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Build Anticipation for Your Events with Short-Form Video on TikTok and YouTube Shorts
Master the art of short-form video to increase your engagement
4 Min Read
Yazid N via Unsplash
Video content is booming, particularly short-form videos on TikTok and YouTube Shorts. These platforms have become an essential part of successful marketing strategy, allowing brands to reach wide audiences and prompt engagement.
For event planners and promoters, short-form video holds incredible power. Video marketing campaigns on TikTok and YouTube Shorts are highly shareable and drive engagement, giving you a platform to drum up anticipation for your upcoming events. Here’s how you can use it to your advantage.
Tell a Powerful Story
Storytelling is a powerful tool for brands and marketers. YouTube Shorts and TikTok offer an ideal format to share compelling narratives that are quick and easy to digest. For example, offering an event teaser, sharing behind-the-scenes content from previous events, or creating a series of past event highlights make your story pop and draw your audience in from the first few seconds.
Here are some ideas to try:
Share your event planning insights, such as décor decisions and venue selection.
Do a “where are they now” showcase to talk about how past events affected the audience.
Create behind-the-scenes highlights for the day-to-day planning and setup.
Show Authenticity
Audiences on TikTok and YouTube Shorts respond to real, unpolished content. Skip the polished ads and keep it real, showcasing your event’s unique personality and benefits. For example, a Q&A with planners or an attendee review can add credibility and trustworthiness.
Here are some ideas:
Share real attendee stories and testimonials from past events to encourage attendance.
Answer common questions about the event to engage your audience directly.
Give an inside look at event prep, product demos, or staff coordination.
Maximize Engagement
TikTok and YouTube Shorts are interactive platforms, which is perfect for promoting events. Encourage your audience to interact through polls, contests, and live Q&A that allow attendees to share their own stories and experiences.
Here are some ideas:
Run a contest encouraging users to share what they’re most excited about or memories from past events for a chance to win prizes.
Ask followers for input on themes or activities with an interactive poll.
Host a live video to announce surprise guests or reveal keynote speakers and entertainment.
Tap into Trends
Trends are a crucial part of TikTok’s engagement. While trends should be relevant to your industry and audience, you can put a spin on them to ensure they suit your brand personality and gain traction.
Here are some trend ideas:
Use trending sounds or music clips to add flair to your event footage or promotional clips.
Get your team to join in a dance trend or create a dance challenge for others to copy.
Create unique challenges with event-specific hashtags to capture new audiences on the platform.
Stay Consistent
Consistency is crucial to your social media marketing efforts, including video content. TikTok and YouTube Shorts get a ton of content each day, so it’s difficult to stand out if you’re not posting regularly.
You don’t have to post multiple times a day, or even once a day. The key is picking a realistic schedule and sticking to it. If you can only manage three videos a week, commit to it. Plan a schedule and aim to release teasers, reminders, and countdowns in the weeks leading up to the event. Keep your content diverse and engaging, but don’t sacrifice consistency in the process.
Optimize Hashtags
Hashtags are the keywords of TikTok and YouTube. Use specific, relevant hashtags to ensure you reach the right audience and keep your content discoverable. While it may be tempting to use trending hashtags that have nothing to do with your brand, you won’t get your video in front of the right audience.
Focus on Authenticity
It’s important to pay attention to content that trends and brands in your industry that are seeing success with video, but you have to stay unique. If you do what everyone else does, you’ll only fade into the background. Stick to what’s working, but make sure you put your own unique spin and personality into the video content you create.
Market Your Events with Short-Form Video
Short-form videos on TikTok and YouTube Shorts are ideal for event promotion to attract attendees and build excitement. If you create high-quality, engaging videos that align with these platforms’ fast-paced style and authenticity, you can get the results you want.
