The addition of social media has caused incredible transformation in conventional marketing. Even more specifically, in the last 2-3 years customer’s tastes of being marketed to have also changed. Your marketing game must catch up to current trends and attention spans to ensure your event doesn’t get left in the dust.
Your event has a great base already, there is the local community, local stores, local causes to raise money for and these are most likely keeping your race going. But how do you bring in new attendees to your event? How do you expand the community and introduce your event to new attendees?
What I have for you are a couple of modern marketing tips that anyone can do. All you need is the smartphone in your pocket and a true desire to connect with people. The biggest investment is going to be your time. If you don’t have any extra then bring along a trusted partner because this will be your next step to your growing success.
1. Expose Your Journey:
Behind the scenes, you are creating seating assignments, planning decor, building partnerships with sponsors, and tons more. Your fans are interested in following your journey. Post pictures of the process, Facebook Live Stream set up, take pictures of your team working together, announce when you sign your event sponsors and more. Bite-size information is driving social media and you want to become part of it. Grab the attention of your fans and keep it with consistent non-invasive marketing. You are not asking them to buy anything, you are just inviting them to be a part of the journey.
2. Create Content:
Your brand is more than just the race you put on, it’s the causes you support, the sponsors and people you work with and the content you put out. Paid advertising is great but it can get pricey. The other option is organic growth and this comes with a lot of hustle and a lot of good social media content.
Each of us has our social media platform we like: Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter. Use the platform you like the most and start posting like your company's life depends on it. It could be pictures or videos of your journey, training tips, diet tips, new gear, daily quotes and anything else you can think of. The possibilities are endless. Just be consistent, original and it does have to be good. There are a ton of apps out there that help you create those cool quote you see on Instagram and filters for your pictures. Do some research, find the ones that look fun and test them out.
***Check out this link that lists out some Instagram Quote creating apps.
3. Engage, Engage, Engage:
Yes, you have to talk to people. Part of marketing a brand is building relationships with people. Now that you will be posting online daily you are going to have people engaging with you. When they comment on your picture or Tweet, engage back with them. Customer’s know there are people on the other end of that social media page and your brand will thrive when you act like a person and not a robot.
4. Don’t Be Perfect:
It can be easy to mull over a post for a while to make it ‘perfect’ and once you are happy with it, post it. If you aren’t used to posting a lot there will be a learning curve and your posts might not be that great at first. But you have to start somewhere and the key is starting, there is no need to wait.
5. Promote Partnerships:
Your event will be partnering with sponsors and other local companies, support each other. Connect with them online, talk them up on your page, host a giveaway together and create value for each other.
6. Use Hashtags:
The hashtag (#) received a facelift on Instagram. Now instagramers can follow and get updates on a hashtag and don’t need to follow specific accounts. Find hashtags that are relevant to your industry and profile. Stay relevant to the social conversation and your influence should grow.
7. No Link Hunts:
Make your registration links easy to find. Put them in your profile description on Instagram, pin it to the top of your Facebook page and create an easy to find button on your website. If you send your registrants on a link hunt you are going to lose business.
Regardless of which platform or marketing strategy you are using have fun because this does take time. You will need to spend some time each day building your online influence. If it’s posting a picture, creating a video or writing a new blog have fun doing it. If you do not enjoy the daily grind and hustle to build your following which will hopefully increase your bottom line, find someone who does. Social media engagement is a critical part of the present business model, so create, engage and be a critical part of the conversation.
