How to Run a Successful Event Marketing Campaign: An #RCCC Example

From culture-specific celebrations to industry-wide conferences, nearly every sector of the economy has a convention of some kind, and that brings a growing number of tasks for community managers to handle.

Unlike standard social media management, where brands can benefit from a steady stream of content and multiple campaigns over several months, online event management is hyper-focused on delivering a variety of information to a select audience in a short period of time. Here at Bonfire, we’ve managed several large-scale events across a range of industries and regions. This post will take a look at some tactical examples from Portland’s Rose City Comic Con (RCCC) that event marketing managers should note.

Announcement checklist

Conventions take a good deal of planning for organizers and attendees, especially when travel is involved. Before launching an initial announcement campaign, three items need to be ready:

• Date and location: Vague announcements that an event is “coming soon” lack value. They deny potential consumers any actionable options or the chance to clear room in their calendar. Let people know when and where they need to be so they can save money and set aside time.
• Ticket ordering: Don’t squander a popular post by preventing people from instantly making a purchase. If you’re not providing a few-clicks funnel for people to get what you’re selling, then don’t be surprised when they take their dollars elsewhere.
• Travel and lodging: Once people have decided to attend an event, they’re going to need to plan for how to get to there and where to stay. The last thing you want is for attendees to blow their budgets on plane tickets and hotel rooms due to your lack of proper planning, leaving them with nothing to spend at your event.

Final details about special guests, workshops, panels, and other aspects of the show can be rolled out over time. The exclusive XOXO Festival in Portland screens potential attendees and gives them only 24 hours to make a purchase once approved, all before any guests and keynotes are revealed. The festival has sold-out four years running.

For RCCC, an initial round of comics creators and celebrities were announced at the same time tickets went on sale. The vast majority, however, were promoted as the show date grew closer. A limited edition number of higher-priced Fast Passes sold out almost instantly, giving proverbial early birds the chance to meet celebrity guests before anyone else at the convention. Months later, after it was revealed that Carrie Fisher would be attending, those customers were overjoyed, while others pledged to purchase the special passes next year as soon as they go on sale.

Immediate response and always-on social media

Thanks to tools like Hootsuite and built-in capabilities for scheduling on Facebook and Twitter, it’s easy to plan out content well in advance and have posts go live over nights and weekends. This method is especially effective if the material is general promotion or news that doesn’t require immediate follow-up. While this is still true for pushing out event information, managers will undoubtedly be responsible for answering questions from attendees who expect prompt replies.

Earlier this year, 1 billion people logged into Facebook in a single day. Because of social media’s ever-present nature, the channels have become the go-to source for asking questions, even when the information can be found on an event’s website. We received countless questions — mostly during off-work hours — in the months leading up to the show. Looking at the data from Facebook’s Insight’s feature, we found that RCCC fans were most active between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. Ensuring our staff was available to answer questions in real-time made fans happy and increased ticket sales.

For a brief, shining moment, we even achieved Facebook’s lofty standards for message replies, earning a special denotation on the RCCC page that let users know we responded to 100 percent of messages in minutes. That’s not a dragon worth chasing, but it does show how high expectations are set these days.

Once at the show, our team was on-site to capture all the action, both arriving early and staying late. Most conventions run much longer than a standard 8-hour workday, and many have supplemental events before and after the main show. Scheduling breaks for staff and assigning coverage to specific parts of the convention will ensure no one gets burned out and nothing is missed.

Community management: Deep insider insight

Can your community manager identify the largest vendors at the event? Do they understand the relationships between competitors? In the world of comics, publishers and creators have a strange overlap where people often work for different companies and projects simultaneously. Leaving one vendor out or promoting one project over another can lead to resentment among peers, which can quickly hurt the convention’s bottom line if those vendors decide against purchasing space in the future.

Is your community manager familiar with your guests and keynote speakers? Can they answer questions that panel moderators will be asked? Incorrectly answering even some of the most obscure fan questions can lead to attendees thinking the event doesn’t legitimately represent the culture, driving down the perceived value of the ticket price.

Diverse, overlapping interests

Comic conventions are about much more than just comics these days. From voice actors to video games, cosplay to TV shows, RCCC bills itself as a “pop culture event.” At the convention, a Magic: The Gathering tournament could be taking place at the same time as a kid’s costume parade. Meanwhile in the panel rooms, one group could be giving professional advice to freelancers as another records a live podcast episode. Technology conferences are similar — from the growing Internet of Things trend to data center management to wearables to gaming, each aspect is highly specialized and appeals to different communities.

Though there’s significant overlap in audience, people’s passions are generally focused on one area. As such, our advertising strategy was geared toward highlighting aspects of the show different demographics would find interesting, segmenting our ads and the creative assets multiple times over the course of a month.

Post-show promotion

The last day of the show comes and goes. You’re tired and thankful you’re not involved in cleaning or packing up. But the work isn’t over. For a week following a large event, attendees will be reminiscing, writing blogs, posting photos, and yes, complaining about all the things that went wrong. Proper post-show engagement can be nearly as important as pre-show communication. If possible, it’s worth making the date and location for next year’s event available to attendees as they leave. Though it’s often too early to start promoting ticket sales and guests, returning visitors can be the strongest segment of your consumer audience.

For RCCC, we also asked for feedback from attendees on how we can improve next year. No event is going to run perfectly, but giving people a way to voice their frustration shows the organization is willing to embrace change, boosting the brand’s positive reputation.

We had a great time helping promote and document all the excitement at RCCC. Though conventions require a great deal of work, the payoff is bringing together thousands of people who can share their passions with true peers.

Related resources:

• How to Engage Attendees Before Your Event
• How to Promote an Event Using Online Marketing
• How To Use Social Media To Market Major Events: 3 Case Studies