I’m not talking about Foursquare; I’m talking about a LIVE Video feed from your event, anywhere in the world. Streaming this video on your website, Facebook Fan Page and promoting it before the event through Twitter, email newsletters, etc.
There are numerous articles on the web stating that Video is more engaging and shareable than plain text, so what better way to promote an event than doing just that, in REAL TIME!
This was the campaign that Shape Magazine ran last week. Shape Magazine partnered with the 2012 Zumba Fitness-Concert and streamed LIVE Video from the event in London on their Facebook Business Page using an Engage121 FANlet design. Engage121 Fanlet templates make it easy for our clients to customize their Facebook apps. Users can edit their template to their liking and publish a custom tab with NO HTML knowledge required!
They promoted the event ahead of time through their magazine and across their social networks. They had 57,321 unique viewers throughout the stream on Friday, February 24th, most viewers were watching on shape.com (47,182). They also promoted the Video on their Facebook Business Page, which had 6,000 views in the FIRST HOUR (wow). This stream was viewed around the globe: US (29,842), UK (7,465), Germany (5,994), Canada (3,198), Israel (2,727).
During the first hour they experienced growth of roughly 6,000 fans on their Facebook Page. Throughout the day, there was a total fan addition of 7,146. On a typical day, Shape Magazine averages between 200-300 new fans. This was a substantial increase!
Shape Magazine replayed the video twice this past weekend, equaling a total growth of 9,631 fans. The average “Talking about us” number is usually around 5,000 per day, on Friday it was 16,000!
This brand awareness extends outside of Facebook, the hashtag #ZumbaFitnessChallenge exploded with Re-Tweets and Mentions of @Shape_Magazine. This Video not only got people to watch the event, but also to talk about the event by sharing and tweeting.
Before the Video went live on Friday, they had 97,603 followers on Twitter; after the Event, their followers totaled 97,990! There were tons of tweets referring to the live stream and people saying how excited they were to re-watch the next day!
With such busy schedules it’s hard to plan ahead, but with a little extra planning and promoting you can take an event global, due to Social Media. This event also pushed the brand, Shape Magazine, in front of their target audience: Health focused individuals.
For me, planning ahead is definitely a challenge, which is where my editorial calendar comes in very handy and so does scheduling posts. Scheduled posts aren’t only meant to push information out at the correct time, but they also serve as a reminder about the event.
When it comes to promoting your event, do not forget about your key followers; Reach out to them and ask them to Tweet, Share, and Post. People love to feel valued and needed, and asking for their help does just that!
How do you promote events for your brand?
- Jennifer MacDonald, Director of Community & Client Engagement