethical? »

One of our commenter asked a very valid question, Do social applications (like Facebook) only begin to help in marketing events after a critical mass is already achieved in your following?


In my own experience I would agree that greater hype is built when more people are talking about it. However, having said that, the powerful thing about social media is that you can attract “more people” to your page without even knowing them. Initially when you’re just starting out, it doesn’t matter how many people you have on your Facebook network, what matters is how you get through to the people who could potentially be interested in attending your event.

For example, let’s suppose your target audience for an event are college students and frequent travelers (25-35 age-group) in Florida. We already know that the market demographics on facebook are skewed towards college students and professionals. So the potential of your market size is considerably huge. Theoretically, all you need to do is reach out to these people!

I’ve noticed that when events are built into fun activities, they can turn into great powerhouses for generating hype. You can build a page on the social networking apps with customized navigation and add applications over it to get the people involved in the pre-launch stage. You can get them to plan some elements of the event, or have competitions (e.g. poster design competition for the event). These competitions can be linked to real-life prizes like “accommodation discounts”, “free tickets”, “free drinks”, etc. You should also be able to show a list of other people who are attending. That will make them want to be there as well. There has to be an incentive for people to participate and refer you to their friends.

I believe that once you can find your potential customers, they will market your event further for you. In many ways, it depends on how you are branding your event. You can read our thoughts on event branding here.

So, to sum it up, I feel that even if you are a small shop or are planning a local club party, you can create movement and traction online if you play your moves well. Hopefully, we will be discussing these little tips, thoughts, ideas and strategies in this blog and our other Launch Strategies Blog over the next few months. Stay tuned!


| Social Marketing

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