9 Tips to Promote Events on Social Media Successfully

Imagine scrolling through your social media feed and stumbling upon an event that captures your interest so completely, you can't help but click "interested."  

If this has happened to you, congratulations! You've been at the receiving end of a successful social media event promotion campaign.  

Brands expend a ton of effort trying to engage their audiences in the place they flock, and, as such, social media has quickly become the place for organizations to promote and create a buzz around their events. In fact, nearly a quarter of all traffic to event pages comes directly from social media platforms. That's the power of effective social media marketing.  

So, whether you're launching the latest smartphone, advertising your neighborhood's annual baked goods sale or inviting attendees to a webinar on cloud FinOps, promoting your event on social media can transform your event from overlooked to overbooked.  

In this blog, we’ll be unpacking the tips and best practices that’ll help you make the most of social media for events. It will guide you on everything from choosing the right social media platform to the type of content you need to publish to get the hype machine going.  

But, first, let's start with the basics. 

Why should brands use social media for event promotions?

Social media platforms are today’s digital town squares, so it's obvious why they’re the best place to promote your events. But if we break it down a step further, social media is the go-to event promotion platform because of its ability to give your brand:  

• Improved reach: Social media offers a reach that is unparalleled. With billions of users across platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, your event can go beyond geographical boundaries and attract a global audience. For virtual events or those vital physical ones, social media ensures you cast a wide net for potential attendees and customers.  

• Engaged audiences: Social media does more than just spread the word; it builds a community around your event. Because social media platforms are designed to fuel human interaction, interested users can engage with each other and your brand through shares, comments and likes. Your event can spark conversations, build anticipation and create a community of like-minded attendees long before the event day. This can also help capture a bigger audience for subsequent events. 

• Precise targeting: Want to reach young tech enthusiasts for a hackathon or dedicated foodies for a gourmet pop-up? Social media's advanced targeting allows you to hone in on your ideal audience based on interests, demographics and behavior, ensuring your event reaches the right crowd.  

• Real-time engagement: Social media is all about instant engagement. Live updates, behind-the-scenes sneak peeks and real-time interactions keep your audience hooked and engaged, turning viewers into active participants. 
   

Social media is the bridge between your event and its potential attendees because of its ability to transform passive interest into action. 

Must Read: Social media for business: 8 best practices to follow in 2024 

How to choose the right social media platform for event promotions?

Choosing the right social media platform for events is just like selecting the perfect venue for your party. Each platform has its unique ambiance, audience and tools for storytelling.  

Here’s a comparison of the most popular social media platforms and the events that work best on them: 

 A quick look into platform dynamics: 

• Facebook: Perfect for reaching a broad audience with diverse content types, Facebook is the jack-of-all-trades in event promotion. Its event pages allow for RSVPs and updates, while targeted ads help pinpoint your ideal attendees. 

• Instagram: Insta is a visual storyteller's dream. It works great for events that can leverage striking imagery or behind-the-scenes stories — think fashion shows, art exhibitions and concerts. Its algorithm also favors high engagement, so encourage and, if possible, incentivize your Instagram audience to interact on the platform.  

• X (Formerly Twitter): X is great at spreading the word quickly, which is why it's favored by those seeking real-time news and updates. It helps keep the buzz going in the build-up to your event. But it's even better for engagement during the event. Use hashtags and Twitter communities to tap into relevant conversations and encourage live posting to keep your audience hooked. 

• LinkedIn: As a professional network, LinkedIn's forte lies in promoting industry conferences, seminars and corporate events. It's a go-to for B2B brands looking to build interest and viewership for events around professional areas and functions. It's also a good platform to promote thought-leadership-based events. 

• YouTube: As a pioneer of video and live-streaming content, YouTube is great for events that entail in-depth coverage, such as performances and educational content.  

 
Understanding each platform's unique strengths helps you tailor your promotion strategy. This way, you can ensure your event not only reaches its target audience but resonates with it in a meaningful way.

Insightful Read: 10 Proven Social Media Tactics for 2024 

9 proven tactics to promote your events on social media  

Choosing the best social media platform lays the foundation of your event promotion journey.

But to really grab your audience's attention and keep it engaged, you need to deploy some smart tactics. Here are some tips to get your social media event promotion strategy right.  

Tip #1: Optimize your social media profiles

Nearly 4.95 billion people are using social media in 2024. That's more than half the world's population. And for marketers, capturing the attention of even a minute fraction of that number can yield staggering results. But every marketer has the same idea. So, how do you stand out in a crowded marketplace and win the notice of your target audience?  

You can start by optimizing your social media profiles. 

To have a strong social media presence, update the bio, cover photos, profile pictures and other key sections of your brand's profile. Invest in high-quality audio, visual and text content to make your pages instantly recognizable and relevant. This way, when you promote your event, potential attendees drawn to your profile will have a positive impression of the brand that's hosting it.  

Take inspiration from Sprinklr's LinkedIn page, which shows how effectively updating your profile can enhance reach and engagement:    

By ensuring your profiles are up-to-date and reflecting your events, you're setting the stage for broader reach and higher engagement.  

Also Read: Why you need to optimize your social media response time 

Tip #2: Create a unique event hashtag

A unique and catchy hashtag can make your event memorable, help track conversations and amplify reach across platforms. Unfortunately, only 45% of event-related X posts utilize hashtags.  

Don't be part of that number. Create a hashtag that's short, easy to remember and directly linked to your event. Encourage everyone involved — speakers, sponsors and attendees — to use this hashtag in their posts (and, as always, find ways to recognize them for doing so). And voila! You've created a unified, searchable stream of user-generated content that’s related to your event. 

Just look at how hashtags like #ShareACoke, #JustDoIt, #ShotOniPhone and #IceBucketChallenge went viral and created communities of users sharing content under a unified banner. Using hashtags smartly can do the same for you — connecting your content with audiences worldwide. 

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And if you want to discover hashtags that resonate with your industry, simply use a competitive insights and benchmarking tool that’ll show you what's trending and popular within your niche.

Read More: 6 major social media algorithms explained (+ bonus tips) 

Tip #3: Leverage Facebook events and ticketing

By integrating ticket sales directly on Facebook, you can create a seamless experience for interested attendees, from discovery all the way to purchase. This feature makes event registration super easy, which can help boost attendance rates for your event.  

Consider how Gartner effectively uses Facebook to promote their events. Their event pages include essential information about the webinar, along with a clear call-to-action for free registration. 

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This strategic use of Facebook enhances visibility and provides attendees with a convenient way to gather all the information they need and sign up.  
 

Also Read: Facebook analytics: How to get started with Facebook monitoring 

Tip #4: Craft unique, engaging content 

Treat your event as you would any other important social media campaign. This means crafting a strong social media content strategy that balances promotional posts with meaningful content that resonates with your event theme and your customers.  

Use a healthy mix of images, videos and stories to keep your content fresh. Here's a quick video that tells you how to craft interesting content that can cut through the digital noise. 

Also, take a look at the post below promoting an event for startups. Instead of listing the names of the startups, it focuses on the audience and the potential for landing a dream job. It even extends the invite to non-jobseekers, encouraging a broader audience to attend and make the most of networking opportunities.  

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Experimenting with content types and themes can draw more people to your event. This ultimately contributes to brand awareness and advocacy.  

Must Read: How to create a content plan? 

Tip #5: Use paid social media ads

To maximize your event's visibility, pairing organic promotional efforts with paid social media ads is essential. These ads allow you to target specific groups based on demographics, interests and behaviors. Do this to ensure your target audience doesn't miss your event.

An AI-powered social media advertising tool can transform how you deliver these ads. It can help you personalize your social advertising at scale. So, instead of churning out forgettable, boilerplate ads, you can craft targeted, consistent, memorable messages that are consistent across multiple digital channels. What’s more, you can even get actionable insights that will help with budget allocation, bidding, ad rotation and campaign optimization. 

This strategy is not just about extending reach; it's about making every interaction count.

Also Read: Impact of social media marketing on businesses 

Tip #6: Run a social media contest

Who doesn't like to win? A social media contest with fun rewards can be a great way to boost engagement and visibility for your event. It taps into the competitive side of your audience and fires those users up to participate in your campaign — whether that's by sharing your event or using your unique hashtag to participate.

Trident's Chew Tunes contest, for example, offered participants the chance to win a trip to the Grammys or a cash prize if they participated.  

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Whether it's a photo contest showing the attendees who are geared up for your event or a creative caption contest related to your event's topic, aligning your social media contest ideas with your event is bound to propel engagement. 
 

Helpful Read: 11 Advanced Social Media Tips for Marketers 

Tip #7: Collaborate with the right influencers

In a market that's tripled since 2019, reaching an estimated $24 billion in 2024, influencer marketing stands as a testament to the power of (perceived) authentic promotion. Partnering with influencers whose audience mirrors your target attendees can amplify your event's reach and credibility.

A prime example of an influencer marketing strategy in action is Nike's collaboration with Cristiano Ronaldo. By partnering with the global soccer icon, Nike managed to create an unprecedented buzz for their events and product launches.

This partnership amplified the campaign's reach and significantly boosted engagement rates. This demonstrates the powerful impact of aligning with influencers (or a global celebrity in this case) who embody your brand's values and appeal to your potential attendees. 

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Also Read: 15 experts creating the simpler, smarter, better future of social media marketing 

Tip #8: Use live video on event day

Sharing live video content on the day of your event is a great way to engage those who can't attend in person. Live streaming sessions, behind-the-scenes glimpses or stories with key moments create a sense of inclusion and immediacy, sparking FOMO among your audience.  

For remote audiences, it's a hard-to-resist teaser of what they're missing out on. In fact, the sense of FOMO might be enough to convince some of them to turn up to the next event in person. By giving your audience virtual ringside seats of the action, live video heightens anticipation for what’s to come. 

Learn More: The complete guide to Facebook Live for brands: Part 1 

Tip #9: Keep engagement going after the event

After your event wraps up, keep the momentum going by maintaining the interest of your audience. Share event highlights, glowing attendee testimonials and sneak peeks of future events. Call on attendees to post their own experiences using your event’s hashtag. This keeps the excitement alive, creates a sense of community and extends the event’s impact beyond the venue.

Successful social media event promotions by brands

When brands harness social media intelligently for event promotions, it can transform localized events into widespread phenomena. Here’s how Spotify and Heineken created blockbuster social media campaigns: 

Spotify #Wrapped campaign 

This 2023 campaign provided a personalized summary of users' listening habits over the year and encouraged them to share it on social media. Though not technically an event, Spotify's #Wrapped campaign marketed itself as a celebration and transformed the end-of-year music recap into a global event that they plan to repeat each year. 

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Strategies used: 

• Personalization: Spotify leveraged data to create personalized content for each user. 

• Social sharing: It encouraged users to share their personalized #Wrapped statistics on social media. 

• Engagement: It utilized interactive elements like quizzes and playlists to engage users further. 

Outcomes: 

• Increased engagement: There was high user interaction as participants eagerly shared their unique listening summaries. 

• Viral spread: The campaign was trending on social media, which significantly enhanced Spotify's visibility and user engagement. 

• Subscriber growth: It attracted new subscribers who were keen on getting a personalized rundown of their listening habits. 

Heineken #WorldsApart campaign

This campaign featured a social experiment that brought together people with diametrically opposing views. The ethos behind the campaign was a belief in the power of conversation over division, and it culminated with an event centered around unity through diversity. 

Source  

Strategies used: 

• Social experiment: Heineken created content around real, authentic social interactions. 

• Video content: It shared compelling video stories across social platforms to engage viewers. 

• Social discussion: It encouraged viewers to share their thoughts and stories in a community dialogue.

Outcomes: 

• Viral impact: The campaign video went viral, significantly boosting Heineken's social media presence. 

• Brand perception: It enhanced Heineken's image as a socially conscious brand that doesn't shy away from potentially divisive topics. 

• Increased engagement: It sparked widespread discussion and positive feedback across social media platforms. 

These campaigns prove how bold, innovative approaches can increase engagement and improve brand perception. 

Must Read: 7 social media campaign examples to inspire your social media strategy 

In summary  
With that, we’ve covered the many roles social media plays in event promotion, touching on everything from profile optimization to influencer collaborations and engaging content. The strategies we described underline the need for a customized, creative and thoughtful approach to capture your audience's attention and boost engagement. 

AI-powered tools like Sprinklr's social listening, social publishing & engagement and social advertising can help you get there. These tools offer valuable insights into audience trends and campaign performance, and they help you automate your social media content so all your promotional pursuits lead to attendees showing up by the dozen at your events. If you want to see the crowd-pulling magic these tools can bring for yourself, simply request a demo to learn more or sign up for a free 30-day trial to get a more hands-on experience.