Whether you’ve been planning your special event for months or weeks, marketing for your auto repair shop is critical to getting people to show up. So much goes into it before, during, and after the event. That’s right, and the party’s not over when it’s over. One big piece of event marketing comes in the follow-up and is often the most overlooked and forgotten aspect of event marketing.
Planning a shop event includes all the prominent pieces such as site selection, food choices, entertainment, and selecting the main attraction, whether a car show, a speaker, or something else. The next step is to compile all that information into great marketing pieces such as a flier, poster, email marketing campaign, Facebook event, and press releases.
The big day is here, you’re excited, and energy is bouncing through your event. Before you know it everyone has had a great time, the event has come to an end, and you’re already moving on to your next event. But, wait! You’ve still got work to do! Below are some ideas for post-event marketing to help you stay in touch with your attendees, re-live the moment and promote future events.
- Create & share your photo album. “A picture is worth 1,000 words”. We’ve all heard it, and social media proves it true. Engagement is huge when photos are used, so be sure to take lots of photos at your event. Depending on the event, you may even want to utilize a professional photographer. Research suggests that posting photo albums increases your engagement by 180%!
Post photos on Instagram. According to MDG Advertising, 68% of social media users learn about a charity when they see a friend posting about it. Encourage others to post photos on Instagram as well as yourself. When doing so, encourage others to use your event hashtag and/or tag your organization in the post/photo. We would be remiss if we did not encourage you to post photos on Instagram when it is, by its foundation, based on images. Be sure to include hashtags specific to your topic/industry/product/service to help your photo be found in searches relevant to those keywords.
Repost & Share posts using your event hashtag. Hashtags are everywhere; admit it! You see them on TV, hear them referenced on radio, see them in advertising and more. By utilizing an event hashtag, you can monitor and view all posts on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter using your event hashtag. Some great hashtag monitoring tools, such as Hashtracker and Keyhole, are available to help you view hashtag analytics. Constant Contact has a great blog explaining more in detail about creating a hashtag to build engagement for your event.
Send a post-event thank you email and include links to photo albums. Promote your event when it is complete and give it an adrenalin kick by sending an email campaign to say “thanks for attending.” Be sure to include a link to your event’s photo album and ask attendees to tag themselves in the photos. Failing to follow up via email and photos is a missed opportunity for event engagement that will showcase your event to friends of attendees but also page or profile growth allowing you to promote your next auto shop event to those friends.
If this event is often held, monopolize on the post-event momentum and invite attendees to your next event. Part of the next event’s marketing includes finalizing your date, time, and other event details before the current event starts. By doing this, immediately following the event, your follow-up/thank-you email can share your thank-you sentiments, include your photo album link, and a “Save the Date” for the next event. Even allowing people to register immediately! By doing so, you can stay in touch and send reminders and event announcements.
Promote quotes and testimonials about your event. If you hear attendees sharing great feedback, ask them if you can use that as a testimonial. Compile those and use them to promote your next event. And then include them in emails, on social media, and on your shop’s website!
Conduct a post-event survey or poll to gauge attendee satisfaction and feedback. It is crucial to ask attendees how they felt about everything from registration to finding out about the event, the food, location, timing, etc. That is a great way to get testimonials and quotes to use as well! Using Constant Contact’s survey feature, you can easily put together a valuable survey with a shareable link so you can post it on your website and social media and include it in your post-event email!
Hold a post-event contest to encourage photo posting, etc. Another fun way to follow up after an event is to create a contest campaign allowing attendees to post photos to your contest post. Consider giving away an event t-shirt, registration for a future event, gift certificate, or something else. If your event included other businesses, they might also offer a prize pack!
Don’t stop marketing when the event is complete. There is always something left to be done; quite frankly, one event always leads to another. Maintain your event’s momentum and energy by staying in touch and sharing those special moments from your events.
