Welcome to Great Events! 1

Leveraging Social Media for Nonprofit Events With Ritu Sharma and Dawn Andreas Hosted by Evonne Heyning

Who are we? Ritu Sharma Co-Founder & Executive Eventbrite.com/npo 3 Dawn Andreas Marketing Program SM4NP.org

The Agenda Understanding the event ticketing lifecycle Social media tips, tricks and time savers to maximize engagement Leveraging social media before, during and after your event Tying it all together with data 4

Defining Event & Social Media ROI ROI = Increasing donations + Raising awareness + Maximizing ticket sales 5

Ticketing Lifecycle On average, fundraiser tickets go on sale 4-6 weeks before the event. 6

Ticket Lifecycle At what point has an event sold ½ its tickets? 38% 33% 29% In the week prior to the event 2 weeks prior to the event 1 week prior to the event 7

Events are Inherently Social Increase your reach Relatively low cost Viral effect: Reach friends of friends | Networks 8

The Agenda Understanding the event ticketing lifecycle Social media tips, tricks and time savers to maximize engagement Leveraging social media before, during and after your event Tying it all together with data 9

Be Proactive Set an attendance goal and work backwards Create a marketing calendar 88% of fundraisers sent invites when tickets go on sale, but too many fall silent until the event thereafter Over 50% of nonprofits say that frontloading ticket sales is important to them 10

Open Communication Create a communication plan Work backwards from the date of the event until the first invite goes out What are the strategic times to people? 9-11am, Tuesday-Thursday Where to post information? Your website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, local community calendars 11

The Agenda Understanding the event ticketing lifecycle Social media tips, tricks and time savers to maximize engagement Leveraging social media before, during and after your event Tying it all together with data 12

Create your Registration Page 13

Create a Facebook Event 14

Create a LinkedIn Event 15

Don’t Think of Your Event as Just as an Event 2 Use the event as a data collection opportunity Consider the long term vs. short term gains Create direct donation option for non-attendees 16

Let 1,000 Flowers Bloom 17 Invite all your friends and followers on respective platforms Invite via multiple channels: , LinkedIn, Facebook

More Social, More Revenue On average, 1 Facebook share generates $2.52 in future sales and 11 page views back to your event page; however… Ticket sales per share Event type Prompt attendees to share event information with a powerful call to action 18

Promote Post regular updates: Pictures, performers, VIPs, auction items, partners and even attendee stories 2. Post more pictures & videos (cute stuff helps!) 3. Invite attendees to RSVP as they register 4. Be sure to tag attendees, VIPs, partners, and others

Promote 20 Facebook Ads Target your demographic narrowly Target each VIP / Key partner organization Target all nonprofits (relevant) Target based on Facebook Insights

The motivation to share is higher once the purchase has been made. Facebook Shares 21

Promote 22 Create a hashtag for your event (“SM4NP”)

Hashtag = 23 A word preceded by a #sign –Used to unify tweets from multiple people on the same subject Easy to search and catalogs your event Keep it short! Brand all posts about your event with the same hashtag Encourage attendee participation!

It’s About the Conversation 24 Schedule regular event or important deadline-related tweets Post tweets that showcase the work/organizations of your partners, speakers, attendees and sponsors ReTweet and reply religiously!

Keep the Conversation Going 25 During the event: Provide a twitter wall Prominently display the #hashtag Display the conversation Use free services like tweetchat.com or twitterfall.com

The Conversation Lives On 26 After the event: Ask for feedback, share a survey Create and share recaps Post event pictures Use platforms like Storify to summarize event experience Review your tracking and analytics to know which social channels were most effective

The Agenda Understanding the event ticketing lifecycle Social media tips, tricks and time savers to maximize engagement Leveraging social media before, during and after your event Tying it all together with data 27

Track your Sales Sources

Productivity Tools: 29 Hootsuite Automatic scheduling Mass tweeting (Only when appropriate) Mass direct messaging (Be very selective) Do not use for Facebook!

Productivity Tools: 30 Sprout Social Manage conversations with one tool Publish and schedule update across multiple social channels Measure efforts with reporting and analytics

Productivity Tools: 31 Simply Measured/RowFeeder/Exportly Gather data rich worksheets See who is following you

Wrap Up Decide which channels are right for you and your organization Incent early ticket purchasing to get the wheel in motion Collect donations from those who can’t attend Encourage post-purchase sharing – it is most powerful Give attendees reason to engage before, during and after your event Analyze which social media efforts are most effective 32

33 Ritu Sharma Co-Founder and Executive Director Social Media for Nonprofits Dawn Andreas Marketing Program Manager Eventbrite

Thank you for joining us! 34 Please take a moment to fill out the post-event survey and ask any Questions in the TechSoup Forums for help with your great events Questions?