Social Media and Digital Marketing Within Events

Social media and digital marketing are a phenomenon that has transformed the event industry. The benefits of integrating social media in the creation and management ofevents are tremendous. It is essential to discover how can we use each social network to promote efficiently and profitable our event, and also to know what social networks are better suited to be used during the celebration of these events. Some other essential factors that influence these fields are:

• Web 2.0:

The web 2.0 and its attributes have, by far, helped in this transformation. This second generation of the World Wide Web enables communication and information sharing between people worldwide. 

• Good bye unidirectional structure:

In the past, event planners developed their events with no communication with participants; what they said was the law and was done. Nowadays, social media and digital marketing has enhanced the communication channels between the planners and the participants where now they become a vivid part of the planning process. This also builds up feedback.

• Cost-effective:

Although is not recommendable to work on marketing efforts with $0 for budgeting, the use of these social network and digital marketing are basically free. This availability helps enormously because the event can be manipulated electronically at no cost. Digital technology is so advanced that there are even websites specifically dedicated to event planning through the Internet. This is the case of Constant Contact and their EventSpot application.

•  Scope and interaction:

Social media and digital marketing are everywhere, allowing a wide scope and interaction. This scope permits a networking among organizers, customers, virtual attendees and potential attendees. This interaction happens before, during and after the event contributing to its enrichment. Also, it adds value to the event, its digital marketing and content, and allows greater dissemination of the event.

•  Distribution:

Distribution goes hand-to-hand with scope. If years ago the events coverage was limited to traditional media coverage and word of mouth spread by participants in the event, now there are online tools that allow events and their contents to be known wherever is desired.