by Ever wondered how to promote an event on LinkedIn? Are you even on the social media platform? There has not been a better time to get in on the action than now.
When it comes to event promotion, LinkedIn is not the first social media site people think of.
Indeed, LinkedIn has also removed the events feature it used to have. The feature is currently being revamped, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways of promoting events on LinkedIn in the meantime.
In this article, we’ll discuss…
- Why you should promote events on LinkedIn
- What makes it different from Facebook and Twitter
- Which event types are best promoted on it
- Ten ways you can market your event on LinkedIn
Why market events on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a terribly underrated social media platform when it comes to marketing. Since it entered the market in 2002, its user base has grown every year.
Let’s look at some of the statistics for LinkedIn.
The platform currently has over 500 million users and is aiming for 3 billion. Around 40 million users are decision-makers in their company, and over a quarter of these are Millennials. There is also a healthy gender ratio, with 44% of users being female.
But that’s just for starters.
Here are the real reasons you should promote your event on LinkedIn:
- Average users have a high disposable income.
- Content has a high organic reach.
- There is very little competition for impressions.
- 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn.
If that doesn’t sound like a goldmine, we don’t know what does.
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What makes LinkedIn different as a marketing channel?
The purpose of LinkedIn is to facilitate professional networking in a social media context. You may have the impression that it’s mainly targeting B2B professionals, which is mostly true.
But if you search LinkedIn Groups, you’ll find a much more diverse mix of people from different professional backgrounds. Yoga instructors and singer-songwriters? You bet.
So while the focus is definitely on B2B, don’t write it off if you don’t cater to those particular industries. See for yourself what kind of people use the platform.
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Which event types are best promoted on LinkedIn?
Because LinkedIn leans more towards B2B than B2C, you’d be right in thinking that the kind of events best promoted on the platform would be of the B2B nature.
Think conferences, trade shows, and business networking events.
But you’ll also find companies that specialise in yoga classes, music events, and cooking classes. As it turns out, people in suits also eat food and listen to music.
Use that to your advantage.
10 ways to promote an event on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a wonderful platform for marketing, and promoting an event is no exception. The platform comes with many of the same bells and whistles as Facebook, but LinkedIn’s organic reach is higher and you’ll be competing with fewer content creators.
Use LinkedIn to…
- Share major event announcements
- Post images and videos from past events
- Promote networking opportunities at your event
- Leverage your speakers’ and sponsors’ reach
- Describe the venue, food, and entertainment
As with any other form of social media marketing, you should always aim to use attention-grabbing headlines, copy, and visuals for maximum impact. Let’s look at some of the tips on how to promote an event on LinkedIn here below.
1. Personal status updates
LinkedIn allows you to post status updates, just like on Facebook. As with other social media platforms, status updates with images, video, and great copy get the most attention.
2. Company status updates
You can also create a page for your events company or the event itself. Here, you can also post status updates and pin these to your company page’s feed so that important ones appear at the top.
3. Influencer status updates
If you have a speaker, entertainer, sponsor or media partner for your event, you should ask them to post about it on LinkedIn. If they have influencer status, it will work wonders for your event marketing.
You should also encourage anyone else involved in your event, such as the venue management and catering company, to share similar status updates.
4. Published posts
You can publish long-form blog posts on LinkedIn. You can promote your event that way but avoid coming across as spammy. The platform rewards useful content, so if you pen a useful how-to piece that can help others, it might be curated and appear in LinkedIn Pulse channels where it’ll gain even greater exposure.
5. LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn Groups are similar to those found on Facebook. Here, you can participate in discussions and exchange knowledge with other people who share similar interests.
Be careful not to spam these groups with your event promotion. Build up a relationship with the group members first and generate some goodwill before you share the event details.
You can also create a new group specifically for your event and invite everyone to join it.
6. Direct messaging
You can, and should, also promote your event with direct messages. A free account enables you to message 50 contacts at once, but you can also use Sponsored InMail to reach people you’re not connected to.
As with all direct messages, try to make it personal to each individual and don’t message them too often.
7. LinkedIn ads
In addition to Sponsored InMail, the platform also offers other ways to advertise your event. Both types of LinkedIn ads are similar to what you find on Facebook.
You can purchase text ads, which appear at the right-hand side of each user’s newsfeed. LinkedIn also gives you the option of featuring Sponsored Content within the newsfeed.
Eventbrite has put together a PDF to help you out and LinkedIn has also produced an eBook on how to best use their ads to promote your event.
8. Pimp your profile
There are a few dirty tricks you can use to draw extra attention to your event using your personal LinkedIn profile.
- Use your profile Headline and Summary sections to promote the event.
- Add the event registration website to your Contact Info section.
- Upload images, videos, and presentations to your Professional Portfolio.
- Create a Project section and link to your event registration website.
9. Recruit people
Yes, who would’ve thunk it? LinkedIn is the perfect place to find members for your event team. Whether you’re looking for festival volunteers or interior decorators, you can post a job on LinkedIn and not only attract the right talent…but also promote your event at the same time.
Tip: Have a look at our guides on hiring event staff and finding event volunteers to learn more about the process.
10. Engage, engage, engage
Lastly, but most importantly, you have to remember the “social” in “social media.” Engage with anyone who likes, comments, shares, or otherwise expresses interest in your event after seeing your messages, updates, and sponsored content.
Sharing is caring, but caring leads to more sharing.
Time to link up with people
Hopefully, you now have a much better understanding of how to promote an event on LinkedIn. As you can see, there are plenty of ways for you to find both team members and attendees.
Do you have any first-hand experience using LinkedIn to promote events? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and share them with the community.