EXAMINER ARCHIVES | 2016 & Beyond

Event with a cause: TicketForce unveils new implementation tool for non profits

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Event with a cause: TicketForce unveils new implementation tool for non profits.

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It is no secret that having a cause that supports the community attached to your company’s mission or special event drastically affects your turnout and support rates. Companies that give back to the community often find that they are more embraced by the community than any other business that does not. If your company is dedicated to humanitarian efforts, you will see your brand succeed at a much higher rate due to this support through viral efforts and Word of Mouth instances.

We have been seeing for years that companies will hold special marketing campaigns that implement local charities and organizations into their execution plan. We have been seeing these campaigns soar, because these companies return a percentage of sales and donations to these specific charities. Non-profit organizations (NPOs) will then continue to distribute free marketing resources to the brand in exchange for the campaign cause. Additionally, the brands often donate tickets, products and services to the NPOs in creating furthered awareness for the brand.

Some causes are genuine and “from the heart.” Very unfortunately, however, there are other brands that only implement these causes for personal and corporate gain. For those brands that are truly interested in supporting local causes, charities and NPOs, there is a new and easy resource available in collecting funds for these causes.

TicketForce, a company dedicated to the live event, unveiled this weekend a new option in supporting causes associated with event marketing and ticket sales. This company has released a new platform option in helping aid fundraising potential for both brand and NPO. Online platforms, as well as box office sales and available kiosks, now include (according to a recent press release):

  1. “Make a Donation” landing pages with multiple images, descriptions and campaigns to select from;
  2. Patrons may choose to give a gift now or add to a shopping cart;
  3. “Add a Donation” appears in all shopping carts, allowing ticket buyers to easily add a gift of any size;
  4. Call-outs are easily customized to prompt buyers to give to specific campaigns, based upon the purchase in their cart;
  5. Box office agents are prompted to ask patrons to add a gift to their ticket purchase.

“Additionally, the ticketing site may be used to collect donations across multiple organizations or funds. This allows community arts groups, agencies or venues with multiple resident groups – such as theatre, ballet, or symphony – to collect donations and easily track across several organizations.”

As the individual landing pages include information on specific charities and NPOs associated with events, these pages include both short and long descriptions, imagery and easily customizable donation amounts. In addition, all donations, memberships and ticketing purchases are viewed easily on “the patron record and cross-reporting allows the venue to easily pull the consolidated value of a patron over any time period – as well as view a snapshot during checkout in the box office.” A statement was also released from TicketForce in the recent press distribution:

“Because TicketForce services venues across many commercial markets, some non-profit organizations are surprised by our robust fund management, membership and patron management functionality,” says CEO, Lynne King Smith. “This company was born out of a non-profit organization, and I spent over fifteen years in the direct market field – so I understand the need for a truly integrated and simple solution to manage giving alongside ticketing.”

Of course, events may be able to collect funds from direct ticket sales, but TicketForce has basically made the process easier and business more diplomatic, as a third-party advocator for the connected.

Think of this: If greed were to become a factor, a venue couldn’t claim that they weren’t paid properly or that they didn’t make as many sales as they did, and neither could the NPO. Furthermore, those supporting a cause may feel more comfortable knowing that their contributions will go directly to the charity of their choice and may even donate more to the cause.

Specific reporting is made available and separate amounts can be distributed automatically, ensuring future opportunities between venue and NPO. If payment delays were to occur, TicketForce would be responsible, as well, eliminating possible conflict between the two participating parties. TicketForce may just find itself becoming the leader in its niche once these concepts and practices are adopted by promoters, Worldwide!

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EXAMINER ARCHIVES | 2016 & Beyond

Event Marketing: Eventbrite’s findings based upon current database!

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If you actively engage in Event Marketing, sold your own tickets, or have marketed some sort of event in the past, you probably know of an event site, called Eventbrite. This site is personally one of my favorite sites for SEO-related tasks associated with Advanced Event Marketing techniques. Many options are given in allowing for great marketing and distribution of event details to partner sites!

Eventbrite released some pretty interesting information, yesterday, regarding the most likely genre preference of an event goer. This information was based on findings within their database, as the data was collected by the Harris Interactive Service Bureau between the time period of May 22 and May 30, 2013. The collective group of analyzed individuals consisted of 1019 individuals.

Eventbrite has come to the conclusion that their largest audience consists of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) enthusiasts and event planners. The company’s data analysis partner finds that the reasoning behind this is that the EDM community tends to be more Social and Mobile than other groups of eventgoers.

EDM enthusiasts are more likely to “share” their findings and attendance records via Social Networks and the means of Mobile (Marketing). EDM fans are 78% more likely to attend an event if their peers were attending and/or based on who was performing, as opposed to other groups who are only 43% more likely to attend an event if their friends go, too.

Those associated with Electronic Dance Music are also more likely to pay to attend an Online Streaming Event than other groups.

When considering an Event Marketing Plan, it is obvious that Event Branding should be prelevant in gaining the interests of your audiences. Every Event Marketing Plan should “Brand Social (Shorty Produkshins, 2009.),” be “shareable” on a mobile device, and should begin taking place NO LATER THAN three weeks– two weeks at the maximum — for ultimate results, because it is important to allow anticipation to build and Viral Marketing to take effect!

Furthermore, if you are regularly throwing and promoting events, a definite Mobile Marketing Plan of Action should be placed in line with your Marketing Plan. These results only prove these points to be true!

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EXAMINER ARCHIVES | 2016 & Beyond

Internet Marketing on an Offline Format — A personal experience.

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The Sabir Bey Show App for Android was created by Shorty Produkshins and Jessica N. Abraham. There were over 5000 downloads in the first month!

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Internet Marketing — OFFLINE. While it makes no sense that one can engage in Internet Marketing while “on the go,” it is entirely possible. Really, how can you market to the World while being away from the office? The answer is, “very easily.”

It has been a while since I have written an article on Internet Marketing. A lot of this has to do with the fact that my company is relocating to another city shortly, and time has been very limited. Nonetheless, work has to be done.

As a work-a-holic, I am consistently striving to find ways to work “on the go.” I am a very sociable person; and interestingly enough, the tagline of my company is “Brand Socially.” So, what I am about to outline works very well for my brand, in particular. Yet In fact, it can work for just about every brand there is. To be bluntly put: “pay attention!”

Every year, I attend The Florida Music Festival in Orlando, FL. This event has gained International recognition over the past 12 years and has highlighted the talents of many of the most popular acts of today.

Internet Marketing has made it become easier for artists, large and small, to become aware of this event (and many like it) and how festivals can contribute to their career successes. The Florida Music Festival was created by Sean Perry and Rick Wheeler of Axis Magazine in 2001 and is supported by many local and International sponsors, as related to the entertainment business and good times.

The Social Branding and Social Media sides of Internet Marketing have aided this and many festivals in capturing quality acts for mass consumption. Content submission by artists via web and the viral power of these submissions have made the selection process for showcasing only the best talent at venues related to their fan bases a much more effective process. And for a marketing professional like myself, I have learned to take advantage of this same process in “scouting out” potential clients in person and by allowing them to find my marketing services on a much later basis.

Understanding what your surroundings will entail and the personality of each target client in an environment, where their adrenaline is rapidly pumping, is very important. To understand these elements, one can turn to social media content that has been dispersed around the net for analysis and review. If you are unfamiliar with the venue and locale you will be attending, “walker” and “biker” maps and area reviews may help bring furthered understanding to rules, staffing, and technological capabilities once there.

News stories and social presences, as well as video content, can bring a furthered understanding of the artist personalities and history that you plan on meeting with. Basically, a lot of research needs to take place beforehand in order to enhance your experience and bring full potential to an OFFLINE Internet Marketing Plan.

Research helps you to understand what you can do and, of course, what you cannot. To begin with, how do you seek to gain the full attention of a potential client at a time where their mind is set on performance, fans and enjoying themselves? What style will you approach them with? How will your elevator pitch relate to them?

As an Internet Marketing Professional, the most important element would be that of “Internet Capability.” Having access to the Internet and Mobile Network features will aid as visuals in what you can bring to the table in aiding their career successes. Because, frankly, if you gain their interests, they will ask you to show them what you can do and only have a few minutes to do it in.

Will you have Wifi or ethernet ports available, and if so — Will there be electric outlets readily available? If not, how well does 4G for your carrier work in that area? Will you be able to “tether” your service into your laptop or portable device of choice? Finally, is your media content optimized for presentation on a mobile device if need be?

In marketing, you have to consider the elements that will bring you closer to your overall goal. In marketing for Online platforms, your driving force will always be content delivery and optimization. There are many ways to achieve this, and where else to gain content for mass distribution than at a festival with many bands, business professionals and “happenings?”

Content will not only raise your SEO efforts for search engines and brand awareness in Social Platforms, but it will also bring traffic to inquire about your servicing via fans and “the stars” themselves. Some of this content may be distributed immediately from the actual venues and encourage participation at the event on an immediate basis, catching the attention of acts being “promoted.” Some of this content will be delivered later. And, some of this content will serve as immediate points of contact and interaction in a tangible way.

The following methods will achieve Internet Marketing on an Offline basis:

  • Check-ins: Lead others to your exact location and leave a print in that area with your content and presence history. This usually is done through Geotagging and GPS, so it is done with ease. Others located in the same area will also be aware of your presence at that moment.

As interest builds, your physical presence benefits by being there to answer questions at the peak of interest in gaining potential clients. What is even better is that people talk. Yes, they sure do!

Quietly, they whisper to the person next to them, “Hey, do you know Jessica Abraham? She owns this company, Shorty Produkshins, and does Internet Marketing… This is what else she does… This is who she has worked with…” Or, they introduce you to the person directly. Here, Word of Mouth and tangible Viral Marketing just gained you a new potential client without much effort!

Some people add free download links and merchandise giveaways to these calls-to-action. This ensures web traffic and content shares. People will often download and listen or “YouTube” and watch these artists before they perform so that they can become more familiar with them. Don’t think that this wouldn’t benefit your brand to do it, as well. I usually give away six free minutes of consultation via telephone when giving away servicing.

  • Web Design/Content: Make sure you have a web design that is mobile-friendly and content that breaks down your servicing within a matter of seconds. People often do not want to read or learn when out and about. But, they do want to be educated on the matter. Using charts, infographics and graphics to explain text-heavy points, understanding is easier acknowledged and quickly associated. Keeping web design at a speed to load rapidly keeps load time at a minimum and interest is less likely to be lost in the process. Make sure your site is catchy, interesting, and informative to a one-minute view. Keep it professional and away from being generic. This is your elevator presentation in grabbing potential clients right away!

There are so many scams out there and “up and coming” brands that never amount to anything worthwhile or are what they say. Meeting Offline brings more personality and realism to your brand. You are a real person. You have a chance to represent the brand in the flesh.

Furthermore, you have met others that these people are already or just becoming acquainted with that can speak for your track record. Introduction by a trusted source or verification of reference is achieved without much effort.

Your brand has an Offline following that will transfer to an Online source via connections and content created in the process. Going Offline to increase Online marketing potential and business connections that will build your “pyramid,” will only lead to furthered tenure for your brand.

Tenure, however, comes from loyalty, while loyalty comes from humbling your brand and practicing ethics that will allow others to justfully trust you. Loyalty comes from the credibility of your brand and what it can do, as well as the reputation of that brand through trusted connections.

The more you communicate Offline, as well as Online, and include others in this practice, the more loyalty you will find amongst followers, colleagues and clientele.

The reason behind this is while you are helping your brand find success, you are taking others along with you… and more than likely it will ONLY BE those that you have faith in yourself! After all, you don’t want to be responsible for distributing garbage content? Your good content will be overlooked and reputation will be brought down if you do that!

  • Storytelling and CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT!: Through this adventure, you are creating a story with several characters — old and new. You are building a history that will last throughout the years and connecting many brands together in unity. The more familiar brands become to audiences, the more trust is built, bringing Brand Loyalty, Awareness, Integrity and Association, of course leading to tenure. Stories will be told through content that, as mentioned before, boosts SEO efforts, viral powers and more! Again, it’s like a family that introduces new friends and family members to others in a more personal way! Storytelling shows that more than business is occurring. It is showing that a relationship is building and lasting, therefore worthwhile for audience recognition, interests and interactions.

The bottom line here is NETWORKING with immediate “connection” is of the utmost importance. Because most people connect to their favorite social networks via mobile device, you must encourage the connection to take place here.

Most social networks actually save contact information into the users’ address book automatically, so that will come naturally. You will be in constant contact with these connections, so you won’t forget them as easily as you would with just collecting a business card and/or saving a phone number to your rolodex.

It’s more personal, and BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS are what it is all about!

Making the connections “in the flesh” will benefit your Online strategies. Content creation acts as duct tape, holding the bond and pyramid together. It also tells the story of the bond being created over time through these networked relationships.

In marketing for the Internet — Offline — never be afraid to think outside of the box. However, make it more than just making connections and using content for Internet strategy. Use it to connect the lives of brands that will literally “stick together” and hold a bond to last a lifetime.

Brands belong to people, and people are the best investment you can ever make in the World. While we all want financial gain, happiness and impactful, positive relationships are more rewarding than anything! Have fun and create an epic story for future generations!

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EXAMINER ARCHIVES | 2016 & Beyond

Event Marketing: Raw TRUTH and how so many are doing THAT wrong!

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Event Marketing | How to Promote

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED TO EXAMINER

Thousands of events take place each week. Millions take place over the course of a year. A lot of these events, especially in the smaller arena, are only in attendance by a few people — usually part of the “camp” throwing the event — that are non-paying parties. Venue owners want to make their money and are not affiliated with your event. So, they are becoming even pickier on who they allow to use their venue or who they hire to promote events at that venue. 

Ironically, many of these events are awesome! Unfortunately, it usually boils down to how the event was marketed. Awesome events cost money and time for planning and execution. Lack of attendance can lead to lost funds.

This is a borderline topic for me to cover. Normally, I wouldn’t cover an article in the first person or with such a non-traditional writing format. But, this topic is extremely complex and needs to be explained in conversational terms. This is a topic that my infamous “Trade Secret, you will never know” line comes into play. I’m going to try to cover it without giving away my tricks to packing venues. And, I also would like to remind you that you are not paying for consultation at the moment. So, there will be valuable information withheld in the mix.

For those readers who do not know me, I have been involved in the Entertainment Business and Internet Marketing worlds for many years, am extremely experienced and well-studied in the field and practice Social Branding and Event Marketing on a daily basis.

Please understand that this information is based on reality and science. If you sense a bit of sarcasm in the mix, this is due to the tedious nature of each task that must be completed just to get to the next step.

A few important elements of successful Event Marketing are as follows:

  • Anticipation
  • Street Teams
  • Event Sites
  • Support
  • Participation
  • Flyers
  • Gain
  • Time Span
  • Press /Media Release
  • SEO
  • Branding
  • ANTICIPATION

NOW, LET’S BREAK THIS SCIENCE DOWN:

Anticipation

I have this one listed twice, because number ONE you guys aren’t building up enough anticipation for your event — no matter how much anticipation is being built up. You aren’t getting people excited about the event. You aren’t giving them time to take part in creating the buzz through Word of Mouth for your event. The best way to get someone to come to your event is to make someone WANT IT so bad that they are anticipating the date that it comes

To build anticipation, you have to sell your product. Your product is your event. How do you sell it and get people anxious to attend? Make sure you are hitting all of the other elements in successful Event Marketing just right. Once you do that, they almost can’t wait for that event to take place! Think of the anticipation built around video games. Think of the anticipation built around movies. Shoot, we all have waited for almost 10-years for “The Hobbit” to come out! Whether it was actually what we expected or not, we all couldn’t wait to see it! Street thug and nerd, alike, we all were dying to see it! Build this anticipation for your event!

Participation

Whether it’s a site created for the brand, a Twitter account, Facebook page or whatever other venues of marketing you are taking into your hands,

MAKE SURE YOU ENCOURAGE ATTENDEE AND POTENTIAL ATTENDEE PARTICIPATION.

If it is an ongoing event, make sure you have a way to keep people interested in your Online presence, whether through contest or event photos being placed on the page.

In writing this, I am assuming that you are not the person putting on the event. Even if the event is a horrible one, you can still keep people interested in the event or at least ones you are affiliated with by creating interaction between the event and the attendee.

You can keep your audience informed on “what went wrong,” and they will support you even more! But if you are, make sure you actually put on a good show in order to keep people talking! That is one way to drag them back with friends and friends of friends every time.

Participation in the discussion about the event or through media gets people interested, passing media virally and makes them talk about “how cool the event is going to be” to friends, colleagues and coworkers. It helps to keep up the momentum of anticipation and almost makes the attendee feel like they know the brand inside and out. They are a “friend” to the brand. They have also participated so much that they now also feel obligated to make it… NO MATTER WHAT!

Street Teams

Street Teams are a two-way street. People like interaction and personalization. They all want to be a part of something. Include those that you KNOW want to be part of something as part of a team. Allow them special privileges in exchange for doing minor Word of Mouth work for you. Some members would actually be honored to work with you — rewards or not!

Online street teams have endless opportunity. They build Klout in a brand. They build followers and likes, because a recommendation from a REAL FRIEND has been set into motion. Knowing a person on a personal level actually creates a reality that marketing, itself, could never do. Additionally, content will be distributed and redistributed consistently, increasing the SEO results.

Physical street teams are always a plus in doing Event Marketing on the physical level. While your role as an Event Marketer on the Online Platform is separate from that of the physical Promoter, it still may be in your possible interests to get a physical street team started. Allow them to promote the event, and make sure they are promoting the Online Presence of that event at the same time! The deeper you get into these elements, you will understand more!

Flyers

I have mixed emotions about actual “event flyers.” It really depends on who is distributing these, how they are distributing these, when and to whom. Often times, people get a flyer and either drop it (lose it), forget about it or throw it away before the event. This is just wasted paper and effort. Yes, it should still be an effort, though.

Interactive and e-flyers still need to be designed and identical to any physically distributed flyer. They need to be created for Online platforms. This includes event sites, Social Network and application presences, websites, landing pages, releases, MMS/SMS distribution and e-mail distribution to attract potential attendees to the event. These must be detailed about the event and highlighted in a description. One must also surround any e-flyer with SEO opportunity, because they will be appearing in search engines and sites that recommend related searches. You might as well take advantage of this.

Finally, flyers help build a vision of the product… the event. We are able to brand much easier with a flyer. The consumer has a better understanding of crowd and essence before attending. They can also associate this event with your brand and venue choice. They can differentiate it amongst other events that are happening on or around the date of your event.

Stand out from the competition. But, remember, competition also brings out the crowd. So, is there any way that you guys can implement each other into the flyer? People club and bar hop. If you can partner up and trade off flyers, you don’t want 50 different flyers distributed for the same event. Have one official flyer and you will see results!

Event Sites

I hate to say it, but these event sites are the Holy Grail to Event Marketing. While listings alone will not cut it, they work such wonders I am going to have to applaud them with standing ovation.

There are so many event sites out there. Sites like Eventbrite sell tickets directly on the site. Others are just text listing. I love the ones that are 100% customizable and can be built like a Social Media Release.

Sites like Eventful will allow you to literally tag artist and venue profiles to the event. This comes in handy when marketing a party or festival. Many sites even feed into large corporate sites, website widgets and mobile applications.

One thing I love about most event sites is that they help SEO endeavors. Not only is it beneficial to the event — but if done properly, it can benefit the brand, venue, and/or website attached to the event! Backlinking and other possibilities are endless!

Support

In being in the business of Marketing Events, you need to be sure that you have a support team. This is the support of the community, local businesses, business professionals, venues, other promoters, local acts and so on. The relationships that you build can allow you to do things that are almost impossible for an outsider. Barriers to entry are simply invisible.

Through a support team, all parties benefit by helping each other succeed and in creating a promotions web. Shared and Cross Promotion makes the impossible possible.

Expansion into new and target markets through trusted brand affiliates gains new interest in your own brand. Shared crowds ensure that events will be attended, whether attendees stay for the whole event or not, whether they leave and return or return towards the end of the night… THEY WILL ATTEND at some point.

Gain

What do they have to gain from attending this event? Okay, you might not be able to give free drinks or even free products. But, you can work it out where a discount is given for signing up Online for VIP or for the first 50 attendees on the “friendslist” gets will get in free.

How does a contest sound? A sponsorship? A theme?

Maybe you do have pull in getting free drinks or giving out free merchandise. Whatever you can do, make sure you find a way to do it. Not only will these people NOT question why they’re not going to your event, but they will also remember. Look forward to their attendance at your next event!

Timespace

“PROMOTIONS TIP OF THE DAY: Give yourself a late start of AT LEAST three weeks to promote your event.

Why? It will take a solid week of hardcore promotion and then a week of personalized promotion, in addition to “Word of Mouth Marketing,” the MOST EFFECTIVE form of marketing to take place.

People like to plan ahead, especially if they work nights and have children (Those that will have the most money to spend, since they are in need of entertainment at ANY cost).

If you are in a major city, business people and tourists like to plan at least 2 weeks ahead and often change their schedule. You need to convince them this is a BIG DEAL! They don’t know your city so marketing is EVERYTHING. Oh, and they are also the ones, who have put money aside to “Get loose” or who are doing it on the company credit card. Think about it.

This was the inspiration for this post. This was a status message that I put on Facebook in transitioning into my Shorty Produkshins Event Marketing Services for discussion on Facebook. I left it untouched, because sometimes it’s these conversational pieces that teach the most in the least amount of words.

Press & Media Releases

Press may seem old fashion to many who question the reliability of the media. I mean, who reads newspapers in 2013, right?!

WRONG!

So many STILL read print. It’s better on the eyes that electronic media. It can be found in almost any location, including in transit on public bus lines, doctors’ offices, diners, libraries and government buildings (to name only a few locations). The reach is limitless and likely to be taken into the electronic realm, because almost every established media firm has an Online Presence available to the audience. Again backlinks, page views, content shares and information awareness is made available to the masses.

Through Press and Social Media Press Release, the press is brought to the attention of your brand and what your brand is doing. A story may be written on the events or products that are being released by your brand, or the brand itself may be the center of media attention.

Whether product or brand, attention will be brought to future events and products through articles and content that never disappear! Trust gained through viewer loyalty will lead to trust in your brand with automatic “want” to be part of your brand, as well.

Again, the possibilities are endless… especially if it is a niche event or event that the community can and will be able to support!

SEO:

We are not going to cover this topic in too much detail here. But, I do want to make this statement: “Take ADVANTAGE of EVERY possibility for SEO, WHENEVER YOU CAN.” Events give you unique opportunities for legit SEO effort where competitors may not necessarily be making use of it.

Events should be treated as products. Products should be treated as brands. Brands represent a company, affiliate, sponsor and so on.

Take advantage of keywords, backlinks, embeds, and so on. That is all that I am going to say. SEO is a science all on its own!

BRANDING:

Websites and Landing Pages
Creating a full website based around the event and content related to that event may be in the greatest interest of an event. The more time planned and given to the event’s arrival, the more the website will benefit the brand.

The more anticipation and virality the content will gain for the event. Information can be given on the event’s entertainment, amenities, causes, pricing, schedule, directions and ticketing. Public forum can be linked to these websites, as well. This will build attendee participation in anticipation of the event.

Single page websites and landing pages are also great for bringing notice to the brand, collecting attendee data for this and future events, to redirect traffic around web presences and to take advantage of two way SEO options. This topic will not be elaborated upon. But, I am sure you have caught on already.

Applications and Widgets
Participation, interaction, virality, Word of Mouth, engagement, and on and on and on. This is self-explanatory. You have read my blogs on Mobile Marketing and on Social Media, I am sure. If you haven’t, you should.

Incorporating these elements into your Event Marketing campaign is of the best interest of your brand, especially if you can incorporate GPS capabilities into the applications being created. Location-based information can engage participants in interactivity during the event and to locals who have not yet decided if they would like to attend the event but are nearby.

Creating “the life of the party” where everyone can be part of it is so important in encouraging others to join in and those participating to continue having fun, because they are, indeed, having fun together and encouraging local audiences to join in the fun.

If it is before the event, they will encourage “the hype” surrounding the event. If it is post-event, they will rub it in the faces of NON-attendees of how much fun that was had. In the future, non-attendees will be more likely to participate.

The goal of applications and widgets that appear cross-platform is to keep audiences captivated in the upcoming event, feed them with information and updates surrounding the event and to keep them reminded of the event.

We don’t want them to forget the event is happening and when it is happening. There is nothing worse than getting people interested in the event and then they miss it because they mix up the date and time of this event. Reminders may even be set to keep user participation ensured.

Blogs
Blogs work similar to web presences, sites and landing pages. They also function with the capabilities of adding widgets and other content to the body of each post. Their focus will be to support the event and all elements related to the event.

If there will be entertainment at the event, articles about the entertainment may take place. This could include press releases, news, biographies, video, picture content, audio and more.

Similarly, information related to the venue and other focal points of this event may be included. Blogs are frequently added into application and website feeds, while being shared across Social Media platforms around the net!

Event Invites
I am going to be very honest here. As the trend continues, event invites are more often becoming ignored. While one should always create one and try to get users to participate in this feature, please do not count on it.

There are many of us who ignore and even block this feature from ever coming into our awareness. While I promote events, I admit to rarely opening an event invite.

The truth is, many people misuse this platform for reasons other than for promoting events. They even use it too frequently. It almost becomes SPAM and often is the reason that people will not even check their notifications on platforms like Facebook.

On the contrary, I see these event invites work often. Depending on the frequency of the poster and the subject of interest, I have seen participation in these events where users share cross-platform, post content about and to, embed and event connect them to their iCal and Google Calendars, viewable on the wallpaper or widgets of their mobile devices! So, never leave event invites out as an option, but never depend on them as your only option.

In closing this topic off with what little I am willing to share in blog form, I would like to remind you that data collection is key in providing your audiences with the form of marketing that works best for THEM.

In allowing user form submissions, one will be able to survey the best form of marketing for a specific user or to survey the overall reach of viewer trends as related to your brands initiative. While immediate response would be best for this event, be reminded that it will benefit future events to already have this information available.

Some people do not check their Facebook every day but check their text messages every three minutes. Some people don’t even have text capabilities on their mobile device but live on Twitter. There are some who shiver at the thought of technology and you will never know exist until you see them at an event that was broadcasted through the local newspaper. So, please make sure to include all press, Online and Offline in your marketing scope.

Last but not least, enjoy the event that you have promoted. Mingle with your audiences. Find out how they found out about your event. You just may be shocked. Get to know your audiences, and find out your future events will do nothing but ROCK!

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EXAMINER ARCHIVES | 2016 & Beyond

Event marketing? Two words: Brand socially

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Shorty Produkshins is #InternetMarketingOrlando. Social Branding, Digital Marketing and Public Relations.

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED ON EXAMINER

“Brand social,” this is the tagline of an Orlando-based Internet marketing company, known as Shorty Produkshins. Branding socially should be a common marketing objective found amongst industries around the globe. Through Web 3.0 and the “always on” culture that we encounter each day, social branding attributes to the evolution of how we successfully market our brands and do business in this new age.

According to HQSocialMedia.com, “80% of the top 100 fortune companies are using at least one social media profile to engage with their customers.”

Many of these companies are even including their own social communities within their pre-existing sites or link to an independent social network of brand enthusiasts. There are many benefits for this, especially if you own a company that is known for hosting events.

Taking social branding to a specific niche, event branding has become a necessity for venues, promoters and organizations as time decides our marketing destinies. The difference between a static website and an actual social network is far and many.

There are a few reasons that event branding is important:

  • To market the event, of course.
  • Calendar of Events and Schedules
  • SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
  • Link Wheels
  • Link Pyramids
  • Backlinks
  • Changes in time/location
  • Personalization & Interactivity
  • Information & Content Collection and Distribution
  • Investors & Sponsors
  • Updates
  • Connecting Event Goers
  • Converting Event Goers
  • Reminders
  • E-mail/SMS Lists
  • Blogs
  • Participation
  • Professionalism
  • Innovative
  • Invites through performers and event goers
  • Projections
  • Builds suspense and enthusiasm.
  • Testimonials
  • Brand Monitoring

In marketing the event, there are of course many items of importance. There are items that must take place regardless of a social presence or not. These items include but are not limited to press releases, event listings, article placements and supporters. In today’s world, a website is a must. If you don’t have this, people will forget about the site or remain confused as to what the event is or if they would like to participate.

Professionalism through a site is important. You must give the consumer an impressive first impression of the brand and event. The better the site looks, the better. The more innovative the site, the more likely your brand awareness will lead to brand interest and possibly brand loyalty.

Through a social network, especially one that users are able to connect through social logins (a simple connect to their Facebook and/or Twitter accounts), users are able to “become part of the event.”

Social networks give users a sense of personalization and interactivity. They are able to add and consume content, while simultaneously giving the brand feedback almost immediately about this content. It is also a way to monitor the brand’s reputation and to address any issues one may have about the brand.

The brand automatically has a street team intact on the online platform, because people tend to invite friends and family. Additionally, when they add this content, it will more than likely stay on the site, even if the user isn’t active. If this content is related to the event or brand, this strengthens the brand’s presence for this and future events. They can share this content within the site or offline through Twitter and Facebook. Videos and audio of performers and venue locations will attract brand interest.

Those commenting on content with statements like, “Oh, my goodness! That event was sooooo fun!” or “I love this artist!” could bring brand trust to new and existing consumers, because this institutes as a testimonial. Testimonials are very important to a brand and brand products. It shows demand and love for a brand. This helps build trust and a need to experience it on an individual basis.

Through constant updates, clicks, constant content additions, linking in, within and outside of the site, the infamous “Google Spyder” knows to check this site more frequently than it would a static site. This is the same reason that having a blog on a business site is often advised to business owners. These updates keep the site fresh, interactive and important to keeping users returning for more content.

This ensures their presence at your event, because they are reminded of the event, have gained high anticipation and curiosity, have been peer pressured into attending and have met others that will be — just in case they would have attended by themselves.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is very important, especially when “competing” with other events and brands that throw events on a regular basis. Through SEO, we raise our website in the rankings and hold higher visibility to the rest of the world. The higher we rise, the more our site is viewed with quality and trust.

Any links attached to this site will also gain trust by search engines and will be crawled, as well. Link Wheels and Link Pyramids are now formed through one-way, two-way and hierarchy backlinks. These are very important in dealing with quality scores and things of this nature. The more Link Wheels and Pyramids that can be built will lead to higher placement and, obviously, more traffic!

Another important item in successful SEO is “time spent on site” and “return vs. new visitors.” If a user returns to the site, that means they can trust the site. In turn, the engine can trust it a bit more. In returning, these users show loyalty. The more they become active on the site and the more time they spend on each page, the better the impact on SEO efforts!

A social network will rank higher due to the time spent consuming content on each page! That means your site will rise organically and that less money will have to be spent with Pay-Per-Click advertising through search engine marketing.

Often is the case that people want to attend events but have no one to attend with. This also solves that problem. It even convinces people to come that really didn’t think that wanted to or were able to attend. Carpooling is another benefit in saving gas, helping transport those who do not drive and economical reasons. At this point, people feel privileged in attending, because it has become a 24/7 community that projects itself into real life.

People want to meet the other people at the event that they have been speaking with Online! Through their planning and conversation, projections are able to be made based on pre-sale tickets and planning within the site itself!

Other reasons to use event branding via social networking as a source of marketing is that it is very efficient in communicating with your users. They feel that their opinion matters. They thank you for considering their opinions. They become curious if their opinions will be implemented into your brand. Furthermore, your site can be updated regularly and additions can be made immediately to audiences.

Changes in date, time and/or location can immediately be addressed. SMS (text messages) and E-mails can be sent to all users directly from the platform to inform them of changes, simultaneously. Reminders can also be sent. The “journey” can be recorded through blogs in creating a Brand Story for future accords. Calendars can also inform users of upcoming events or deadlines.

Finally, and one of the most important reasons for branding your event socially — investors, sponsors and investors! We all want an additional revenue stream, don’t we? Well, sponsors want to know where they’re going to be presented to the public’s eye. They want to know that their money will buy them placement for awareness of their own and that people will actually see this placement.

Vendors may take advantage of selling or advertising within your site, a site where you can make money allowing them to do so. And last but not least — investors, they want to know that their money will produce a return. This means more than just providing these “angels” with a business plan. Higher funding can and will be obtained through this online portfolio and Brand Loyalists to prove there will be a positive return on investment that will benefit all parties involved.

After gaining such a deep insight on event branding, it would be foolish not to try to implement it into your business structure and marketing plan. From Search Engine Optimization to investment opportunities, creation of such a platform will ensure success for your brand’s events for years to come. Whether your brand throws parties or holds weekly or annual events, this is something that is almost becoming a standard to early adopters. Act now and “brand socially” today!

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