Promote Your Events More Effectively on Social Media with These Tips and Timelines - 5 Star (2024)

As we head into the warmer months and start integrating in-person events back into our lives, many businesses and organizations are reconsidering their event promotion strategies. Facebook and other social media channels are excellent, flexible ways to promote your upcoming event, when used strategically to inform your audience, generate excitement, and drive ticket sales. Read on to learn some general tips for effective event marketing, the optimal timelines of event-based posts leading up to your event, and recommendations for post length and post time for maximum engagement.

General Tips for Effective Event Marketing on Social Media

Create Effective Facebook Events

Create Facebook Events to promote your organization’s event. For the most engagement, keep in mind the following:

• These specific types of Facebook posts are searchable by category and by keyword, so make sure to include both in your Facebook Event.
• Fill out your event information completely, and include an attractive event video or photo.
• Make sure you create the Facebook Event from your organization’s Page rather than from your Personal Profile.
• Add co-hosts to increase your Facebook Event visibility, as your co-hosts can share the Event to their friends and followers.
• You can use Facebook Events as hub and direct people there, even from other social channels and your website.

The Power of Social Proof and FOMO

Before promoting your Facebook Event to the general public or the entire audience you are trying to entice, send event invitations to friends, family, and colleagues and encourage them to mark that they are attending. People are more likely to pay attention to your Facebook Event if they see that others have already engaged. If people mark that they are “Interested” or “Going” to your event, this provides social proof of your event’s value to the wider audience. It also can incite FOMO (fear of missing out) to people who want to be where the action is, and you can use this to your advantage when promoting your event.

What Types of Content to Post

Rather than nagging people to RSVP to your event, your event-based social media posts should be compelling and generate excitement and anticipation leading up to your event. Here are some ideas:

• Entice people with photos of food from event vendors.
• Show videos from past events where people are having fun or footage that captures the beautiful Northwoods scenery people will be taking in at your event.
• Draw in your audience with BTS (behind-the-scenes) posts of prep leading up to event day.
• Grab your audience’s attention through contests and giveaways (free tickets, free food, free backstage passes, free t-shirts and other merch, etc.). People love free stuff! And they are likely to share the event with a friend if doing so is their entry into your giveaway.

Event Marketing Timelines for Social Media

When to Begin Promoting Your Event

How long before your event you begin promoting it on social media will be dictated by the type and scope of event you are planning. Smaller events geared toward local attendees (such as happy hours, open mics, low-key pickleball tournaments, etc.) should be advertised about one month leading up to them. Large-scale events for which attendees would be traveling (especially by air) to attend (like large conferences, festivals, special expeditions, etc.) should be promoted more than six months in advance. For the events that fall somewhere between the two, the ideal timeline for social media marketing is three to six months leading up to the event. These timeframes give your attendees enough time to purchase tickets and plan without inducing promotion fatigue and interest dropoff.

Effective Posting Strategies at Each Stage of Your Timeline

• 3–6 Months Before Your Event: Post an average of 2 times per month. Include relevant event information (location, vendors, special guests) that helps your audience decide whether to attend and make their general plans.
• 2 Months Before Your Event: Increase your posting to 1–3 times per week. Include more specific details about your event, and strengthen your relationships with vendors and sponsors by promoting them in your posts.
• 1 Month Before Your Event: Increase your posting to 2–5 times per week to drive ticket sales. Encourage people to commit to attendance and changing their Facebook RSVP from “Interested In” to “Going.” If you are allocating a budget to paid Facebook ads, it is recommended to allocate the majority of your ad budget around 3 weeks before your event.
• Week of Event: Your event-related posts should educate attendees about relevant policies and other need-to-know information. Be prepared to field last-minute inquiries bring your customer service A-game. But also keep attendees engaged and excited with interactive content such as polls and videos and photos of what to expect at the event.

Maximize Your Event Posts’ Engagement By Strategizing Post Time and Length

According to this article from EventBrite, these are the lengths of event posts that have the most engagement on their respective social channels:

• Facebook: 40 characters
• Twitter: 71–100 characters
• LinkedIn: 16–25 words

What’s the best time of day to schedule your event posts? While audience behavior varies depending on the specific demographic you’re trying to reach, here’s a general breakdown of the most successful post times for some of the most popular social media channels:

• Facebook: 3 pm on Wednesdays, 12–1 pm on Saturdays and Sundays, 1–4 pm on Thursdays and Fridays
• Twitter: noon–1 pm is the most popular time to post. This can work in your favor, but it can also put you in competition for users’ attention due to the greatest density of posts.
• Instagram: For photos, engagement varies little when factoring in time of day, but videos that perform best are posted after 9 pm.
• LinkedIn: Because this site is most often by professionals during the workweek, Tuesday–Thursday during work hours, and especially 10–11 am on Tuesdays, are the most successful times for posting events.

Are you looking for support in getting the word out about your organization’s upcoming events? 5 Star can help you with that. Through our network of trusted vendors, 5 Star provides social media packages to help you capture the attention of your audience and drive ticket sales to your upcoming event. Email or call us today—(715) 453-4511—to get started.