Using Social Media To
Create Successful Events

We all know how successfully using social media is an essential part of any company’s marketing strategy. Not only can it attract an entire world of new customers, but it can also help strengthen the bonds between producer and consumer in a way that keeps them coming back for more.

But it’s not just in the long-term that social media can be successfully employed, as there are few better ways to really kick start a particular business event than by using social media. The following are a few examples from the worlds of online gaming and high street commerce that illustrate how social media can add an extra dimension to any event.

It’s usually around the release of a new product that most firms really step up their social media game. Firewatch was one of 2016’s earliest big game releases, and the way in which it successfully coordinated a series of teasers around various social media networks was key to achieving a street level buzz. In particular, with the likes of Reddit being particularly favored by gamers, the implementation of a special Firewatch Reddit page was critical to allowing gamers to spread the word of the game in a way that was unimaginable just a decade ago.

Online gaming has also successfully used large competitive gaming events as a way to harness the marketing potential of gathering thousands of gamers in the same room. Even online casino sites have learned this lesson, with the upcoming LadyLucks tournament heavily promoted on the brand’s Facebook page to encourage users to compete in the site’s range of games. Using social media to promote an event can often prove to be a bit of a gamble (no pun intended), but by tying in a current campaign to an event that is already happening, it can help take pressure off the promoting company.

For example, Gap’s recent #nothingbutdenim campaign has been given a helping hand by the company’s Twitter account routinely showing musicians performing at the SxSW festival wearing denim clothes and adds a level of realism and bohemian cool to the campaign. And it’s the ease of quickly altering the details of a particular event via social media that has made it such a powerful tool.

Whether it’s an online casino delivering details of a new competition, or Whole Foods offering a quick discount on a product via a Facebook post, or even Beyonce using her social media outlets to suddenly announce a world tour, the quick and efficient use of social has provided all companies with an unprecedented level of marketing power.