Running an event space in the twenty-first century requires time, energy, great staff and a top-notch social media presence. The goal of your Instagram page is to showcase the venue’s ambiance, the elegant, intimate setting and how it’s perfect for every event, large or small.
In this post, we will discuss 5 tips to achieve an Instagram that draws in clientele from all industries and showcases your facility’s best features.
1. Be Consistent
Consistency is key to running a successful business, and when it comes to social media, it’s no different. To establish consistency, the first step is to determine your audience. Who is your target audience? Are they brides, corporate professionals or more laid back? The audience will determine how you phrase captions and the type of photos your take.
Image:
Consistency among the photos is important for a few reasons. Firstly, images provide a visual representation of your company’s ‘vibe’ or persona, what your company offers and the atmosphere events have. Additionally, photos with consistent colouring and quality heightens your grid quality. The grid is what consumers see when they open your company’s Instagram page–three columns and multiple rows of photos. Instagram’s primary purpose is to share aesthetically pleasing photos, so if you’re going to share, you have to be sure your photo quality is up to par. A bit further down we will discuss how to capture quality photos.
Tone:
The tone of voice presented by captions is almost as important as the photo itself because it is representative of your company and the space. The caption should not only go along with what the image portrays, but relate to all the other content on the page. As an event space, utilizing a friendly, happy tone is usually a safe tone to undertake.
2. Hire Out
High quality content should be your first priority. Be sure to take the time to take high quality photos, which includes staging, lighting and photo angles. To ensure quality and consistency, hiring a professional is imperative.
We get it, outsourcing your photography and digital marketing can be a bit intimidating, but rest assured, it can actually be one of the most cost-efficient, hands free options available. Outsourcing not only provides you and your staff more time to work with clients and their events, it gives you peace of mind because there is a team of professionals monitoring your online presence. The content is regularly updated and in line with the latest technology and industry standards. The best photos of an event space are taken during an event, which is when you and your staff are especially busy, so hire a photographer to float around and get those dreamy detail shots. Additionally, professional photographers have the equipment and eye for photoshoot ideas to ensure your grid is looking top-notch without causing you any extra stress. To read more about outsourcing benefits, check out our blog!
3. Tag, Tag, Tag
The simplest, most effective way to increase the number of people exposed to your page is through tags. By tagging your location, your post will appear when people search that location. Additionally, people follow and search for different hashtags, so utilizing a variety of related hashtags with each post will increase reach. Be sure to change up the hashtags; using the same five hashtags gets boring and limits the number of opportunities to be seen. Lastly, tagging people or other accounts in posts can increase your reach because it allows you access to their followers. Tagged accounts can share the post to stories and be seen on their profiles.
4. Use Ads
Instagram ads are a form of native advertising–it looks like it’s a normal post, but is actually an advertisement. There are four types of Instagram ads:
Photo:
Photo advertisements are your typical posts with a photo and caption. As the easiest to create and don’t cost anything to post, these organic posts are a great place to start to grow your grid and establish your instagram account.
Video:
Videos on Instagram can be up to 60 seconds long and shared like a traditional photo post. Videos are a great route to showcase your venue’s amenities or a highlight reel from past events. Just be sure to have high-quality footage that’s pieces together well. Hiring a professional videographer is a good option to consider.
Carousel:
Carousel advertisements are unique because as users scroll through the photos, the caption changes to match the photo and has a banner at the bottom saying “learn more” or “shop now.” Carousel ads can also be used as story ads.
Story:
Instagram stories are perfect for sharing content, both formal and informal. Utilize your story to tell followers about a new post, an upcoming event or a sneak peek into the behind the scenes of bringing your venue space to life. Story advertisements appear between stories when users are clicking through the accounts they follow. Story ads are the perfect way to immerse your audience and target specific audience characteristics.
Geo-tagging combines tagging and advertising to maximise your reach through selecting a specific demographic, audience interest or behavior and location for posts.
5. Have Fun
Instagram stories especially are perfect for showing some behind the scenes action of your venue space. Have fun with it by posting short videos of the bartending staff preparing fruit or the setup crew placing tables and chairs. Having fun with the posts and showing the human side of what goes into the events leaves a friendly, inviting impression on potential clients. Avoid overusing filters on stories; limiting the number of GIFs and stickers per post will keep it fun yet professional.
Lastly, experiment with post time. Typically, posting first thing in the morning or right after people get off work ensures a higher reach. As an event space, posting a story later in the evening could suit your target audience better.
As a general rule of thumb, always respond to tags and direct messages. Ignoring consumers leaves a bad impression and they are less likely to choose your facility to host their event.