Thanks to Instagram, countdowns have become a necessity to create excitement for anything you do these days. Since our conference is only 5 days away, we wanted to share our own countdown of tips, tricks and some advice when putting on your own conference or event!
5 social media tricks - Jordan Beresford (Social Media and Content Manager)
Build a content calendar around key dates. A content calendar will help to keep you organized and provide your entire team with visibility into what is being launched and when. Key dates could be something as simple as promoting that there’s 1 week before your event, but it could also be aligned to key program dates (ie. workshops) or launch dates for other content your team is creating (ie. blogs).
Use tools to help you schedule and post your content. Hootsuite is great for LinkedIn and Twitter. Facebook allows you to schedule posts natively within the platform and Later is great for Instagram. Scheduling posts allows you to focus on engaging with followers, rather than spending all your time publishing.
Hashtag. Hashtag. Hashtag. When building your channels (and your following) it’s important to increase the visibility of your posts. A great way to do that is to include hashtags relevant to your event (ie. #tedx, #conference), as well as your event’s location (ie. #donmills, #toronto). A great app to help you find top performing and relevant hashtags is hashtagger.
Keep the end user in mind. When creating content, it’s always important to balance the objectives from your team (ie. selling event tickets) with what your followers actually want to see (cool interesting content). Putting tons of text on a visual for your Instagram feed may not resonate with your followers. Look at the type of content that’s typically posted on Instagram and follow suit. Beautiful content is what people like to see there, so curate beautiful photography and put the information in the copy section of the post. You want to keep your followers engaged and ultimately to become ambassadors for your event. The way to their hearts is through great content, full stop.
Lastly, leverage your team. Ensure that your entire team is sharing your content out to their followers. When we say team, we also mean speakers, performers, volunteers, etc. It’s important to cast as wide of a net as possible to grow your followership and increase the views and engagement on your posts. We also suggest putting together guidelines for your team so that they understand which hashtags to use and the guard rails they should be following when posting content. Perception and reputation are everything on social media.
4 tips for developing a Successful Content Strategy - Fiona Mascarenhas (Director of Creative and Content)
Content is King- The most important element of a content strategy is, of course, the content. Before creating a content strategy, the first step is to evaluate your content. What type of content will you or your team create? Will it be long-form content or short, snackable pieces? Evaluating your content and reflecting on your brand’s tone is an important factor of your content strategy. It helps you plan for the journey your content will take on the internet. In order for your content strategy to be successful, your content needs to be creative and useful to your target audience.
Build a home for your content- Then developing a content strategy, the next step is to determine where your content will live. If you’ve planned for long-form content, perhaps having it live on a blog and then sharing the links on social media would be a good user journey. Alternatively, if you’re creating bite-size, snackable content, picking a social media platform that aligns to your goals would be the better option. There are lots of options in platforms so make sure to pick one that resonates with your audience and will help you build an engaged community.
Plan your content (all of it)- A successful content strategy is dependent on a content calendar. Scheduling your content and planning ahead will help keep you organized and on track to achieve your goals. It will also help your audience get into a rhythm of engaging with your content. For example, if you plan to put out YouTube videos every week, your audience will learn to expect that from you, instead of having to check in when you create videos sporadically.
Create for people, not likes- The last step in creating a successful content strategy is to plan around building a community. Your audience is not just your followers or viewers, they are people so engage with them and if they take time out of their day to respond to your content, make sure you reply back. Having an engaged audience should be the first goal of your content strategy followed by views, sales, or any other similar metric.
3 things to keep in mind when designing Conference Graphics - Zunash Ashiq Ali (Graphic Designer)
TEDx brand guide is your go to for every deliverable, on the TEDx website, the brand guide is easily available for all Graphic Designers who are a part of the TEDx family. It is important to follow it religiously to create your TEDx vision. The usage of correct Pantone and fonts is another important feature that needs to be incorporated in all the deliverables for consistency. Remember that your audience is going to see these graphics before, during and after the event as well, so it is important that they all look cohesive.
Keep it simple and clean. The look of your print and digital deliverables follows as another integral part of the Conference graphics. Using the right kind of imagery and shapes is as important as using the right font and colour. At TEDxDonMills, we have tried to maintain a minimalistic and futuristic look for all the deliverables that represent our theme. Eye catching and compelling graphics will not only help attract your audience, but also allow them to stop read the information you are delivering to them.
Teamwork is the key to success: Last but not least, teamwork! Always liaise with the whole marketing team. As a graphic designer, it is very important to be informed about the content and marketing plans so that you can work in the same direction to achieve common goals in a timely manner, and to stay up to date in delivery and performance. Sometimes, it may get frustrating working with several other teams and gathering the information you require to complete your work, but just like any other successful event design, there are great rewards at the end so keep patient, persistent and positive. It is my pleasure to be a part of such a great team where every single person is there to support each other.
2 effective email marketing tactics (Ivy Chen - Digital Campaign Manager)
It is always important to have consistent messaging across the board; your emails should coincide with what is written on social media and what’s on the website. Always work with your team to strategize the best way to deliver the message consistently and effectively but not to the point where your readers find it repetitive. Whatever is written on social media can be a gateway or teaser to your email while your email should be detailed with consolidated information; your subscribers will always have your email to refer back to.
Don’t be afraid to be yourself with your emails! Delivering the right information and message is important but don’t let that stop you from showing some personality. An engaging email is one that allows the reader to connect with the writer and incorporating your personality will get you there!
...and finally 1 piece of advice from our Marketing Lead! Jessica Stephens - (Co-Executive Lead, Marketing)
Work with a team that has the skills you need to be successful! There are so many things that you’ll be doing for the first time and there will me many you will have no clue how to do at all! While we can learn how to do just about anything with a google search bar, that takes time! So instead of frustrating yourself in attempting do everything, bring in people who know how to do key things to take the pressure off! Hire a designer! Get someone who is a social media wizard! If email marking is beyond your brain capacity, let someone else who know how to do it, do it! Marketing for this first conference was a success because we brought in the talent who know how to do key things really well and we focused on those! Marketing can be complex and confusing, when you try to do to much.
We hope to have inspired you with some tips and tricks to when putting on an event but now that the conference is so close, it’s time for us to get down and dirty and iron out the final details! If you are joining us on Saturday, we are so excited for you to experience a day of exploration and mind-blowing conversation. See you soon!