When it comes to organizing events, LinkedIn isn't usually the first social media channel that comes to mind – but hear us out! Last year, LinkedIn made some nifty updates to its event features, making it easier than ever to plan your next virtual or in-person event. These changes mean that users can now create both private and public events on desktop and mobile devices - pretty handy, right?
So, if you're thinking about leveraging LinkedIn for your school's next professional event, here's a quick guide to getting started!
As an event organizer, you can create the event, set an agenda, and invite individuals on a LinkedIn profile or business page. To create your new event, head over to your school's LinkedIn profile, and select the ‘Events' button on the left-hand side. Next, a form will appear, asking you to complete certain details about your event such as; the event name, date, time, and description. When it comes to your event description, we recommend sticking to around 100- 200 words to ensure it's not too text-heavy, but still communicate your message effectively.
LinkedIn has also recently introduced a new online event functionality. If you're hosting an event online you can switch the ‘is this an online event' toggle to ‘Yes'. Then you can add your broadcast link directly into the form. If you don't have this link when you create the event, you can jump in and add it at any time in the ‘Edit Event' section on your event page.
If your school uses a customer relationship manager (CRM), such as Digistorm Funnel, to manage event registrations, you can include a link to your landing page in the ticketing website section. This will help nudge users to visit your website and sign up for the event. Don't forget to upload your school's logo at the top to align your branding and create that personalized touch! At the bottom of the form, you can also choose to set the event as private or public. All of these features make it easy to provide users with all of the event details in one place.
Now that you've created your event, it's time to extend the invite to your LinkedIn network. This process works similarly to Facebook events by selecting the specific users you wish to invite. You can invite users by clicking on the ‘Invite' tab on your event page. From here you can search for event attendees and filter them by location, current companies, schools, or industries.
As users accept your invitation you can begin to interact and track attendance. If you need to change the event details at any time you can manage your event by selecting the ‘edit event' dropdown located on your event page.
Once you've your network to attend your event, you should “start a conversation” on the event page. This could be a post sharing more event details, a photo or video from a previous event, a post sharing the profile of your guest speaker, or a poll to help create hype for the event.
So you've created your LinkedIn event, and you've invited key users, now what's next? Promote, promote, and keep promoting! We find that it's best to work backward from your event date to determine how many weeks you have between the date you created the event and the actual date.
Why is this important? It'll help you to determine how much content needs to be created and scheduled into your content calendar to successfully promote the event. Try to aim to repost your event around twice a week, with an increase in posting during the final week before the event. Now, we're not encouraging you to spam your connections, but you do want to ensure you're optimizing your visibility in the feed and leveraging that LinkedIn magic! In the final days leading up to the event provide event attendees with all of the crucial information that they will need for the day, including a reminder of the start time and a repost of the broadcast link if it is a virtual event.
For extra visibility, you might want to think about adding a couple of hashtags to each post and ensure that you're posting regular updates and new details on the event page for attendees to see. Connect with your guest speakers or local sponsors who are supporting your event and reach out to them to encourage them to repost the event for their connections to see.
School events are a goldmine for content opportunities, so it's important that you are leveraging event content across your marketing channels both on your event day and after. It's easy to be occupied on the event day, but don't forget to capture photo and video content that you can store and use for later.
Think about writing a post-event blog post, sharing some key takeaways, or uploading a video highlight reel. LinkedIn users are often searching for trustworthy and honest content and posting video content can be an effective way to showcase your school's brand in an authentic way. Don't be afraid to continue to repurpose this content, weeks, and even months down the track. If your event is a re-occurring event, you can use video and photo content from the previous event to hype up attendees and give them a sneak peek.
If your event is an online event you should also be posting the recording on the event page and in your feed! This will allow users that may have missed the event to watch it at a later time! It may also encourage attendees or guest speakers to share the recording on their own feeds! If you made new connections at your event, connect with them on LinkedIn and reach out to them to say thank you for attending. This will help you nurture new relationships and build your LinkedIn network.
Want to learn more best practice tips for your school event? Download our free resource: The ultimate guide to running school events.