Tapping the power of social media for event

promotion

Eventbrite Hashup Contest

PodCamp Boston #pcb4

3600+ tweets in 8 days

Agenda

• Why social media matters

•  How to tap the power of:

•  Facebook

•  Twitter

•  Becoming a social media marketing guru

Social media matters •  Social media represents a fundamental shift in the

way we communicate and make decisions

•  It’s bigger than you think •  Facebook is the fourth largest site in the world

•  The fastest growing segment on Facebook 35+

•  Ashton Kutcher and Ellen Degeneres have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of Ireland, Norway and Panama

•  And it’s growing fast •  Years to Reach 50 millions Users: 

•  Radio: 38 years, TV: 13 years, Internet: 4 years, iPod: 3 years

•  Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months

•  Twitter is growing its audience at 2,614%

Social media matters for events

•  Events are inherently social

•  Events are inherently viral

• With the right tools, event-holders can reach the right audience

• More quickly

• More effectively

Why we built SM tools into Eventbrite

• Our savviest users were doing interesting things with these tools

• We noticed a lot of traffic was coming from Social Media sites. Why?

• We realized these were important, new promotional methods that needed to be shared with all our customers.

Behaviors we Observed: Facebook

Behaviors we Observed: Twitter

Social Media: What we did

• Made it much easier for people to do things they already wanted to do.

•  Demystified the use of social media for event promotion.

•  Created tools everyone could use to drive event success.

Facebook: What •  Took advantage of Facebook Connect – for

seamless integration.

•  Facilitated event publishing to Facebook.

• Made event attendee registration a news feed item.

Facebook: Why

•  Publishing your event to Facebook lets you take advantage of your existing networks.

•  People you are already connected to may be attendees or can help you promote your event to their networks.

•  Events “come to life” on Facebook.

Facebook: How •  Publish a doppelganger of your event on

Facebook.

•  Invite people you hope will come.

•  Invite people who hope will extend visibility to their connections.

•  Create a “nexus” where all sorts of content related to your event can be aggregated and shared.

Twitter: Why

•  It really works.

•  The Twitter follow is an awesome proxy for the invitation.

• No social boundaries.

•  Leverages human behavior.

Twitter: How

•  Create a Twitter page for your event.

•  Follow unashamedly.

•  Create a unique hashtag.

•  Participate in relevant discussion.

•  Foster virality

•  Ask for the sale.

Common Themes

•  You have to socially “activate” your event.

•  Expanding the effect of your event beyond the day/time/place to touch many more people than could ever attend.

•  Enriching the experience for the people who do attend.

•  Content is king.

Obey the Tenets of Social Media Marking

• Be valuable and appealing

•  Be sustainable and viral

•  Inspire participation

Thank you!

•  Jack Mardack jack@eventbrite.com

•  Tamara Mendelsohn tamara@eventbrite.com

www.facebook.com/Eventbrite

@Eventbrite