5 signs your social media strategy needs some TLC
By Sophie Hamdorf, Brand Visionary | Register Now
Does the mere mention of social media strategy make you cringe and feel overwhelmed? Or maybe you’re already posting content in all the right places but not really getting the kind of traction that you feel your event deserves?
We're here to help! And to make it crystal clear for you we have devised an SOS check list of sorts for you below! If you answer yes to more than two of these, we suggest you get in touch! That's right we have expanded our services to now offering our clients social media strategy development and management. Of course, there is no one size fits all for this program, so let’s have a chat and come up with a model that suits your event and budget!
1. You are still doing everything manually
This is highly inefficient and as an event organiser – you most probably already have enough manual work to do. Don't spend any more time on something that can be planned, automated or managed elsewhere. You know more than anyone that as the event deadline day draws nearer your list of things to do also grows exponentially (we've been there too!). Be smart and focus on your best assets and skills: planning and executing the event and let us handle the social media management for you or at the very least look at a scheduling tool - we like Buffer!
2. Your social posts have no consistency in palette, theme or message
Sounds like you don't have an event brand personality! This is uber important when it comes to creating an engaging and compelling story about your event and building rapport with your audience! Here is a good exercise, have a think: would you be friends with your event if it was a person? If you don't think you would then there should be alarm bells ringing! Your brand personality should be at the very heart of your social media strategy and considered in every post, story or update, which segues nicely into our next point-->
3. You don't have a social media strategy
Argh - who even are you?! JOKES! But this is really something that you need to consider, it will help guide your actions, achieve your event communications goals and let you know if you're actually meeting your objectives or failing them - the feedback loop is real in the social media world friends, so don't ignore it! Your strategy doesn't need to be complex or a ten-page document, keep it specific and concise for a goal that is easy to achieve and simple to measure.
4. Are you overusing or underusing hashtags?
They can be your best friend or your worst enemy! Overuse or incorrect use can lead to a major hashtag fail - checkout the top 10 Worst Twitter Hashtags fails of all time funny yes, but don't let it be you!
On the flipside, not using hashtags... Clearly, if you are one of the biggest events in the world (or Beyonce, LOL) with 100 of thousands of followers then yes, hashtags probably aren't going to be vital to your engagement piece, however it's unlikely you would have gotten this far if that's you, so let’s assume we're using hashtags folks!
We like them, particularly event dedicated tags, because they also serve as a nice, neat place to 'store' your pics publicly and refer back to your event and user generated content year on year. They also create a heap of buzz around event week and that event brand 'rapport' we spoke of earlier. Try not to be too cliché though friends #sorrynotsorry!
5. Not analysing results or using data to inform your future posts
This is the best part of social media and this awesome digital age we're now living in! We don't have to guess metrics and whether people are actually engaging in our posts like old school above the line marketing efforts. And the beauty of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter is that your key analytic metrics are served to you; so you can very quickly see if the content you're posting is actually meeting your social media objectives and goals by how many people are actually engaging in your content.
Not sure if you need help or maybe just some guidance in the right direction? We have an open door and phone line at Register Now and always love to hear about new events or even old events having a social media facelift, reach out to chat with our friendly marketing services team!