There are multiple options when it comes to determining how to promote an event. Knowing the ins and outs of event promotion can be useful to us personally and career wise. One great, local example of event promotion is the NC State Fair. This year is the 150th North Carolina State Fair so you can imagine they have some practice at it. Here are 3 ways NC’s State Fair is a good reference for superb event promotion.
- Social Media Developing a following on social media sites is one of the best ways to reach a large amount of people. Pretty much everyone is constantly scrolling and refreshing their feeds and social media has become one of the easiest ways to reach target audiences! The State Fair utilizes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Google+, Flickr, a blog page, and even a Snapchat account that follows an employees antics around the fair. Here’s a post from their Facebook page: “In addition to being Senior Citizens Day, the State Fair has a TON of activities for you today! Check out our Top 5!” The post includes a video that shows pictures of the 5 activities and is a great example of an entertaining and relevant post.
- Website A well developed and detailed website is the cornerstone and home base for any event. It’s where the public can access all the general information such as a detailed description of the event, times, prices, and featured attractions. Taking it a step further and including things like videos or a direct link to purchase tickets are great tools as well. If you look up the State Fair’s website they have an easy to use interactive website with user friendly tabs that lead to specific information.
- Get Coverage from the Media The best publicity is free. Media outlets need stories to run and events to put on their calendars so getting your event out there for them to know about is one of the best things you can do. Contact local news stations, magazines, and town centers and create something tangible you can give to them that summarizes your event.
While these are just a few promotion tactics they are a great starting point!
-Savannah Russell
IMC Hawks Blog 
I agree that the State Fair exemplifies event promotion, however, I think that most of the promotion actually comes from the consumers themselves! Scrolling through my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook feeds this weekend, I encountered TONS of photos and posts about the NC State Fair. Photos of friends smiling in front of rides, holding their deliciously fried food, or embracing the stuffed animals they won. By including a location on their posts, using hashtags, and name dropping the NC State Fair, these consumers are actually aiding in promoting the event! Taking some of the hard work of promoting off of the hands of the event planners 🙂
Loved the article, it’s a great read with some interesting points! I definitely agree with you about social media as a key way for promotion as it can create a snowball effect i.e friends sharing a post or clicking attending on an event which then appears on their friends newsfeed and so on.
A website is also a smart idea as most people are likely to google something if they are curious about in order to find out more information.
This is my first time being in America, and so it was also my first time hearing about the NC state fair of which I heard about it through word of mouth. This then had me curious which lead me to searching it up on social media by looking for a Facebook page or locations shared on Instagram as well as google itself.
Promotion is essential for an event to be successful. I am not from North Carolina originally, but I have heard a lot about the NC State Fair through friends and especially social media. After my friend told me she wanted to take me to it, I looked the fair up on Instagram. I saw that they have a very active page, filled with photos of what I can expect there. By looking at their Instagram page, it made me want to visit the fair even more. Media use is important and extremely effective when done correctly!