Making Instagram Work to your Advantage…
Instagram is the ultimate social media platform for events, let us show you how you can make it work for you…
Instagram is quickly becoming the go-to platform for events. The perfect platform for the industry, it focusses on photography and aesthetic. With the Events Industry packed with creatives, Instagram proves to be a paradise for those looking to promote, share and cultivate ideas.
We all know the importance of promoting an event and that’s why its important to not underestimate instagram and the vital tool it can be. In this blog we breakdown ways in which you can utilise your instagram account and build engagement for your event. Covering everything from the effectiveness of insta stories to capturing the perfect picture. This is a must read for an event planner who doesn’t feel they have quite got to grips yet with Instagram. We give you all the tools you need to master the platform and skyrocket your event!
What is Instagram
Starting with a brief introduction into what Instagram is and what it has to offer.
2010 saw Instagram launch and quickly gain a following that’s to it’s fresh and stylish approach to social media. Restricting users to a square image meant that Instagram boasted an utterly unique aesthetic that drew in the creatives amongst us. No longer was it dreary statuses, endless rambles that you find on other platforms. This was a space to share you best images with a snappy caption. Hashtags were really utilized here too, finding whatever subject you fancied with the simple search of your chosen tag.
Now in 2020 its more relevant that ever, partnering with Facebook to create a monster following. Celebrities and influencers find themselves doing best on Instagram, owing to the importance of aesthetic over the written word. As an event planner, it is the go-to platform. Every client will jump to their account and search your services out. Why? Because it will give them a strong sense of what you have to offer and what you have achieved. This is why we wanted to share with you some key tools for promoting events. Thus helping you illustrate your effectiveness to prospective clients.
Promoting Your Event:
Stories
Let me blow your mind… 500 million users connect with Instagram stories every day. One third of those stories are posted by businesses, it is little wonder that companies invest significant time into producing content for their stories. This is THE place to highlight your event, capturing candid moments throughout the day.
From an early morning set up video, showing the AV crew installing their equipment, maybe introducing your audience to an AV Lead. You will be raising your audience’s anticipation for the event ahead. Later in the day, how about a quick boomerang of waiting staff completing a table layout. Obviously, you don’t want to give the game away before guests arrive so perhaps do a closeup of a particular detail… keep guests guessing!
Once the event starts, Stories will light up! Not only the direct footage from your account but you can ‘regram’ guests own videos. A perfect way to highlight every fabulous moment of your event. Every guest will feel connected to the event.
#Hashtag Masters
The biggest tool in your arsenal when it comes to expanding reach on Instagram is the Hashtag. You need to make the hashtags work to your advantage, creating a mix of options to cover all your bases. Where to begin? Branded Hashtags are a great start, corporate events are often brand savvy to begin with so play with that. Also consider your delegates and who they are. Think about the hashtags they might use regularly and engage with that.
When choosing the hashtag for your event, there are some important factors to bear in mind. Firstly, remember your sponsors. If you have sponsors at your event, bring them front and centre with your choice of hashtag. Not only will they be thanking you for the increased engagement, but you are more likely to get them to support future events if you show them the love now. Also think campaigns, maybe this event is the perfect time to launch one. Great examples of this are things like Airbnb’s #OneLessStranger and Chevy’s #BestDayEver campaign. Most importantly, keep things short, snappy, and simple!
Look Behind The Curtain…
Something that has worked particularly well for us here at Table Art is when we have given our audience a peak behind the curtain. Instagram rewards those that give a fuller sense of a company or an event. People don’t want just the polished photos that have a staged feeling about them. They eat up the insights into how things are made and put together. Our best engagement often comes from photos of our crew, making or installing our products at an event.
This same approach works brilliantly for an event planner. Delegates can look up your event before arrival, building the excitement. Those not attending the event can get a sense of what you can achieve and how your services look in action. This has great appeal and its significance cannot be underestimated.
Instagram Takeovers
It can feel utterly alien to hand over the reins of your account to someone else but there are huge benefits to consider! A popular option when looking to build interest, event planners often task a speaker, artist, or influencer to take over the instagram account for the event. What could be more fun that the speakers/Artists perspective on the event? Having worked on hundreds of events, we have seen this be particularly effective when handed over to the speaker or host. It creates a familiarity between the host and guests before the event has even started! No awkward introductions, the host will feel they are part of the company when they take to the stage.
Important things to consider before handing over the reins… firstly, make sure the guest editor is someone your audience would be interested in. Also, when choosing that host, try and consider how many instagram followers they have on their own account, something to bear in mind when looking to leverage. Make sure your takeover hashtag partners well with your event and work in real time, events are live after all.
Curb Appeal
Instagram is all about the aesthetic. There is no quicker turnoff than clicking on an Instagram account and finding a slew of dull grey photos. You want your account to grab attention. The best way to do that is to have an account choc-full of beautiful photos. Not everyone is a master photographer so don’t be afraid to ask your team for their input. If your assistant is better at capturing photos than you, don’t be too proud to task them the camera. Your job can then be to carefully caption the post and get it out into the world.
Here at Table Art we know the importance of photography and so as part of our training, our crew are shown the ropes in how to use our cameras. We incentivise the guys to take good photos of the event, rewarding the best photo of the month with an Amazon voucher! If you head up a large team, you may want to consider a similar approach. The best photo of the night or the one with the highest engagement gets a goody bag. Get your team pumped and tickle their competitive nature.
Also remember that if the photo is almost perfect but needs a little work, use the instagram filters to your advantage. They can enrich a photo and give it a real wow factor!
Accounts to Follow
Instagram is jam packed with influencers, especially from the events world. It can be difficult to know where to begin when looking for the next big trend. That is why we have out together this must follow list of Event Influencers. These guys lead the field in style and trend, keeping them in your feed will keep you one step ahead of the competition:
@aguynamedpatrick
@david_monn
@winkdesignandevents
Beyond these fantastic event planners, there are event suppliers out there that are also really killing it in terms of setting a trend:
@studiosouffle
@blueparroteventsgroupltd
@mclcreate
The Wrap Up
We hope that with everything laid out in this blog, you now have the tools in place to promote your event and make your account stand out. We thank you for taking the time to read our tips and we hope that in return you enjoy taking a look at our own Instagram account, even giving us a cheeky follow!
Looking for more? Contact our team today. We are ready and waiting to deliver your next event!