Boosting Your Event Strategy With Social Networking

Social-networking applications that are available on the market today will equip your organization with the tools you need to maximize your social-networking presence. By using such online tools, your organization can more effectively empower constituents to spread the word, extend their fundraising activities, and even invite new supporters to participate in your event or engage in your mission.

Advanced social networking applications enable participants to:

• invite and link their networks to donate or register for your event;
• show progress on individual and team fundraising goals;
• share key dates, locations and other event information;
• drive awareness with up-to-the-minute news feeds.

Increase your visibility
Your organization can further broaden its reach and the scope of conversations by adding additional social-network platforms into your event strategy. Specialized social-media outlets such as Flickr or Twitter provide niche communications tools within their own networks of users. By connecting your existing strategies and networks into these platforms you can exponentially increase the draw of your event. Here are some easy ways to get started:

1. Create a Flickr page or group. Flickr is a powerful photo-sharing and social-networking tool with great application for events. Photos loaded to Flickr can be shared with specific communities or with the entire Flickr community. You can create an event-branded Flickr page to house, gather and share event photos.
2. Start a Twitter feed. One of the most popular microblogs in existence, Twitter enables you to communicate with followers in short bursts of 140 characters or less. You can use individual posts — called “tweets” — to call attention to critical stages of your event, point to the registration page of your site or simply have ongoing one-on-one conversations with your constituents.
3. Go mobile. Mobile technology quickly is emerging as a new social-network tool and gives you an opportunity to incorporate texting into your overall communications plan. Other mobile technology, such as a wireless application protocol, lets you develop a single go-to guide for your event that delivers critical event information directly to participants’ mobile devices.
4. Leverage social bookmarking aggregators. Services like ShareThis and AddThis specialize in creating social-bookmarking aggregation buttons that you can add to your site’s pages. These buttons enable people to quickly and easily share your content with their worlds.
5. Assemble a personal media kit. Send e-mails to your participants reminding them of the tools at their disposal. Encourage them to create and spread buzz around your event by bundling together key links, photos and focused copy that provides clear courses of action.