3 Reasons why you need to blog about your event

The days of decorating lamp-posts with event posters, is… not quite over, but social media has definitely taken over in terms of effectiveness of “word-of-mouth” advertising.

These days, marketing an event effectively online means the difference between an empty hall and a full venue. Many people make use of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to get followers and ultimately attendees of an event, but very few realise the efficacy of blogging to get people to say ‘yes’ to an invitation.

Here are three reasons why a blog could convert someone from an ‘interested party’ into a paying guest.

Blogging is not advertising

Actually, it is, but not in an obvious sense. People respond much better to companies and their ad campaigns when they don’t feel like they are listening to a sales pitch. With social media, you have to be brief, so this often makes the differentiation between the sales posts vs personal posts, easy. A blog can be both. You can offer information that can sway someone’s opinion, with writing that sounds like a story. This elicits an emotional response in the reader, which is the holy grail of any marketing tool.

By way of a great example, this video on the original pronunciation of Shakespearian language has over 2 million views on Youtube. It seems like a topic that would appeal to the interests of a fairly small group of people. So why are so many watching and sharing it? Because it’s brief, interesting, easy to understand, and doesn’t ever tell you to come to the Globe Theatre to watch a production that puts the old language back into modern Shakespeare. Only if you are listening for it, will you hear the very subtle message urging you to do just that.

It’s a clever way to include yourself in conversation

If you know your audience well enough (which is fairly easy if you pay attention to social media), then blogging can be used as an effective way to join a conversation. Take careful note of what people are saying about your main actor, keynote speaker, DJ or even your party planner online, and find something interesting to add to a topic that people are already talking about. You can put a new spin on an old topic with an exclusive video interview, or introduce new information about the same topic that people will find interesting enough to share.

Alternatively, use your blog to start a conversation. Will you be serving cocktails at your event? Write about the origin of the cocktails you will be serving and how they got their names. Does your venue have an interesting history? Did someone famous get married there? Write about it. These types of posts may say little about the actual details of your event and may even seem superfluous, but they are a great way to tap into a range of human interests, which all have one main link, your event.

People will only pay you if they trust you

There are definitely certain blog posts that appeal to different audiences. Increase your ticket sales by refining your demographic, then speak directly to them through your blog.

• Long posts by interesting guest bloggers are great for business events hosted by people who want to be seen as industry leaders and experts, in their field.
• Short video blogs work well for younger audiences who are more likely to use YouTube as a search engine, and share the videos online.
• Quick Q&A interviews are perfect for art exhibitions or wine festivals, where the most interesting information comes from the artist or the winemaker.
• User Generated Content is the equivalent of passing a stack of invitations to a group of people who have already bought tickets to your event, and asking them to take one and pass them on. It is what every marketer hopes for, with the best result being a viral post that the world is talking about.

This is achieved by taking the time to determine exactly who your ideal audience is, and understand what they respond to. It sends the message that you care enough to give people exactly what they want, and gets attention from a relevant online audience, a feat that is near impossible if you just speak to anyone who will listen, in cyberspace.

Writing an excellent blog post discussing imaginative ways to recycle, ahead of your “Going Green Workshop” is actually a waste if the only people reading it are those who have signed up to your blog because they’re attending your event. So don’t be exclusive with your content. Every time you post something on your blog, share it on all your social media platforms.

If you can do all this successfully, your blog content will be shared far and wide and your audience should be eating out of your hand, or better yet, at every table – if your event happens to be a sit-down charity dinner!