We know, we know, you’re too busy scouting venues, coordinating with vendors and managing existing clients to bother with social media marketing. Sure, you have a Facebook page, but who has time to manage it?! And even if you did, what purpose would it serve to take extra time out of your already hectic event schedule to grab pics to post online that you’re not sure if anyone ever sees anyway? We get it. But here are a few reasons why social media marketing is so important for event planners.

Brand Awareness

Sure, you may have a solid business built solely on word-of-mouth, but who isn’t looking to expand their business? And what better way to do that then through the use of social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest? All of which are just mediums to amplify word-of-mouth exponentially through the power of the Internet. It’s basically the difference between having one satisfied client telling 2-3 friends about you, or having them go online and share their positive experience with the world, so that not only will their whole social network have the potential to learn about your company, but so will anyone else who happens to stumble across that client’s post about how happy they were with the service that you provided. And while the 2-3 friends may or may not be planning a wedding, baby shower, milestone birthday or graduation, it’s almost guaranteed that someone in their social network is, so why not let your client put your name in front of them so that you have the opportunity to be considered for that business?

Customer Data

What else is so great about social media marketing? Sites such as Facebook provide analytics that allow you to not only find out the demographics of your followers in terms of gender, age or region but also help you to learn what they like, by tracking the engagement on your posts. So if you look over your page analytics and notice that all your posts about winter weddings (Imani: or whatever topic you feel best fits here) get several likes, and tons of feedback, you may want to use that as a sign to possibly expand upon your offerings in that area as a wedding planner, or do more promotion around the fact that you’re a female business owner if you notice that your following consists primarily of women. And for those of you thinking, “Facebook is cool, but I’ve found more of my clients are on Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat, etc”., then just know that those platforms have ways of tracking customer data as well, rather through the software itself, or a third-party app that mines the data.

Site Visits

If you’re using social media marketing the right way, all that Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Pinterest exposure should lead more visitors to your company’s website. “What’s the right way?” you ask?  Well it starts with making sure visitors to your social media pages can easily locate your web address, and includes other efforts that can be optimized (on some channels) by taking out sponsored ads and posts to bypass algorithms that limit exposure, and include “calls-to-action” for visitors to visit your page. Looking for a specific demographic, i.e. women, age 18-35, located within 20 miles of your location? No problem, social media marketing channels like Facebook & Twitter allow you to do just that with their paid posts. And in most cases, a small budget goes a long way.

Sales

While all of this may sound interesting, we know the purpose of being in business is to make money. So to drill down to the bottom line, effective social media marketing means more sales! With the use of social media, you’re able to get your name out into the market, and make more people aware of your brand. You can collect data and analytics on your customers (and potential customers) and their preferences. Once you get them to your site, all you have to do is close the deal! While social media marketing can’t make consumers buy, in some cases (Facebook), it can help you track them from a social media site to your page, and even show you what pages they visited while they were there. How useful is that? If you happen to see that many consumers are clicking around your page, without ever reaching out to you, maybe you need a more visible call to action, perhaps you only have an email address listed and potential clients would rather contact you by phone, etc. This is valuable information that comes as an added bonus to all the other advantages of using social media marketing.

In this modern, technological age that we live in, the Internet is the first place many people go to research businesses. And word of mouth outweighs traditional advertising by a landslide. If the only channel potential clients have to reach you is your company website, you’re at a serious disadvantage, as it’s quite likely that your competitors are engaging the same audience via social media, and using it to better understand them and build relationships, while you’re still relying solely on a website and a prayer to produce new leads. Be proactive and place yourself in the scene where future clients are already looking, and allow your company to be found.