Influencers are capable individuals whom brands can’t do without nowadays. In addition to supporting your marketing campaigns online, influencers can also drive traffic for your offline campaigns (i.e. events). Social media is undoubtedly a great platform for reaching out to potential customers.
However, in a world where everything is powered by technology, human interaction is indispensable. This is exceptionally true for brands in the retail industry where potential customers would want to test the product physically and get advice from a salesperson before making a purchase decision. Research in 2016 shows that 56% of millennials enjoy seeing products in person, with 43% inclined to test the items out.
From concerts to conferences and pop-up events, influencers are skilled at spreading the word and driving traffic to your event. With the help of social media, influencers can familiarize their followers with your brand.
How to leverage influencers for event promotions
1) Provide photo opportunities
A picture speaks a thousand words. Regardless of the scale of the event, brands should always create photo opportunities for influencers. A popular way is to create a branded backdrop that matches the theme of the event. Alternatively, you may decorate the event space with props related to the theme.
For example, The Bubble Tea Factory has beautifully decorated bubble tea themed rooms, all of which are photo spots for influencers to snap IG-worthy shots.
Alternatively, get a life-size model of your product if you’re organizing a product launch event. This fun touch instantly draws attention to your product and makes your event more interactive. Lighting is another important factor. You’ve won half the battle if you have good lighting; never underestimate the power of your event decor. Influencers aren’t going to upload photos which are not ‘worthy’ to be posted on their feed.
2) Invite the right influencers
The guest list matters. Getting the right influencers to turn up at the event determines the reach of the event. One way to shortlist influencers is to ensure they are of the right demographic and profile type. For instance, if you’re launching a new brand of diapers, the influencers on your list should consist of mummies or parents in general. Having a foodie profile influencer might not be as effective for your brand as their followers may not be interested in knowing more about the diapers. Chances are, on a content front, foodie profiles are also unlikely to post about the event. Therefore, you’ll lose out on event coverage.
The Bare Foundation hosts women summits annually where invited female entrepreneurs and influencers will give inspirational talks and career advice. One influencer they featured this year was Stephanie Villa who is very big on female empowerment, and uses her social media platforms to share about female-related causes/ happenings. That makes Stephanie a perfect fit for The Bare Foundation’s event.
3) Build hype before the event
To raise awareness and encourage event attendance, brands may ride on the reach of influencers. Influencers can generate buzz for your event and build excitement by sharing details before the actual event. This is great for events with limited slots or unique selling points.
“It’s The Ship”, an annual music festival on board a cruise works with influencers who enjoy partying, one of which is Nicole Choo, to publicize the event since their interests are aligned. To raise awareness of the festival and encourage sign-ups, Nicole shared about the event 2 months in advance, along with a discount code for her followers. Another point to note, details of the event should be clearly stated in the influencer’s post so that followers are well informed.
Another way to generate buzz prior to an event is to have influencers mention other event attendees to look forward to. Big names attract more eyeballs!
4) Live event coverage
Getting influencers to share about your event while they are on-site is always a good idea. With Instagram Stories and the Live video function, their followers would get a better idea of your event, what to expect in the future (for recurring events), as well as what they missed out on, through the eyes of their favorite influencer. This is favorable for private events (i.e. media events).
Engaging more than one influencer provides different areas of focus for your event as they may share varying aspects of the event that catches their eye. If there’s something in particular the influencers should mention, brief them on the angle in advance. They can also include your event hashtags and account tag in their posts for maximum awareness.
Benefit Cosmetics held their press event in Bali and invited a few veteran influencers, including Xiaxue. It was a private event but fans of Benefit could stay updated on the event happenings by following their choice of influencer’s Instagram stories closely and thanks to Instagram story Highlights, anyone can access the pinned stories, even after 24 hours.
Tip: Get influencers to make their Instagram stories more interactive with the poll/ questions function. This encourages their followers to participate in your event as well!
5) Post-event coverage
Your event may have come to an end, but talks of your event shouldn’t! On your end, re-share content posted by influencers, and tag them in a throwback or thank-you post.
Uploading post-event images on your page makes your brand more appealing to visitors. Such posts spark their interest in learning more about your exciting event, thereby spending a longer time on your brand’s social media page/ website. Moreover, sharing event footage converts potential customers to fans because your content goes beyond pushing for sales. After all, events let your brand’s personality shine through.
You can even add a few liners to instill FOMO (fear of missing out), thereby motivating fans to join the next event. Needless to say, influencers may do a throwback post to mark the end of your event too.
Now that you know how to promote your event with influencers, here are some tips to host an influencer event!
Tips to host a great influencer event
Research conducted in 2018 revealed that 81% of marketers believe live events will determine their brand’s success in the time to come. Just imagine how much coverage your brand will receive with big names attending the same event! If you’re thinking of hosting an influencer event, read on for industry secrets!
Plan Well
Ensure that everyone involved (including your invited influencers) is aware of the event flow. On the day of the event, give everyone a copy of the event agenda or itinerary for overseas trips so they know what to expect.
More often than not, there will be multiple events organized on the same day. Influencers are able to pick which event(s) to attend. An attractive line-up helps the influencer decide which to go for. Of course, it also helps if the influencers are already ambassadors or huge fans of the brand.
Ideally, an event should only last a few hours. But if you’re organizing a full-day event, include sufficient breaks for attendees to recharge. It’s good to provide food and drinks too - your guests are not super humans! For overseas trips, keep in mind that influencers should have some time off to enjoy their stay too. You may bring them to popular tourist spots in the vicinity or let them have some free time to roam around and explore.
Prime location
Your event should be easily accessible; you wouldn’t want to spend 2 hours traveling to and fro would you? Once you have the general location locked down, conduct a site recce and ensure the interior is ideal for your event. Check that you have the right lighting and amount of space for your guests. Good lighting determines the quality of posts posted by the influencers - the reason for inviting them in the first place!
If you’re hosting an intimate event, a small to medium-sized room will suffice. With everyone seated together, it’ll look better in pictures as well. That said, avoid squeezing everyone together!
Network connection
Ever been to a crowded event where you absolutely can’t contact your friends due to the poor network connection? Frustrating isn’t it? Aside from sufficient lighting and space, providing a stable network connection is just as important.
Supplying complimentary WiFi is the safest route to take since cellular data is uncontrollable. This will allow the influencers to have a stable connection to post their Instagram stories!
Freebies
Everyone loves a free lunch, much less a physical product they can bring home for their personal use.
Personalizing gifts for influencers with their name or favorite color is optional but recommended as it adds a personal touch, which they appreciate as well. Customization aside, giving influencers a trial or full-sized version of your product is a good way to prolong event and brand exposure. For all you know, they may even share their review with their followers out of goodwill! To generate more hype, you may also give them an additional set of products to hold a giveaway on their social platforms.
Hashtags
Whenever you run an influencer event or any event for that matter, measuring its success is a given. Since influencers are predominantly on social media, creating an event hashtag and getting them to include it in their content is a smart move. The hashtags should be simple and related to your event. To remind influencers of the hashtags, you can print them on place cards for the tables or include it at the side of your PowerPoint slides.
Hashtag trackers can then be used to analyze the number of event content shared, participants and reach etc. On top of that, it would be easier for people to learn of your event by searching or clicking on the hashtag. To celebrate the launch of their new product, Laneige flew their ambassador to Singapore for a mini event. The beauty brand nailed their hashtag game by coming up with a few which can be easily understood by anyone, including those who didn’t attend the event.
Feedback
If you want to know how to host a good influencer event, never underestimate the power of feedback.
After the event, present the influencers with a media kit or a small token of appreciation and ask them about their thoughts on the event, as well as areas for improvement. Alternatively, dropping them a short text works too. It may not always be pleasant to the ears but gathering constructive feedback will refine future events, making them better in time to come.
The bottom line is to help influencers help you by providing them with the most ideal environment or tools to give you a shout-out online. With that in mind, your event is bound to be a head-turner!
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