Five influencer marketing strategies for event management businesses
Influencer marketing is becoming a go-to method for businesses to increase reach, visibility, and engagement. Here are five influencer marketing strategies for event management businesses.
By working with influencers, event managers can get access to larger audiences and new potential customers. This can be a great way to spread the word about your clients’ events.
With the right influencer marketing strategy, event business owners can build long-lasting collaborations with influencers and create engaging content. You can grow your business, create relationships with potential customers, and ultimately increase your revenue.
In this article, I’ll discuss the most effective influencer marketing strategies that event management businesses can use to boost their reach.
1) Identify relevant influencers
Identifying ideal influencers is an important part of event management marketing. You need to create your list of influencers who can provide value to your company, both short-term and long-term. These influencers are those who have large follower counts and a strong influence over their target audiences.
But choosing influencers with a large following isn’t enough. Your list should also include influencers with followers who will be interested in the events you usually promote. So, if you promote fashion shows, you’d include creators who are into the latest trends in fashion. If you promote IT conferences as well, you’d include someone who is an expert in this field.
So, to qualify the right influencers for your list, keep these questions in mind:
- Do they post relevant content?
- Do they have high engagement rates?
- Have they promoted similar events in the past?
- Do their style and personality fit your client’s branding?
Start by searching for potential influencers on social media through hashtags. Type in #sponsored or #collaboration into a social media search bar to find people who make such posts. Ask for influencer recommendations on online forums.
You can also use different tools that will help you identify influencers in relevant niches. InfluenceGrid for example helps find influencers for TikTok marketing. Awario can help you find influencers on other social media platforms.
Keep your list of influencers once you have it. You’ll use it as a reference when building and nurturing influencer relationships (we’ll talk more about this later).
But just to illustrate the importance of choosing the right influencer, here’s an influencer campaign example. The event to be promoted was a MAC Battersea store opening.
So, the event organizer reached out to local micro – influencers who were into the latest trends in makeup to attract attendees. These micro – influencers included @lydiafowler. Now, check out the number of likes on her post. That’s more than 500 more potential attendees to the store opening!
Event management businesses can use influencer marketing to create memorable experiences and reach hundreds, thousands if not millions of followers. Social influencers have the power to spread your message. So, all you’d need to do is determine how you want to package your client’s event. This is where consumer PR agencies can help you.
2) Build relationships with influencers
Don’t just reach out to influencers when you need them. You might end up not getting a response to your pitch for a collaboration, especially if you reached out to successful influencers. If you want a surefire response every time you reach out, build your relationships from the start.
Building a relationship with an influencer can be as simple as commenting on a post. You don’t have to write an entire novel. You can just compliment them for a nice picture, for example, like MA-GA London, a fashion accessories company, did below:
Like MA-GA London, you can include a call-to-action, so influencers can check you out.
The key is to stay top of mind of the influencer. So, the more frequently you comment on their posts, the more they’ll remember you. If you build a close relationship with them from the start, they might even promote your client’s event for you even before you formally request for a collaboration.
The bottom line, building relationships with influencers is a great way to get the most out of your digital marketing efforts.
3) Host influencer events
Remember when we said you should build your relationships with influencers? Well, nurturing that relationship is just as important. Again, the ultimate goal is to have long-term relationships. So, when you have an event you need to promote, influencers won’t hesitate to do just that for you.
Influencer events can help you nurture these influencer relationships. You get other benefits, too. In the eyes of the influencer, you earn plus points as a company. After all, it just shows you care about the people who promote you.
Plus, with these types of events, you even get some free company promotion. Check out this example below:
But what kinds of influencer events should you hold?
Here are some ideas:
- Brunch or Dinner
- Party
- Staycation
Of course for this strategy to be effective, you need to invite the influencers who can provide value to your events company down the road (see strategy #1).
Although you can send the event invite to their social media channels, it might just get lost in their crowded inboxes. So, use email instead. Ideally, you want to create one personalized invite per influencer and find an email address to send it to. This increases the chances of these influencers attending the event.
Send the invites a month before the event and make sure to send out weekly reminders, too.
4) Offer exclusive deals and promotions
Offering exclusive deals and promotions to social media influencers will encourage them to work harder for your campaigns. Again, you should offer them these not just when you want a specific event to be promoted. Remember, you should think long-term when cultivating relationships with influencers. Think of this strategy as another way of nurturing your relationship with them.
So what exclusive deals and promotions can you offer? Here are some:
- Tickets to some of your events
- Special gifts
- Early access
You can also offer a discount code exclusive to every influencer when you want to promote an upcoming event. If possible, offer them a percentage of each event slot sale made with their promo code. This way, they go the extra mile when working on your influencer marketing campaigns.
You can use tools like Constant Contact, Timely, or Cvent. The software will auto-generate a discount code name for you. You can amend it for event branding purposes.
5) Collaborate on content
Let’s say you have an event coming up. It’s true you can increase your chances of an influencer promoting your event for free if you stay top-of-mind. But that doesn’t mean you should bank on it. Influencers are just like you and me. They need to earn a living.
This is where content collaboration comes in. Content collaboration is one of the most effective influencer marketing strategies. It can help you also get the most out of your social media promoting efforts.
Influencer rates vary depending on the type of influencer—whether micro – influencers, nano influencers, mega – influencers, and more—and platform. Check out this Instagram rates sheet:
However, the amount you set aside as your influencer marketing budget is still worth it for the kind of reach you can get. You just have to make sure the influencer content promoting your event is effective.
To ensure this, talk your influencer through the project’s goals. Come up with a plan together. What are your content strategies? Think of the potential influencer content that the audience would find valuable. Remember that to attract social media active users, the content must be unique and engaging. Your compelling content could include sponsored posts, running contests, how-to videos, and more.
The content must be tailored to the event. Provide your influencers with supporting information and any promotional items so they can be shown in the posts. People will memorize items, graphics, and specific color schemes much better than just words.
But, don’t be too detailed. Although you want to ensure influencers understand your expectations, you don’t want to script their publications. The content must fit their usual style. Social media followers can detect shammy influencer content. When they do, you won’t reach your event marketing goals.
That’s not to say you should rely solely on the influencer to promote your client’s event. Complement the content published on the influencer’s platform/s with your own promotional content. Create posts on your business’s social channels and website. If you have the time, write a blog post on the event, too. Just make sure your post is SEO-friendly. You can seek the assistance of an SEO service company for this.
Influencer marketing can help make your event a success
Your business can benefit from the credibility and trust influencers have built with their followers. Influencer marketing is a quick and effective way to reach target audiences and make your event a success.
But you need to approach influencer marketing strategically if you want to get the most out of it. You learned some influencer marketing strategies from this article.
You need to identify relevant influencers and build relationships with them. Also, nurture your relationships by offering exclusive deals and hosting influencer events. When you have an event to promote, make sure to collaborate on quality content.
Follow these tips and you’ll ensure long-lasting influencer partnerships and effective campaigns. You’ll reap the best results for your business and the events you’re promoting.
By Chris Norton, Founder of B2B PR agency Prohibition, former University lecturer, author of “Share This Too” and his social media training blog which is listed in the UK’s top 10 PR and social media marketing blogs.
Photo by Kate Trysh
