PROBLEM: It’s a lack of a systematic approach to each and every event.
SOLUTION: Read on.
Here are six steps to follow for EACH and EVERY event you’re going to produce.
1. Talk Early To Generate Buzz
Maybe it’s a blog post announcing that you just booked a HUGE DJ for April 14th and you can’t wait to announce it to the world. Maybe it’s a tweet to tease your fans about a themed event that’s about to come up. By using your social media outlets, you can let people know what’s coming down the pipeline even before it’s fully planned. This builds hype and some beginner awareness. Fans LOVE knowing the cheese before it gets out to the masses.
2. Make A Facebook Event
The first thing you need to do when your event materials have been designed and approved is make a Facebook Event out of it. By doing this, you give people the ability to gather and talk about the event. You can start to see the initial buzz and hype. Add some photos and videos of the artist, interact with the people commenting, us the community event to your promoting advantage. After the event, you can also send a call-to-action encouraging users to upload media (photos, videos) from the event that you can host on your Facebook page.
3. Bloggers Blog About It
Last week I wrote an article called Guide to Getting Bloggers to Talk About Your Club/Party. Not only should you blog about your own event, but you should get the community bloggers to try to blog about it as well. Read my article to help you find and manage those bloggers. And when they do start talking about it on their blog, get interactive with them and retweet their stuff, comment on their blog posts, and invite them out to your event. Bloggers blogging about your event can help get the word out and it also gives people in your community something they can share to encourage their friends to come out, as well.
4. Turn to Twitter and #hashtag the Event
A hashtag is a symbol used to group or mark related information on Twitter. Hashtags are often created by topic (#housemusic) or by event (#umf, #wmc, #mmw) to help people find the information they’re after or to associate themselves with something that’s happening on a larger scale. For example, Ultra Music Festival is an electronic dance festival hosted in Miami every March during Miami Music Week or Winter Music Conference. People attending Ultra should use #umf in their tweets to talk about how excited they are, or even during and after the event to tell their experience or share photos. Then if I personally want to see everyone’s comments about Ultra, I just search for #umf on Twitter and I’ll see everyone that used that hashtag.
Same goes for your event. Create a hashtag and let people start talking about it.
5. Allow People To Buy Tickets Online
If you’re doing a regular weekly party with no special guest DJ, then you can skip this part. But if your event has anything special about it, then use a service like www.wanttickets.com or www.clubtix.com for online event tickets. Start collecting some money in advance, start building some scarcity, and there’s something about a ticketed event that just makes it seem cooler than the rest.
6. Use Video
It’s so inexpensive to get video done these days. So many kids are graduating with video degrees that are eager to get their hands on a project. You don’t need crazy high-level production, unless your event is THAT BIG. Putting out a video should be easy, simple and fun. Just some great music, good pictures, nice venue shots, and text throughout the video to promote the event. Then put this on YouTube and begin promoting it.
There’s no shortage of ways nightlife professionals can use the Web to promote their events. And the earlier you start, the more time you’ll have to pack the party.
Happy promoting.
