Content Marketing for Events – Blogs

As you’ll recall in my last post, content marketing is essential for positioning yourself as a leader within your industry. It is also a fantastic way to get people more interested in going to your event or using your event planning business. With that being said, I wanted to talk a little bit about how to use blog posts to accomplish that.   Guest Posts Guest posts can go one of two ways: either you have somebody post on your blog, or you make a post on somebody else’s blog. Somebody posting on your blog: If you’re going this route, the best thing to do is get somebody who is well respected in your industry or niche to post about a topic that relates to your event. This means that if you’re doing a trade show, having a representative from a company writea bout what to look for in a certain product is great. If it’s a comic convention, having a special guest write about something is sure to be a winner. If it’s a social event, even having somebody who regularly frequents it write about a great experience they had will be relatable. Posting on somebody else’s blog: Your first step is to identify blogs in your industry or nicheThe second is to identify if any of them allow guest posting. Stop right here – remember that you’re posting on somebody else’s blog. This means that you can’t just advertise your event your your service. You need to provide something of value before you can talk about yourself or you’re not going to be allowed to guest post. Or, worse, you’ll look self-serving and it will rub people the wrong way. Once you have a list of potential guest posting opportunities, email them all! Or if you know them in person, just ask. Be sure to make your  email stand out. Pitch an idea or interesting perspective for a piece within the email. This is far more likely to be accepted than a vague “can I write a thing for you?”. Also, don’t forget to go big! Some blogs may seem intimidating because they’re huge within their field and have thousands of followers, but include them in your email pitch. If your idea is good, they’ll be interested!   For Event Planning Businesses If you’re running an event planning business, you should have regular blog posts. Blog posts come in all shapes and sizes: you can write about things you’ve learned, tips and tricks for other event planners, embarrassing/funny stories about planning, and much more. The blog posts you write are only limited by your own imagination. There’s a story behind every event you’ve planned and the experiences you’ve gained from it. Some of the most popular event planning sites out there, like eventplanningblueprint.com , have an extremely robust content section.   For Events If you’re making blog posts to market an event, you should post regularly but the content shouldn’t be about tips and tricks. It should be anticipatory in nature – perhaps post “leaked” pictures of what the event will look like. Guest posts from speakers and stars are great here. If you’re running a conference or trade show, talk about vendors or speakers that are going to be there. Just like with conventions, see if a speaker or a certain vendor is willing to write a short post about their experiences or anything else that relates to your convention.   Other Tips – Have a schedule set up. People enjoy regular content and will make it part of that day’s routine. Communications studies have shown that many people would read a newspaper every day just because it was a habit. So whatever day you’re going to make a post, stick with it! – Keep paragraphs short. Imagine if I had no line breaks and everything I’d written so far was in one huge paragraph. It’d be an eyesore and mentally taxing to read. – Headers should be in bold. Did you notice that all my headers were in bold? Due to the effect of social media and Gawkeresque sites, people tend to skim articles and this can point them in the right direction. There are a lot of arguments on long posts vs. short posts and what works best. According to Medium,  the optimum post length takes about an average of 7 minutes to read (post here). You also have Buffer saying an optimum post has about 1,600 words (post here).This allows for the post to contain enough information for the reader to find relevant without also taking up too much time or overwhelming them.  That’s not to say short posts aren’t good or useful, as I think this one fits both criteria! I think a blend of both is the best way to go but, testing with your own audience and what they respond to is the best way. Conclusion I hope this gave you some inspiration to get started on a blog for your event or for your event planning business. If you’re interested in more posts about blogs, check out my post on how to use blogs to sell tickets online.  ]]]]> ]]>