Social media is a powerful platform on which event planners promote their events and engage with their audience, but there’s one network that’s particularly effective for this purpose: Instagram. To learn more about the benefits of using Instagram for event planning, keep reading.
#1) It Supports User-Generated Content
You don’t have to create all of your Instagram content by hand. Like many social media networks, it supports user-generated content. You can encourage users to create and share content on Instagram by hosting a contest. For instance, you can reward the user who submits the best photo of your event with a gift. Just remember to specify a #hashtag for your contest so you can find all relevant submissions.
#2) It’s Widely Used by Millennials
With more than 1.4 billion monthly users, Facebook has the largest user base of any social media network. However, Instagram offers a key advantage of its counterpart. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, Instagram is particularly popular among millenials, with roughly 59% of U.S. adults ages 18-29 using the platform. So, if your target audience for an event is this coveted age range, you should use this social network to reach them.
#3) Make Announcements
Whether you’re announcing a new keynote speaker, entertainment, activity, etc., you can let guests know by posting it on Instagram. If you recently hired a band or DJ to perform, for instance, share a photo of them on your Instagram account. This is a great way to spread the word about news surrounding your upcoming event. Furthermore, it generates additional “buzz” and exposure, which can help to drive ticket sales.
#4) Measure Guest Satisfaction
You can also use Instagram to measure guest satisfaction, both during and after your event has taken place. You can search for location tag or your event’s #hashtag to find specific posts related to your event. Are the messages positive or negative? Are guests happy with their experience? While not every Instagram post reveals user sentiment, some do — and you can analyze these to better determine guest satisfaction at your events.
#5) You can Cross-Promote Other Social Networks
Assuming you have profiles and/or accounts on other social media networks, you can add them to your Instagram account. Under your “Settings,” you’ll see an option to enable social sharing to Facebook and Twitter. Once activated, all photos you upload to Instagram will automatically post to Facebook and Twitter. This is a huge time-saver is you typically log into each of these networks to share the same content.