Instagram is a very popular program for sharing photos on smart phones – especially among the younger audiences our events need to reach.
Instagram pictures provide another great way to tell your audience the story of your event. You can promote anything that represents part of your event—from concerts to competitive events to the midway and food.
Here are 6 ways to get started on Instagram and make the most of it to market your event.
#1 Get started now!
Sign up for an account – It takes two minutes. Download the app and simply use your Facebook info to link the accounts. Choose a user name, like your Event’s name, and pick a password. Select any Facebook friends that you’d like to follow on Instagram, and you’re done. Now you are ready to choose some event photos, enhance them using Instagram filters and upload them.
#2 Maximize Instagram for the desktop
The vast majority of Instagram use is on smart phones. But a new feature allows you to have an Instagram profile page visible on a desktop or laptop computer.
In addition to providing another place to share event photos, your profile also includes a link to your website (which is good for customers and search engines). Complete your profile!
#3: Create Engagement with Contests
Instagram has become a popular platform to use for photo contests. Contests are easy to do on Instagram.
Determine a hashtag you’ll use for the contest, and ask customers to use it. It’s easy for you to search through pictures, ask other people to vote for their favorite pictures and pick a winner.
#4: Reward Followers with Promo Codes
When posting your pictures, think about photos that will keep your various audiences’ attention and have them coming back for more. You can also reward your followers for looking at your pictures and their descriptions.
You can easily post a promo code for people to mention at the gate for a discount. Or if you sell online, check to see whether your ecommerce provider offers promo codes. (We’re talking Instagram here, but you can also use a promo code on other social platforms.)
#5: Feature Your Customers
There’s nothing like seeing a friendly face on social media. Customers are your event’s greatest advocates and are a great way to tell your event’s story from the perspective of someone outside the company.
Use Instagram to take pictures of your customers. For best results, have them looking at the camera, and make it easy to see they experiencing your event. In addition to making your customers happy, you will put a face to your brand, connecting your customers to you and in the long run, making more people want to attend.
#6 Share on Other Media
Once you share a photo on Instagram, you are given the opportunity to share it on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. Just be sure to make good use of a caption, since that will be front and center on Facebook and Twitter.
Customers want a personal experience with a brand that is engaging and accessible. Instagram allows the brand to do this in real time while giving users a different experience than other platforms. We hope you’ll consider adding it to the mix when marketing your event.
