How events (and a calendar app) can be the most powerful PR and marketing weapons
Events are some of the easiest (and most effective) ways to boost your bottom line and breathe life into your branding and business efforts.
By hosting or attending events, you can learn new skills, better network, earn extra money and more.
Here’s how both virtual and in-person events can breathe life into your PR and marketing efforts — and how FollowMyCal (a free social calendar platform) can help with each step:
Learn new trends and skills.
Social media platforms and trends change constantly, and there’s a steady stream of announcements about a new technology or business offering.
Using newsreaders such as Google News Feed, Flipboard and Feedly can help you stay on top of current events and news, but how can you adapt to these changes and fully take advantage of Facebook and Google algorithm shifts or content marketing best practices?
Learn new skills and methods by attending webinars and listening to both podcasts and livestreams, and network while learning by attending live events in your industry and niche.
TrackMaven has a list of marketing webinars to get your started, and you can find several lists of recommended podcasts, including this one of PR-focused shows and the best podcasts of this year.
Though you can often get notifications from your podcast app when a new show is ready, add regular shows to your calendar using the FollowMyCal app. That way, you can see the podcasts(s) along with your meetings and appointments, which can help you better set up your days.
Using FollowMyCal also enables you to receive reminders and share events with others. For example, if you want to let your co-worker know about a new podcast coming out, you can share the event with him or her to listen together and grow in wisdom.
Bring in additional revenue.
Do you specialize in a skill (such as SEO or Pinterest marketing)? Put your knowledge to work as a side hustle, and you can both enhance your brand and make more money.
Offer consulting sessions (you can do this virtually using Skype or GoToMeeting) and webinars, or virtual courses that other professionals can take to hone their skills in niche areas.
Whitepapers are another way to spread your wisdom — and gather email addresses for your next webinar marketing campaign. You can also build private Facebook groups for current or potential attendees, which offers you a space to share updates as well as an opportunity for people to ask additional questions and receive advice.
Each webinar or new course, however, requires PR and marketing to get the word out. Make it easier by creating calendar events on FollowMyCal and sharing those online. You can share individual events (via the website or app) on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest and in emails, or copy the link and share via SMS and additional social platforms.
Each event has an RSVP, and those you share the event with can tell you if they’re planning to attend. By knowing how many people are coming to your event, you can better prepare materials. If your projected attendance is low, you can adjust marketing to boost the number of people who ultimately join.
Build your community.
Live events can be a great way to interact with your customers and fans — and sometimes, even give back to the community. You don’t have to be a nonprofit to host a fundraising event, for example. You can throw a networking party, host a meeting to discuss upcoming changes in your organization (such as a school district) or sponsor an event for industry leaders.
Increase your attendance by creating a calendar for your organization on FollowMyCal and embedding it on your website. You can then share the links to individual events and use it alongside your PR and marketing efforts to better get the word out.
You don’t have to host an in-person event to benefit from this, either.
Livestreaming, podcasting, Instagram or Snapchat Stories and more can give your online followers a look into your life and offer them chances to learn from and interact with you.
Many people, including PR and marketing pros and business leaders, use regular Facebook Live videos as a way to give viewers quick pieces of information, updates and reactions to breaking trends or industry changes, backed by longer webinars or podcasts that offer even more value. Other bloggers and industry leaders host Twitter chats or release a weekly column that discusses particular subjects or rounds up news, articles and more.
Set these events as regularly occurring events on a public FollowMyCal calendar, which you can then embed on your website or blog. Here’s a calendar of Twitter chats:
Invite your followers to subscribe to your calendar and RSVP to individual events. Once they join FollowMyCal, they’ll get reminders of each event they add to their own calendar, making the work of reminding people much easier.
Attendees can also more easily share events that they’re attending through the app or platform. Each event listing offers the name of the event, a detailed description, time (which is adjusted based on the app user’s time zone) and place (for in-person events, it’ll feature the event address on Google Maps).
Better work with your clients/employees/team.
Planning out your day and week can be crucial to productivity, especially if you have several tasks to complete and deadlines to meet.
Using FollowMyCal can be an easy way to organize your schedule, and look at your daily agenda. It integrates your calendars on Google and Exchange, and also pulls in Facebook events that you’re attending. You can have all of your events in one place, along with push notifications to remind you that an event is coming up.
Not only can you share individual events on social media, via email or through the app with another user — you can also share an entire day of your schedule, or export all the events on a given day to another calendar. This can be helpful when working with co-workers or partners, or to share with an assistant or friend what you’re doing.
You can also create private calendars, with which you can share events or an entire day of events.
When you create a private calendar — for example, for an alumni group or department in an organization — all events on the shared calendar will be seen by all those who are invited to view it. That way, if you have to change a team meeting, you can change it in FollowMyCal (either on desktop or via the app) without several emails back and forth to remind people about the time or date change.
Use this private calendar feature to help you coordinate your next campaign or organize your upcoming Fantasy Football draft and parties for the 2017–2018 season.
Create a sense of urgency.
Many communicators know that creating a sense of urgency can increase interest (and sales) in a product or service. This goes for events, too.
For example, you can use events on FollowMyCal to advertise early bird pricing or an exclusive offer, including the day your book is coming out (and what days you’ll be available for signings and readings).
If you use Facebook or other social media platforms to sell products and services, such as LuLaRoe, Scentsy or Beachbody, creating a calendar of your promotions and parties can make it easier for people to attend and take part of your efforts.
Not only can you integrate Facebook events with FollowMyCal, but you can get away from the noise on that platform and better plan your parties (if it’s an in-person event, having the Google Maps feature can cut down on emails with directions) and boost your attendance.
How have you used events in your PR and marketing arsenal? How are you using FollowMyCal to better plan your efforts?
