Photo by tammyjq41

Recently, I had an opportunity to network with a group of young communication professionals in the Twin Cities. Everyone attending had diverse backgrounds, some where leaders in social media, while others were twitter skeptics and even a few new bloggers. Either way, we realized that everyone learned about the event through- social media.

What this means…

… Katie, err- @kshoop did somethings right.

What @kshoop did:

• Found a need in her local community- and strived to meet that need. Katie herself is a young, professional communicator in the Twin Cities and wanted to have a group that was ‘dedicated to connecting those starting out in the fields of advertising, journalism, marketing, and public relations’ according to the Young Professional Communicators – Twin Cities (YPCTC) Facebook Fan Page. So she reached out to people from various backgrounds starting where she knew her audience hung out- Twitter and Facebook.
• Reached out to her organically grown local community- On any social media and networking sites, it takes time to find who you want/need to be connected to. It’s also not about quantity, but quality. How many flyers would she have to post in the mall to find the people she wanted to reach? I don’t think YPCTC would have been half as successful if she used that method. @kshoop- took it to the ‘tweet’ since she knew where her market was.
• Made it personal- she didn’t do it all herself. She allowed memebers of the community to create and be involved in the event promotion, planning and even creation. Someone even made a logo! By doing this she got people actively involved, which created  personal investment in the event.
• Got a local social media happy hour spot involved. The event was held at Green Mill during happy hour. This restaurant has an active online presence and it was great to see the social media interaction with the attendees! @greenmill001 is the handle for Green Mill corporate located in Arden Hills, MN. I’ve seen many social media consultants use this account as an example of great online engagement with customers, the YPCTC event was no exception. The marketing director was also present at the happy hour to mingle- which was a great touch!
• Made it viral- I’m sure you’re thinking that anyone can do this. @kshoop kept taking it one step more. She created an event hashtag – #YPCTC. This gave everyone the ability to connect with other people planning on attending the event- and after. Why is that a big deal? It shows organization and popularity! Would you like to have people publicly state that they are having a blast at your event? If you have a VIP there, wouldn’t you love it if they connected themselves to your organization? Public relations dream come true.

Keep in mind that this event wasn’t planned over night. @kshoop organized it all for over a month.

How are you promoting your events?

Tags: community, Events, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy