At the reception part of an event I spoke at recently, a group of people inquired about how they could use LinkedIn to promote an event they are hosting for either their company or an association or nonprofit they are involved with.  I started rattling off the ways I thought that could be done.  So in this week’s tips I would like to share with you those ideas as well as a few more ideas on this topic.

                        10  Ways to Effectively Promote Your Upcoming Event Using LinkedIn

1.      Use the Linkedin Event application to actually post the details so that the event can be found if LinkedIn users are searching for events in your area.  Events is an application that you download from the Application Directory in the “More” tab on the top toolbar.  Once created, you are given a URL that you can use to link people to your event information.

2.      When creating the event on LinkedIn, you get a chance to “tag” the event with two different things – keywords that describe the event and titles of the people you think should attend the event. You get 20 keywords and 20 titles; so don’t be stingy.  Think about all the different titles and keywords people may use, not just the ones you use regularly.

3.      Right after creating the event, LinkedIn will prompt you to share this event with a selected group of your connections.  This is a great feature to get the word out to people that you think would get a benefit out of the event. 

4.      During the time leading up to the event, you will want to periodically visit the event page and use the “Share” button to re-invite connections or invite additional connections who were not previously invited.

5.      Leading up to the event, use your Status Box several times in order to promote the event.  Change up the topic of the update to include things like the topic, venue, speakers, etc.  Be sure to use a URL shortener, like budurl.com or tinyurl.com, to link them directly to the LinkedIn event so that you can use more of your 148 characters for your comments.

6.      Start a discussion to promote your event in the LinkedIn groups that would most likely attend the event.  Remember to do this a couple of times leading up to the event date.  Change up the discussion/comments to generate interest.  Always include the link to the event details.

7.      Use the advanced search to prepare a list of people that you will contact directly, via phone or email, by using keywords (probably the same tags you used above).

8.      Go to the advanced search in the Event application and see if there are any similar events going on in the area and review the RSVP list to see if you should directly invite any of those individuals to your event.  You will need to either be connected to that person directly or through a group.  This is just another benefit of joining several regional super groups like Link Up Milwaukee or the Milwaukee Business Professionals group. 

9.      Ask a few of your closest connections who have already RSVP’d for the event if they would consider either inviting some of their connections or use their Status Update to promote the event.

10.     Create a short video promoting the event.  This could include things like clips from last year’s event, an interview with the keynote speaker or testimonials from attendees of previous events.  This video can then be put on the profiles of all the board members, committee members or others involved in the event in either the Website section (as a hotlink) or in the SlideShare or Google Presentation application.  You may want to consider adding a statement in your Summary that would say something like, “See the Google Presentation below for a video of what you can expect at this year’s benefit gala.”

Wildcard Tip or Question

I recently completed a video blog series with a friend of mine, Kyle Blades, from Timeforarebel.  You can view the series on WISN’s blog page.  Kyle is the president of Rebel, a local social media consulting firm, http://www.linkedin.com/in/timeforarebel, and he is a guest columnist for this video blog.  He graciously invited me to be involved in a six-video series about what LinkedIn is and some tips on how to use it effectively.  It is titled “The Top 10 Gotta Do’s for LinkedIn.”  You can view the series at: http://budurl.com/rxmu. 

Miscellaneous News and Notes

 Some of the other resources I provide are:

•       Customized corporate training classes
•       Keynote and workshop presentations for conventions and association meetings
•       Corporate social media strategy consulting
•       For Sale:  LinkedIn training DVDs for beginners and intermediate users
•       For daily tips, follow me on Twitter at:  http://twitter.com/WayneBreitbarth