Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Many things are possible online and in Social Media.

- You can post the event on LinkedIN in the event planner
- create a FB event - even corporate people check here
- You can create a Foursquare event
- You can create a Yelp place
- List the event on PlanCast
- You can make up a specific Twitter # for the event
- Ask you local Chamber of Commerce to promote it in their calendar
- You can always send out an email to your current attendees, but ask them to send it to one more person
- create and plan a regular newsletter to keep people informed before and after the event.
- Add the share button on your webpage and tell attendees that the person who share the most will get a surprise gift.

- and many other possibilities, depending on how much time and marketing $$ you want to spend

Mikael
B2B Marketing

The one that comes to mind for me is to make a Facebook page for it. Do this prior to sending out other publicity (like mail to prior attendees) so you can also include the link to the FB page in that publicity.

No matter what new media you may try, don't drop the contacting prior attendees. This is likely your most effective marketing. And make sure you have a regular home page (not just the Facebook one), as I suspect a significant proportion of golfers are not on Facebook.

You said that you require a 'new' way to market the event. I'd recommend checking these guys out https://www.blurgroup.com/ they are a 'creative services exchange' which means they hold thousands of creative people online that pitch for briefs that come in.

A lot of these 'Creatives' will probably have experience in social media so you could, like you said, market using social media through these guys.

I just think with such a big budget you may want to take it to the professionals...

They have a youtube channel as well: https://www.youtube.com/user/blurGroup

Of course there are new ways. But depending on the objective and the target audience, they may not be as effective as the old ways.

So before you charge off to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and a dozen other new media approaches, get the director to state the objective clearly and define the target audience precisely.

Then come back here and we'll help you. (It may be that the most effective use of funds is to donate them to a worthwhile charity. At least that won't require that you spend a lot of your time on media that won't accomplish your objective.)

I'm with mgoodman. Why do you need a new approach? What's not working with your past one? Which new people are you hoping to attract? Why? Social media may be a good addition, but it requires an active presence to not only initiate it, but to keep the social aspect going.

You want to market a sports event. It seems, probably the target audience is limited to specific territory or of specific profile. If so, continue with your traditional marketing efforts. You could also reach the specific past attendees and potential participants through email campaign or through social media.

You need different strategy and media to reach very large number of audience and limited audience.

Hi, Vance.

Here are some questions and thoughts to help you organize your approach.

1. Goals. What does the corporate sponsor need or want for their $50,000? Don't guess about this -- ask for specifics. For example, they might want to be seen as a brand with certain characteristics (we’re “cool,” we’re “authorities,” we’re “for men,” etc.), or to reach more 30-somethings, or to increase their opt-in email list, etc. Your ultimate plan has to achieve these goals, as well as garner the expected promotional return expected by the tournament organizer and director. Can social media help you achieve these goals? If so, then it’s time to take that direction.

2. Build on Success. Peter is right -- don't drop working with your current email list, because it’s working. If you add social media, include those links on your outgoing email, and make your email inviting to pass along to friends.

3. Social Media. Social media takes a lot of upkeep, so choose two or three venues and focus on making them rich experiences for users. If you need help, apportion part of your budget to a freelance golf writer/blogger to help you post/tweet/blog/respond in the arenas you have chosen. Also, investigate golf-oriented social marketing services such as this one: https://www.golfpulpmedia.com/social-media/. (Note, I've not used this specific company, but it is an example of the type of resource that can provide immediate traction.) To get started in determining which social media platforms might be your best fit, consult this chart from Flowtown: https://www.flowtown.com/blog/social-media-demographics-whos-using-which-si....

One note about Facebook: Its power is sharing one person’s interest with all their friends. So, if you offer the opportunity for a visitor to sign into your event website using Facebook, it’s easier for their friends to follow them there. This alone could be an important social marketing tool for your event. More: https://www.facebook.com/about/login/.

4. Advertising. If you choose social marketing, use it to extend your traditional advertising/email approach. By “extend,” I mean each ad and email should point visitors to a landing page, blog, Facebook page, other social media page(s), or offer a “text GOLF123” for more information. This allows golfers to move to whatever media they prefer, on whatever device they prefer, which helps them pass your message to others for viral gain. Of course you’ll want to A/B test your ads for best results.

5. Reach, Recency, Marketing Intelligence. Three chief advantages of social media for events are these: First, it helps a portion of your “right” audience find you, when you would otherwise never have found them. Second, if you prepare it in advance, social media can be used to create an avalanche of fresh buzz and momentum just before the event (or just before the take-action deadline) that you cannot create with advertising and email alone. And third, because social media contains so much information about the respondents, you can gain a huge amount of demographic, preference and behavioral data that is very helpful in planning and marketing future events.

Bottom line, social media response is growing so rapidly, that most marketers want to put some portion of their investment there. Hope these ideas contribute some guidance for your decision about how to incorporate it.