How To Sell More Event Tickets With Twitter
36% of event marketers say that their biggest challenge is registering enough event attendees. When you consider some of the complexities involved in securing vendor relationships, finding event locations, and managing the event door, seeing that almost half of event managers are worried about booking enough guests can be a little frightening.
What if you could sell out your event in 280 characters? What if there was a little bird that could help you get your message to billions of people? Sure, Twitter may be home to controversial comment threads, lots of politics, and some weird memes. But it’s also home to 60% of event marketers for a reason — Twitter can be a great place to sell tickets.
How do you do it? Let’s talk about it!
Why Twitter?
It’s not as popular as Facebook, isn’t as crowded with young people as Instagram, and it doesn’t have the business prowess of LinkedIn. So, what good is it?
Get this. People are 31% more likely to remember a tweet than a Facebook or Instagram post. And 80% of Twitter users are affluent Millennials. That’s an incredibly valuable crowd.
So, it’s not that Twitter is better than Facebook or LinkedIn. Instead, Twitter is another social media vertical filled with unique people that may fit snuggly into your buyer’s persona. So, the better question would be — why not Twitter?
5 Ways to Sell More Tickets on Twitter
Ok! So, you should use Twitter to sell more tickets. But how exactly do you do it?
1. Create Some Buzz
The most organic way to sell tickets on Twitter is to simply use Twitter regularly. Engage with local influencers and communicate with business leaders. Make a name for yourself on the platform by coming up with engaging, witty, and interesting replies. Find ways to connect with users where they are. So, if you’re running an event over Tupperware, connect with some of the best Tupperware salespeople in the country.
Make yourself known by simply using the platform. This is by far the most difficult and slow-growing way to make an impact and sell some tickets. And you can’t do this in a few weeks. But, this should be your overarching strategy. Eventually, you want to connect and engage enough to be able to sell Twitter tickets without a huge ad budget.
Speaking of ads...
2. Put out Ads
Let’s be honest. You’re probably all going to use ads. They’re effective, and they’re getting more and more effective. Between 2017 and the end of last year, Twitter ads grew 50% in engagement levels. At the same time, the cost-per-engagement fell by 14%. Twitter ads are seriously undervalued right now!
You can create ads that drive leads to your landing pages or website. And you can create ads that attempt to inform and engage customer on-platform. Twitter has a wide range of ad options for events. Plus, like other social sites, it has great segmenting options and built-in analytics.
3. Get People Talking at Your Events
This is an interesting one. Have you ever considered incentivizing people to live Tweet from your actual events? Here are 4 ways to do it:
- Encourage live-tweeting: An easy way to get everyone talking at your event is to encourage them to live-tweet during the event. If you’re having difficulties, try inviting some live-tweeters or create a leaderboard.
- Have a gimmick: Having a unique or interesting twist at your event can inspire people to Tweet. You don’t have to go all out and shoot off fireworks (though we’re pretty sure that would work!) Something as simple as glow-in-the-dark glasses or funny banners can help you generate a buzz.
- Make it pretty: Aesthetics dominate social media. Twitter is probably the least aesthetic platform. But, people definitely still share pics of events. Having well-decorate events is a great way to get people to snap some pics and post them up.
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Find a star: Having a big-time guest speaker can do you a huge service on Twitter. All of their followers will be in-the-know about your event. If you can combine this with live-tweeting, you can generate a serious buzz.
4. Try an Ad Partnership
Get your guests/speakers/performers to run ads for you! Use them as influencers and feed off of their social media status. This is a great way to generate tons of engagement fast. You can tap into their followers to gain some quick traction.
This doesn’t have to be complicated. Most of your guests/performers are already going to want people to show up. It’s easy to convince them to give you some publicity. You may even be able to get some for free!
5. Tweet Some Discounts
90% of consumers use coupons. That’s pretty much everyone! And, when you give them coupons, you can quickly convince them to come to your event. Get this — 40% of consumers feel smart when they use a coupon. Plus, 30% of people will try to redeem that coupon within 24 hours. Coupons can draw people in fast.
