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A simple idea, but one that makes event notifications easy if the people you want to inform about your event details are following you on Twitter.  A Twitter Mashup called Twitzu allows for inputting your Event information, such as date, time and location, title and description (not necessarily in that order) and blasts it out to your Twitter followers.

Obviously a work in progress (the links on the pages to the ‘About Us’, ‘Contact Us’, etc. pages don’t work), this simple web-app. claims to allow for your followers to RSVP if they will be attending your event.

Since you have to enter your Twitter username and password in order to use this service, proceed with caution, especially since the site seems to be half-finished.

Nye Ohrberg has posted Part II of his Advertising in Tough Economic Times article where he discusses direct mail and other forms of advertising, trumpeting promotional items as the all-time best way to:

• Keep Current Customers Happy and Loyal
• Get more customers
• Get employees to do more with less

He spells out exactly why promotional products work so well and why they provide the most bang for the buck, especially when the economy is tough.  Read the full article at the above link for the full scoop.

Found this great video that really simplifies the whole social networking and social media trend.

If you didn’t understand how to use social media to promote your events, hopefully the above video will bring things into focus.

If you’ve ever tried to do event promotion with social media, you’ve probably figured out there aren’t any shortcuts.  But for those about to embark on this path, Stephanie Booth has written about her experiences in utilizing social media like Twitter, Facebook and other social networks and sites to promote her event.

Read the complete article here:

5 Lessons in Promoting Events Using Social Media (Back to Basics)

The biggest takeaway from the above post is how much WORK it really is to do all of the  one-on-one communication that keeps things personal.

Apparently, (and she’s speaking from first-hand experience), there is a diminishing return on the effort needed to benefit from what social networks have to offer versus the quicker method of bulk emailing or actually PAYING for advertising!

It turns out all of the blogging, instant messaging, forum posting, and social networking to promote an event is a full-time job and you should be prepared for the amount of effort required before you think social media is a magic bullet for event promotion.

I stumbled across this article by Donna DeClemente about a company called House Party that simply floored me by what could be considered one of the most powerful viral marketing ideas ever (seriously).

Read the full post at:

House Party Combines Social Events with Social Media

Basically, a House Party helps a company that wants to:

• Direct sales and new customer acquisitions

• Drive traffic to retail locations – brick and mortar as well as online

• Create an intimate, immersive product trial experience where consumers can interact with a product in a hands-on, in-context way that can’t be achieved via media campaigns or showroom sales opportunities

• Activate a viral, engaging product sampling and new product introduction session offering numerous purchase opportunities. (Can you see a huge need for promotional products to hand out at these events?)

• Build an instant, highly engaged fan base for about-to-be-released media properties (e.g., television shows; music; movies; books; magazines)

• Enhance and grow the fan base of existing media properties (e.g., television programs for season premieres, season finales, or other significant programming milestones)

• Build excitement for event-driven programming (sporting events; award shows)

• Develop a new or enhanced fan base for music releases

• Dramatically improve ticket sales or unit sales for new theatrical or DVD release

One of the coolest things about this concept is the way it utilizes social marketing and social networking both before, during, and after the event.

Not only are the Host’s friends, family members, co-workers and other social contact invited to and engaged in the event, but as the event is happening, House Party provides the tools and technologies to update the event’s page during and after the event.

So, a single House Party event, happening 1000+ homes and attended by many times that number of people at the event is also followed online by many times that number and discussed and talked up for days or weeks (or longer) afterwards

How does it work? Well, go to this page to get the full scoop!

Part of planning a successful event is giving away promotional items to the participants. These days, you can find promotional items that are environmentally friendly, what are called Green Gifts. These eco friendly products are sure to please both your event attendees AND the environment.

Check out the full list here:

Top 25 Environmental Gift Ideas

As you can see from the above list, it isn’t just eco friendly backpacks and water bottles that can be given away as ‘green’ products - but remember: if you want your company or organization to remembered long after the event is over, be sure to give away a product with your logo imprinted on it!

The next time you plan a business event, whether a formal dinner, seminar, conference or award recognition ceremony, the following corporate invitation websites can help you find the best style of invitation to fit the occasion. These sites cater specifically to business invitations, or have a section dedicated to corporate event invitations, whereas most of the other sites online are for wedding and other social occasion invitations.

I compiled this list so you don’t have to go hunting around for corporate function invitations the next time you need invitations for your event:

www.myexpression.com

www.paperandmore.com

www.irisb.com

www.paperstyle.com

www.invitationbox.com

www.finestationery.com

www.invitationconsultants.com

www.ballisticblue.com

www.thepartystartshere.com

www.announcingit.com

There are other corporate invitation websites other than those listed here, but these seem to offer the best user experience and professional look and feel.

Among the more successful Social Networking sites is LinkedIn, which is like a professionals’ version of Facebook (more business oriented, less social). Among the categories listed on their site is a major section titled Conferences and Event Planning, which includes Conference Planning, Conference Venues, and Event Marketing and Promotions.

Margaret Core shared her success with marketing her BIO 2008 Convention using LinkedIn, saying “We have more than 500 new email contacts because of the Linked In page we created for our convention.”

Read the full post at:

Still Loving Linked In

(By the way, she also had a group page up on Facebook - you can see the details by following the links in the above post).

You’ve seen them - big, colorful moving billboards that advertise all sorts of products and services.

These mobile displays are hard to miss, and are relatively inexpensive from a cost-per-impression standpoint. So why not market your event using this form of event marketing?

Mobile Event Marketing a New Age Strategy

These roving billboards get upwards of 40,000 impressions per day, so read the above article to find out more about event marketing with vehicle wraps.

OK, I’m going to reveal something here that I don’t think anyone else has thought of yet - how to do event marketing using Entrecards.

What’s Entrecard, you ask? Basically, it is a reciprocal advertising network made up of bloggers that install the Entrecard widget on their blog, and other bloggers earn credits by dropping their ‘card’ onto the Entrecard widget, like a business card is dropped off at an office.

Every time someone ‘drops’ their Entrecard onto another blogger’s Entrecard widget, credit is earned which can then be used to buy advertising on someone’s blog - your ad (which is your Entrecard graphic) appears in the Entrecard widget on the blog you selected to advertise on.

There’s a little more to it than just that, but of course you are asking yourself “How do I use this to market my event?”

Good question…here’s the answer:

1) Create a blog for your event (this is Event Marketing 101 - there is no better way to quickly create a website, get indexed by Google FAST, keep interested parties up to date on what is happening with your event, and get free marketing and publicity for your event).

There are lots of ways to get a blog up and running quickly as your ‘Event Website’ - you can use Blogger.com, Wordpress, Moveable Type, or any number of other hosted blogging platforms that provide simple, easy to use templates and tools to throw a blog together at internet speed.

2) Start posting about your Event - be sure to answer the Who, What, Where, When, Why questions thoroughly. Clearly describe what your event is about, who should attend, what will be happening there, guest speakers (if any) and their credentials - everything.

3) Open an Entrecard account, and create your Entrecard ‘card’ which will function as the ad promoting your event, so make it pretty and effectcive with a ‘Call to Action‘ (you know, ‘Click Here’ or ‘Party ’til you Drop’ - whatever). Direct marketing principals apply here, so make sure your ‘card’ functions like a banner/tile ad in terms of getting clicked. How to create compelling ads is beyond the scope of this post, so I’ll address that in the fuuture - check back here to learn more.

4) Install the Entrecard Widget into your blog - be sure to place it high up for visibility - if people are going to want to advertise on your blog, they are going to want their ad SEEN.

5) Start dropping your ‘card’ off at other blogs. The more you drop, the more credits you earn, and the more credits you earn the more your ‘card’ can be shown on other bloggers’ sites.

6) Once you’ve earned enough credits, find relevant blogs in the Entrecard system to advertise on - the key here is RELEVANCE - if your Event is in San Francisco, advertising on a blog that caters to Singapore is probably not a good idea. If your Event is for Gen. Y people, advertising on ‘Life after 60′ blogs also sounds like a bad choice, no?

Entrecard and Blog Marketing Tips and Strategies:

5 easy ways to build backlinks for you blog

There is lots more to this technique than just what I’ve written above - for example, you could also join in the community on Entrecard.com to generate interest. Be a good ‘citizen’ and converse with like-minded bloggers to build relationships that will help you in ways I couldn’t even begin to enumerate.

Also, be sure to post often on your blog, and encourage those that drop by your Event Blog to tell others about your event. If your event is truly something people would want to attend, it isn’t shameless promoting to get those that are enthusiastic about it to talk it up for you. That’s what Social Marketing is all about!

There are many other ways to do event marketing with Web 2.0 and Social Media sites, but this is one way that will promote your event to the people that would be interested in attending. With a little effort, your event promotion with Entrecards should result in a roaringly successful event.