Monday, 27 February 2017

Social Media and the Future of Event Planning - Team: Lei Chen, Hermilo Bravo, Xochitl Ledesma

Social Media and the Future of Event Planning

 Harnessing the power of social media can prove to be a great resource to an event planner from before the start of the event to after the completion of the event.  With Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn becoming increasingly popular among all ages of the world’s population, the chances are that many people who are going to attend an event are regular users of at least one.  As such, these apps are great resources to keep our clients up-to-date with any and all new developments or alterations to the schedule!
             The combined use of email and Twitter can ensure that people receive information as quickly as possible and, incredibly important, view it as quickly as possible.  The beauty of Twitter is that people do not have to be signed up for it to read other peoples’ or business’ tweets.  This allows the event planner to simply post worded announcements and/or links to necessary websites directly onto their account and be sure that people can instantly view it. 

 It gets even more exciting when the people who are attending the event also have Twitter.  Those people can reply to the post, share the post with others and even boost their professional work related status by retweeting the official event electronic “publicity poster” created by the event planner (basically, this means that the electronic “publicity poster” will appear on their Twitter for all of their friends to see).  This is the type of thing that can get people excited and feeling mentally, physically and emotionally satisfied/comfortable with the event before it even begins.  Of course, it is imperative that the announcements be attractive to the eye and professional.  That being said, everyone does like a little fun.  So, it is up to the event planner to decide how they want to be represented in this form. 
During the event, clients are able to post pictures and video to their Twitter or Facebook accounts in real time.  This is especially great for those attending an event in place of their bosses or somebody else they have to report back to with field reports.  A picture and a touch of a button can transmit so much information very conveniently.  And, importantly, such transmitted information can be of use to the event planner.  For example, if the event planner notices that a lot of people are taking pictures of a certain decoration or installment with smiles on their faces, they can make a note of popularity and be sure to include it in future events.  
Establishing a hashtag for the event from the get-go will enable event planning companies to follow the reaction to the event by the clients in real time.For example, a hashtag of #worldtechparis2017 could be made to represent an event for a company called World Tech that is hosting a conference in Paris in 2017.  It is up to the event planner to create this Twitter hashtag and share it with the participants at some point before the event.  Any tweet that is posted by a person who includes the hashtag #worldtechparis2017 with that tweet can instantly be viewed by the event planner.  This can provide instant, valuable insight into how participants are enjoying the event.  With this information, event planners can change things on the fly if necessary to best meet the needs and desires of the clients.  Additionally, after the event, the event planner can tweet a group picture of all in attendance of the event to promote their own business their participant businesses.  This also makes for a great souvenir!


Indeed, social media, when used correctly, is a powerful resource that can change the tides in a competitive marketplace.  Its relatively simplicity of use, ability to connect up to millions of people worldwide and its effectiveness of serving as a measuring stick of how an event is perceived makes social media a major part in the future of event planning. 

Happy planning!


Consulted sources


Event Academy
2017. Social Media for Event Management, retrieved from https://eventacademy.com/from-the-course/social-media-for-event-management/


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