Whether planning a fundraising event or a community volunteer opportunity, Instagram can help you stand out and boost attendance. With the appropriate marketing approach and plan, Instagram’s vast and varied population may be fully explored. Instagram is a chance to establish intimate connections with the intended audience while raising brand recognition and engagement.
These days, Instagram is popular. According to Statista, there are 1.21 billion monthly active users (MAUs) on Instagram, accounting for about 28% of all internet users globally. The figure will rise even higher with a predicted 1.44 billion MAUs, or 31.2% of all internet users worldwide.
Instagram has the power to engage people and expose your business to prospective attendees, helping you establish a robust online presence. With more than 500 million active stories shared on Instagram every day by users worldwide, 43.5% of men and 56.5% of women operate the app daily.
According to research released by Pew Research Centre, six out of ten persons in the United States use Instagram daily. Instagram is incredibly popular across a wide range of demographics, which makes it an enormous tool for promoting events.
You have a great chance to draw in guests. Therefore, you need to know how to promote an event on Instagram using the most effective strategies. We have discussed several strategies for Instagram promotion ideas for events in this article. Let’s investigate strategies for boosting event sign-ups.
Benefits of Using Instagram for Event Promotion
Instagram is a powerful platform for promoting events on social media, offering a range of benefits that can help you reach a wider audience, build excitement, and ensure the success of your event. Here are some of the critical advantages of using Instagram for event promotion:
Visual Appeal
Instagram is a highly visual platform that showcases your event’s aesthetics and atmosphere. You can use high-quality videos and images to give potential attendees a glimpse of what they can expect, whether it’s the venue, speakers, performers, or the overall ambience.
Broad Audience Reach
With over a billion monthly active users, Instagram provides access to a vast and diverse audience. It allows you to target specific interests, demographics, and behaviours, ensuring your event reaches the right people.
Hashtags for Visibility
Instagram’s hashtag system is a powerful tool for event promotion in social media. Creating a unique event hashtag can encourage attendees and followers to use it in their posts, allowing you to aggregate and track user-generated content and build buzz around your event.
Real-time Engagement
Features like Instagram Stories and Live offer real-time engagement opportunities. You can use Stories to provide updates, countdowns, and behind-the-scenes content, while Live allows you to interact directly with your audience through Q&A sessions or exclusive previews.
Influencer Collaboration
Collaborating with influencers or industry partners can extend your event’s reach. Influencers can promote your event to their followers, offering credibility and a broader audience, helping you tap into their existing fan base.
User-Generated Content
Encouraging attendees to post about your event on their profiles generates user-generated content that acts as authentic testimonials. Sharing this content on your event page can boost credibility and excitement.
Detailed Analytics
Instagram Insights provides valuable data about your audience’s demographics, engagement, and reach. This information allows you to fine-tune your promotion strategies and tailor your content to what works best.
Direct Ticket Sales
Instagram’s shopping features allow you to link directly to ticket sales or registration pages, making it easy for potential attendees to act immediately.
Community Building
Regular interaction with your audience and responsive communication can build a community around your event. Responding to comments and messages and engaging in conversations fosters loyalty and trust.
Post-Event Momentum
Instagram is not just about pre-event promotion. It’s equally effective for maintaining post-event engagement. You can share highlights, thank-you posts, and user-generated content to keep the excitement alive and build anticipation for future events.
Pre-event promotional strategy using Instagram
Seize the chance to differentiate your event from the competition by creating a strong brand and marketing plan. What distinguishes your event, and what type of experience can guests anticipate? Create a distinct brand message before promoting your event on Instagram or any other platform. Once you have established your branding and marketing plan, it is time to advertise your event on Instagram.
Make a special hashtag
When promoting business on Instagram, hashtags are still important! Select a distinctive, attention-grabbing hashtag tailored to your event. To encourage people to click and view related posts, use the hashtag in all event social media post examples. Don’t worry if you’ve never created your hashtags. You may design one that is distinctive and makes an impression on guests with a bit of imagination. Here are some pointers for coming up with an event hashtag to promote your Instagram event:
- Choose a hashtag that isn’t too popular. The use of an already overused hashtag is discouraged. You run the danger of your material being overlooked by others.
- Keep it brief and simple to recall. Using just the year and the name of your event might serve as your hashtag. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s simple enough for your guests to remember so they can quickly search for and utilise your event hashtag when posting content.
Provide eye-catching pictures
One visual social media site is Instagram. This implies that if you want to promote your event, you must invest in high-quality promotional photography. The brand of your event and the kind of experience guests may anticipate if they come should be communicated through your Instagram postings.
For example, you may post pictures from the previous year’s well-attended event or provide a behind-the-scenes peek at how your event is set up. Ensure your images have a healthy balance of staged and candid shots, and avoid distracting editing techniques or filters.
Create suspense before the event
By sharing teasers about your event lineup, competitions, and ticket offers on Instagram, you may generate enthusiasm for your event with call-to-action event captions for Instagram. These blogs should aim to create some excitement and a small amount of FOMO. (or the fear of missing out).
To get you going, consider these few party promotion ideas for teaser posts:
- Write a post on your speaker lineup and entertainment. Include the keynote speaker or leading performer in an early sneak peek of your program when you book them.
- Count down in the lineup. Create a series of postings that count down to the announcement of your event talent roster to create anticipation.
- Permit speakers or event stars to take over Instagram. Give control of your Instagram story for the day to one of your event’s main performers or emcees. Ask them to provide video snippets throughout the day to give you a behind-the-scenes peek at how they prepare for the event.
Whether you’re throwing a gala, 5K run, or festival, your pre-event marketing should position your event as the season’s must-see.
Boost engagement by holding prizes and contests
Encourage participation from your followers ahead of time by holding freebies and contests on Instagram. You may give away free tickets to an event or branded goods as prizes.
The following are some steps that your followers can do to be eligible to win:
- Share and like your content.
- Post something relevant while tagging your event.
- Comment on someone else’s post or tag pals in your own.
- Adopt your Instagram handle.
- Add your account to a narrative.
Select winners randomly, then send them a direct message with instructions on getting their gifts. Make guidelines for every post you make about a giveaway or contest. This will guarantee that your contest rules are unbreakable and prevent any instances of rule violations.
During event promotion on Instagram
Social media has become a crucial component of the event experience for visitors. A big part of the enjoyment for many individuals when they go to an event is taking pictures and posting them on Instagram.
Use your Instagram account to highlight the amazing acts, vendors, and events happening at your event. By sharing information, you can make sure your guests have a fantastic time and keep them informed about the activities they may take part in. Additionally, you can snap pictures of guests during the event. Should they recognize themselves in your content, they could be inclined to distribute it among their friends and followers.
Here are some other strategies for using Instagram at your event:
Update the content of your Instagram Story
Telltales to draw attention to certain event activities or to pique the interest of your followers. For instance, if you’re organising a fundraising music festival, you might promote various bands on each stage and offer lineup updates all day.
Additionally, you may utilise your Instagram Story to highlight your merchants by telling all of your followers about their cuisine, products, and other items. You may make it more likely that vendors will return to assist with your subsequent event by giving them marketing exposure and helping them drive sales at your event.
Share exclusive behind-the-scenes content
Watching what it takes to pull off a successful event is entertaining. Provide captivating material by telling your narrative, such as teases about an unexpected performance or rare behind-the-scenes interviews with performers.
Promoting events on Instagram after ending
After your event, you have many options for post-event marketing to assist you in recording, capturing, and communicating the event’s success with your audience. Spend some time reviewing everything you have registered and everything others have shared. Next, think about how you might use it in your post-event marketing campaigns. Let’s look at a few methods for you to accomplish this.
React to the postings made by participants
Acknowledge attendance by leaving comments and sharing their postings. Thank them for coming and for their involvement. You should have no trouble finding these articles if you’ve effectively promoted and utilised your customized event hashtag!
Share posts with event recaps
Continue publishing to your Instagram account after the event is over. After your event is over, you might want to consider writing the following follow-up posts:
- Closing remarks and words of gratitude. Announce the completion of your event and extend your gratitude to all guests, sponsors, and funders. Consider putting together a highlight reel of some of the most significant parts to give your fans a brief overview of your event.
- Final figures for the tournament. Inform your fans of your accomplishments by sharing the event’s final attendance and funding totals on social media.
- Media coverage. Provide any local media coverage your event may have gotten, such as news stories or TV news clips.
This material can also be summarised on your non-profit organization’s website. Next, include a link to the post in your Story or profile so that visitors may read more about the event’s success.
Ask for opinions
Analyzing historical event data and making note of areas for improvement is the most efficient approach to planning better events in the future.
To get the most prominent survey sample possible, do a feedback survey and share it on Instagram and other marketing platforms. Pose inquiries such as:
- How did you learn about the event at first?
- To what extent was the registration process simple?
- Was it made clear at the event where donations will be used?
- How pleased were you with the event’s lineup on a scale of 1 to 10?
- How pleased were you with the food and drink selections during the event, on a scale of 1 to 10?
- How likely are you, on a scale of “not very likely” to “very likely,” to attend another event hosted by our organization?
Take this opportunity to review your other event-marketing data, including the attendance rate compared to RSVPs and the average engagement metrics for your event-related Instagram posts. To get a comprehensive picture of the performance of your event and how to organize even more successful future events, combine this data with survey answers.
To effectively promote an event on Instagram, create a visually appealing and engaging event poster or graphic. Use high-quality images, vibrant colours, and a clear message. Next, establish a dedicated event hashtag and encourage attendees to use it. Post consistently in the weeks leading up to the event, sharing teasers, behind-the-scenes content, and countdown posts. Collaborate with influencers or industry partners who can help spread the word. Utilise Instagram Stories, Live, and IGTV to showcase event highlights and engage with your audience in real time. Lastly, run paid promotions to reach a broader audience and track your performance with Instagram Insights.
Your event’s Instagram bio should be concise but informative. Include the event name, date, location, and a link to purchase tickets or find more information. Use a compelling and relevant profile picture. In your highlights, create categories that showcase event details, speakers, performers, FAQs, and any exclusive content. This helps visitors quickly access essential information and past event highlights, making your profile more user-friendly and engaging.
Engaging your audience on Instagram is crucial to building excitement. Use interactive features like polls, questions, and quizzes in your Stories to solicit feedback and opinions. Run contests or giveaways related to the event, encouraging user-generated content. Share user-generated posts on your profile and in your Stories. Host live Q&A sessions with event organizers or performers to connect directly with your audience. Regularly update your feed with visually appealing content that highlights what attendees can expect, and be responsive to comments and messages to foster a sense of community.
Yes, Instagram advertising can be highly effective for event promotion. It allows you to reach a broader and more targeted audience. Use Instagram’s ad platform to create visually appealing ads relevant to your event. You can target specific interests, demographics, and behaviours to ensure your ads reach the right people. Set a budget that aligns with your goals and track the performance of your ads. Advertising can significantly boost your event’s visibility, sell tickets, and succeed.
Post-event engagement on Instagram is crucial for maintaining momentum and building anticipation for future events. Share thank-you posts and behind-the-scenes content to express gratitude to attendees and sponsors. Encourage attendees to share their experiences using your event’s hashtag and reshare their posts on your profile. Run a post-event survey to gather feedback and insights for improvement. Tease future events or releases and share highlights, testimonials, and success stories. Keeping your audience engaged and informed after the event can help foster loyalty and anticipation for what’s next.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know how to promote an event on Instagram, it’s time to organize your event marketing plan on social media. Remember that quality matters more than quantity when it comes to Instagram event advertising, so don’t go overboard. Using Instagram for event advertising is an excellent method to grow your following and interact with potential attendees through relevant content. You may uncover unrealized potential by emulating Instagram’s virtual event advertising best practices. Experiment and find the strategy that works best for your event. Use inventive Instagram event advertising to make your event stand out from the crowd, increase registration, and create a memorable impression.
