The internet has changed the way we communicate. Today, when you meet someone new and intend to keep in touch, what do you ask for? The postal address or his or her coordinates on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or any other social networking sites? The answer is obvious… more often than not it would be a social networking site. Today, a majority of people under the age of 40 have one or more social networking accounts. They use these accounts to socialize with family, friends and other people sharing common interests.

As an event organizer, whose event’s success depends on creating wide spread awareness about the event, you now need to look beyond traditional media. The popularity of the Internet and social networking sites makes it vital for you to build a presence for your event in this environment as you will be able to gain access to the millions using social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin to socialize and communicate.

However before you start marketing via social networks, you should employ the following principles:

Less Is More
With so many social networking sites around, it is easy to adopt a 'need to have a presence on every site attitude'. This is dangerous, if you do not have the time to maintain each and every account. Social networking takes work! You have to spend time regularly (daily) in order to listen and respond to your fans and followers i.e. your potential event attendees. This will enable them to get to know you, like you and trust you. Only then will you be effective and get them to buy or book a ticket for your event. So, if you are working with a strict timeframe, it would be better to maintain a good presence through one account instead of having a barely visible presence on multiple accounts.

Look Before You Leap
Don’t jump into the social networking waters before researching it. Many of these sites have pre-existing groups related to your event. This gives you the option of engaging your potential audience without having to create your own group and waiting to gain a substantial fan following.

For example, if you are organizing a car exhibition, you can attract visitors by joining groups such as Fast Cars, Muscle Cars, Working on cars etc on Facebook to promote your event. The trick to promoting your event on a social networking site is remembering that people visit these sites to socialize with friends, family and other individuals who share the same interests. You cannot bombard them with ads like on TV or radio. You have to be more subtle. So, don't just jump in with a hardcore sale pitch. Socialize, make connections, build relationships and create a network of people who know you, trust you and like you. This will enable you to connect with your potential audience at a deeper level and enable you to convert them more easily.

Ready, Steady, Go
Before tweeting about your event or adding a link to your event website to your tweet or comment, make sure that your website is fully functional and contains all relevant information. You don't invite people to a dinner party, greet them at the door and tell them to come back in two hours because the food is not ready or you haven't finished cleaning your house. Similarly, you can't tell people that you have a great event, bring them to your website where they can learn more, only for them to find an 'under construction' sign. This is bad practice as those people who were interested are now irritated that you wasted their time and may not be inclined to come back or even worse, decide not to trust you again.

Explore Existing Resources before Seeking New Ones
If you are an established event organizer, you already have a delegate database. Before seeking out people who have never heard of you, send out a simple email or newsletter with a ‘Join Now’ button inviting these delegates to become a fan or a follower.

We hope these few tips will help you in your quest to organize and execute the 'perfect’ event.