Use Social Media and SEO to Get More From Your Events

By Gail Z. Martin
Being a good neighbor as a business involves being a part of the neighborhood around
you, whether that is a real-life place or a virtual site. For most businesses, one way to reach out
to the potential clients and prospects in their neighborhood/community is to hold events. Social
media and SEO can help you get more out of the events you hold, extend the value of your event
investment, and reach a broader potential audience.

Events create a sense of community that offers a chance for local people to mingle, relax
and get to know each other. Some examples might include a health workshop held by a local
medical practice, live music at a neighborhood coffee shop, bar or club, author readings and
signings at a book store or library, or even a community day of service cleaning up a park or
painting a school.

Before the event, use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to generate interest in what’s
coming up Get the conversation going before the event even happens. Encourage your core team
of organizers, volunteers and beneficiaries to get online and talk about the event on your social
media sites and on their own. Get them to link to each other’s sites/blogs and reTweet. Make sure
you’re using keywords, tags and other SEO tools so that your efforts are seen by the maximum
number of viewers.

During the event, take photos and digital video (simplify the permission issue by making
permission to be photographed part of the participation contract and the ticket agreement). Tweet
and blog live. Have roving “reporters” with digital cameras and audio recorders gathering on-the-
spot comments from participants, organizers and attendees. Make sure you tag all your photos
and videos with keyword-friendly phrases.

Ask everyone who signs up to blog, Tweet and invite their Facebook friends. Sign
everyone up who attends as a Facebook friend and Twitter follower so you can stay in touch.
Offer a prize to the person who submits the best video or digital photo collage/slideshow and
then post it on all your event social media sites (encourage everyone to re-post for more viral
coverage). If you need more volunteers, ask your Twitter followers to come and help out.

After the program, get the photos, videos and audio posted quickly. Encourage everyone
who attended to write a recap of what they liked best. Ask contributors to tag their testimonials
with a preferred set of keywords. If you’re sponsoring a sporting team, post photos, digitals and
on-the-spot blogs throughout the season, then celebrate the team’s wins and accomplishments
and be sure to feature profiles of the players, coaches and volunteers. If it was a charity effort,
snap photos of volunteers doing the work and share a story by the coordinator or recipient about
what the project meant to those who benefited. Scholarships and pageants can feature photos of
all the contestants, winning essays, videos of speeches or performances, and a profile of the
winner. Of course, everything somehow mentions you, the sponsoring organization.

About Author:

Excerpted with permission from 30 Days to Social Media Success, by Gail Martin, new from
Career Press in September, 2010.

Gail Z. Martin owns DreamSpinner Communications and helps companies and solo
professionals in the U.S. and Canada improve their marketing results in 30 days. Gail has
an MBA in marketing and over 20 years of corporate and non-profit experience at senior
executive levels. Gail also hosts the Shared Dreams Marketing Podcast. She’s the author
of The Thrifty Author’s Guide to Launching Your Book and 30 Days to Social Media

Success: Making the Most of Twitter, Blogging, LinkedIn and Facebook. Find her online at
www.GailMartinMarketing.com, on Twitter @GailMartinPR and check out her Facebook page
at 30 Day Results Guide.