Visual content is an important part of creating engagement across social channels. It stands out from all the text promotion companies typically do, helps tell a story, and gives event attendees all the information they need in a short amount of time. Visual content for events can be a valuable tactic before, during, and afterwards, becoming a cornerstone of your event marketing strategy.
Event Graphics
At Marketo, we make a custom graphic for every webinar and event that we promote on social channels. We find that it increases the EdgeRank of our posts on Facebook because our followers tend to engage with images over text only posts. We have seen a huge uptick in registration by using this tactic, particularly in a promoted post. Take a look at a visual image we used on Facebook for our Keynote at Marketo Summit.
Visual Notetaking
Hiring a graphic facilitator to capture visual recordings from an event is a fun and innovative way to keep your audience engaged and interested in your content. Having a talented artist on hand sketching notes in real time creates a memorable record. Here are three benefits from using a graphic facilitator to illustrate online and offline events:
- Extends conversations and builds buzz
- Enables better understanding of key takeaways
- Get attendees to look up from their personal devices
We use this visual notetaking for a lot of our events, including keynote sessions at Dreamforce and Marketo Summit. People love to come up afterwards and take photos that they then post to Instagram and Twitter.
Infographics
Creating an infographic about your event or series of events is a fantastic way to get someone excited about attending. Not only is it a fun and unique visual take on events, but it also provides your audience with important logistical information in a way that is easy to understand. You can even create one infographic depicting all of the events you will participate in during a given year. And because infographics are super shareable, they will give you a social lift. Take a look at some of the infographics we created for Dreamforce:
Cover Photos and Backgrounds
Leveraging cover photos on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter is a great way to get your event message across visually when followers come to your page. Cover photos and background images give you free real estate to engage with your followers in a primary location. Take a look at our Google+ cover photo for an upcoming Marketing Happy Hour. It really pops when you visit our Google+ page.
What other visual tactics do you use to promote events? To learn more about all things events, download our Definitive Guide to Event Marketing.
About the Author: Dayna Rothman is Content Marketing Manager at Marketo.
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