Eventbrite is an online service that people everywhere use to create, share, and join events. Whether a photography class with a local artist, or a sold-out concert in a city stadium, Eventbrite makes it happen. This year, Eventbrite joins SMW NYC as our Premium Pass Sponsor, so we sat down with Eventbrite’s Sara Altier to talk about all things social marketing:
1. Eventbrite relies heavily on social marketing. How has your social media strategy changed over the last year?
Events are social, right? They’re more fun to attend with your friends — so we’ve focused on empowering our attendees to find and share more events. Based on the data we’ve released with our Social Commerce report, we’ve know that Facebook drives quite a bit of traffic to events. Since our recent integration with Facebook Open Graph, we’ve changed the way we allow attendees to find and share events. We send out monthly “Event Picks” newsletters using data from previous events with high attendance rates, as well as events the recipient’s Facebook friends have signed up for. We’ve also started sending out social notification emails, so if two of your friends are attending the same event, you’ll get a notification.
2. In 2010, Eventbrite was the first company to offer data about the financial benefits of “sharing,” revealing that every time someone shared a paid event on Facebook, it drove an additional $2.52 in revenue back to the event organizer, and 11 additional page views of their event page. Are there any over overwhelming data points, like that one, that inform your social strategy?
This past fall, we released our Global Social Commerce report. Aside from interesting data points like Italy sharing the most and the UK clicking the most, we found that while Twitter shares increase traffic to an event page, Facebook still drives the most revenue. You can check out the report here!
3. Eventbrite was used in over 175 countries in the last year. Do you tailor your social marketing strategy for each country? If so, how do they differ?
In the past year we’ve launched localized sites in 13 countries outside of the US. We offer localized support in 7 different languages and have local City Marketing Managers in 8 of our major metros. We tailor each country’s strategy to best align with the trends and communication patterns of each location.
4. Do you find that marketing “Cause” events requires a different strategy than events with a charitable component? How so?
At the end of the day, marketing all events is essentially the same. Sure, there are differences between marketing cause-related events and marketing sporting events, for example, but the underlying strategy for marketing all events can be boiled down to three points: 1. Know your target audience. 2. Decide on a goal. (Are you more focused on general awareness or a specific amount of money you want to raise?) 3. Craft regular, tailored information that will inspire your target audience to act. Our blog is an excellent resource for event organizers that need a bit more assistance figuring out their strategy!
5. What do you think is the most exciting thing happening in the emerging technology and/or new media space right now? How will that inform your work?
Where to begin! It’s hard to just mention one specific thing, but I think the fact that so many people are embracing new technology to change their lives for the better is the most exciting to me. It’s so humbling that Eventbrite is being used everywhere — from rallying people around an important cause to helping them acquire skills that will empower them to enter a new line of work. We aim to provide a product that will continue evolving and helping our users achieve success in whatever they set out to do.
6. Tell us about your goals for SMW. As a 2013 Premium Pass Sponsor, what do you hope attendees will take away from the experience?
Social media is changing the way we do business in a very fundamental way. I think that a lot of non-industry people’s perception of social media is tainted by the prevalence of cheap buzzwords and too many people claiming to be ‘social media ninjas’. I hope that Premium Pass Holders will come to SMWNYC to make sincere connections and share knowledge about how social media is making measurable impact at companies like Eventbrite.
7. This year, our global theme is “Open & Connected: Principles for a Collaborative World.” How does Eventbrite embody and/or support this idea?
There’s something really magical about bringing an online interaction offline. The fact that our self-service platform enables event organizers from all around the world (179 different countries last year alone!) to bring people together is a true testament to how we support the global theme of Social Media Week, and we couldn’t be happier to be involved!