Coffey & Tea were thrilled to be in charge of executing the social media strategy for State of Social, Australia’s most in-demand digital and social event.
Held at Optus Stadium across two days, we utilised Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram to hype the event, boost attendance and communicate why, in a world of COVID-19, State of Social was unmissable.
While the focus was on attracting participants to attend, a big part of our strategy included engaging followers during and after the event. If they were unable to attend (due to international and domestic borders), they’re going to make sure they won’t miss out on 2021.
Here’s the social media services we used to do it…
Creating a Facebook event
A Facebook event helps spread the word, provides a place with all the essential information and includes a link where people can purchase tickets.
While Coffey & Tea were posting organically on the State of Social accounts, posting regular updates in the event keeps the conference top of mind and helps build buzz.
It is an easy way to hype up an event; as participants begin to RSVP, the event receives more visibility, as it appears on other people’s Facebook feeds.
Utilise paid social media
To increase the visibility of State of Social, it was essential to run paid social media advertisements.
This paid promotion included remarking to audiences who had visited the State of Social website yet hadn’t purchased a ticket as well as communicating to new audiences who work in the digital marketing industry.
The engaging ads included eye-catching visuals, short copy and direct call to actions.
Regular posting on organic accounts
While COVID-19 delayed the conference by five months, Coffey & Tea were posting on weekly across all social media platforms.
The content was tailored for each platform; Twitter was short and sweet; LinkedIn had a professional tone; Facebook was cocky and playful and the Instagram event promotion was informative and funny. We utilised images from State of Social ‘19, and the content was always engaging, conversational and not aggressively pushing sales.
Event hashtag
The #StateOfSocial20 hashtag was included on every piece of collateral, blog post and social media content.
By using a dedicated hashtag, attendees and stakeholders were able to find what we are sharing. During the conference, the social media team was able to search what attendees were saying and sharing. We were then able to engage with them in a meaningful way and build connections.
Testimonials
Featuring testimonials from past State of Social attendees helps to attract a deeper interest from new attendees, builds trust and as a whole, strengthens the credibility of the event.
Highlight the guest speakers
There was an extremely high calibre of talent that spoke at State of Social including the author of Digital Darwinism, Tom Goodwin, Hollywood superstar Kate Walsh, Matthew Kobach from Fast just to name a few.
Communicating this to the audience gave them a sneak peek of what to expect and built event credibility with the participation of thought leaders in the digital marketing field.
Each speaker had a dedicated blog post on the State of Social blog, which was shared across Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and graphics on Instagram.
Use press shoutouts
To increase the profile of the conference, we engaged with local and domestic press, including Campaign Brief, Perth Is Ok and Mumbrella.
This helped spread the word to new possible attendees who read these publications but also provided us with valuable content to share on the organic social platforms.
Document the day
Coffey & Tea hit the ground running with an Instagram Reel, giving a tour of the world-class event premises. We utilised Instagram Stories to highlight each speaker and their nuggets of wisdom.
Before the conference we created specialised State of Social GIFs and on the day highlighted these in our Stories and encouraged their usage.
We were live-tweeting the conference from the official State of Social Twitter account and engaging in a two-way conversation with attendees in the room and people who were online and invested in the conference.
Continue to share highlights of the event to buzz up interest for next year
After the conference finished, across all social media platforms, Coffey & Tea began sharing highlights of the two days.
This was to create momentum and buzz for State of Social 2021.
We wrote detailed blogs of each day on the State of Social website that was shared across LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
The Instagram account posts daily highlights of the conference that conveys the energy and excitement the attendees were all experiencing.
