We’ve all been there. You put tons of work into an event and then nobody shows up. Or maybe you’re just looking to revamp your marketing strategy. Either way, it’s always good to take a step back assess your marketing strategy and learn new ways to increase your event attendance. Here are 6 ways to boost your crowd size for the Fall.
Word of Mouth
Good word of mouth instills trust in your brand. Ask members of your programming board to share about the event to their friends, classes, and in other meetings. Often, clubs and activities may give people an option to make announcements at the end of a meeting. Encourage your members to share the event and TALK IT UP!
Social Media
This one may be a given, but it can be a toughie if not done correctly. Use targeted Hashtags to grab the attention of your audience. Find Hashtags that your audience is using and are popular. Creating your own hashtag for your group is important for branding purposes and should be used. But, adding in some more popular used hashtags can broaden your reach more quickly. Use them often, but be careful not to add too many or you may look a little spammy.
Keep a constant presence on Social Media. Utilizing Instagram, Snapchat, and now Facebook stories are an easy way to do this. With these platforms always changing their algorithms, your reach may not be as high as it once was. If your stories is hanging at the top of the feed it can be hard for someone to miss. And don’t forget a Call To Action. Ask for shares, retweets, mentions, and tags to boost your engagement on all platforms.
Marketing Street Team
Afraid you might have a low turnout for this event? Send your friendliest team members out into the street (or more likely the quad or campus café) to talk to the students about the really cool thing you have going on right next door. The team may recognize someone they know or bring someone new to the event. You may not catch them all but you just might have a few people come check it out. It’s like sending out a personal invite right before the event!
Sing it LOUD and Sing it PROUD!
Don’t make it hard for students to find the details of the events. It may seem simple, but often you hear students say things like: “I didn’t know that was even going on” or “oh… that was today?” Sometimes there are so many posters on a campus that it becomes visual overload. Make your visuals POP or personally deliver flyers to dorms; do something that makes you stand out!
Bring New and Exciting Events!
Host the same event every year? Try changing it up. Neon Entertainment offers a wide variety of speakers, programs, concerts, and events. Maybe host a poetry slam. Invite students to share their art; our spoken word artists can emcee the event and perform as well. Bring a comedian to your next late-nite event or choose from a list of our accomplished singer-songwriters for your next coffee-house gathering. Add a photo booth, mobile photo station, or make & take to the event so students can take away a personalized giveaway to remember how much fun they had next time an event comes around.
Neon Entertainment also has access to all the leading National Comedians and Concert Acts; recently working with names like T-Pain, B.O.B., Jessimae Poluso, and Dave Coulier. A big name is going to attract a lot of people.
It’s not done at the end of the event.
Continue sharing about the event on social media. Share Pictures, videos, give the people who didn’t show up a little FOMO for next time. Plus! This will help you keep your constant social media presence. Now is the time to analyze your results. Send a survey. See what worked. Ask questions like: how did you hear about the event? How likely are you to come to another event? There are several online tools for this. Survey Monkey is a great tool for this and has a basic free option.
Stay updated on what’s trending each week in Neon’s Artist Trending Report, and if you’re looking for more marketing ideas, take a look at some of our previous blog posts like 5 Free and Easy Courses to Help Step up Your Social Media Game and 5 Fun Marketing Tips for a Cold Day. For more information on bookings, and events, fill out the form below or call your Neon Agent at 1-800-993-NEON.
