My Event Is Over, What Do I Post for The Rest of The Year?

By Bailey Judson

We have all heard, social media is the future, social media is where everyone gets their news. Print is a dying art, so on and so forth. So, if social media is where we are supposed to put out all of our information, why is it so difficult to figure out what to post? We are in an industry where we are selling something but only at certain time of year, we don’t have new items coming out every week like those selling goods. So our social media channels are flooded, posting multiple times a day for a few weeks or months, but what about those other days, weeks, and months. Do we go silent? Is it enough to post once a week? Month? Or should we try to keep up with a consistent posting schedule year-round? That is what I will explore in this article, and for those who need to post year-round, I will help you find content for how to do so.

The first item we need to decipher is, do you need to keep your pages active all year round? The answer for most events is yes! There are exceptions, such as if you are not trying to draw attention or sell anything even during your event. If your page is solely for getting event information out there and people know that is where to find it, then you can consider keeping your social media active only during your event. The other consideration is how many events do you have under your umbrella? For example, at the Festival Foundation, we have the National Cherry Festival, Iceman Cometh Challenge, Leapin’ Leprechaun 5K, and the CherryT Ball Drop. The National Cherry Festival and Iceman Cometh Challenge are both nationally recognized events that bring hundreds of thousands and tens of thousands of people, respectively, to the Grand Traverse Area, these events have multiple social media channels that stay active all year round. For the smaller, more local events, Leapin’ Leprechaun 5K and CherryT Ball Drop, unless there is something that pertains to the event, they are only active about 2-3 months of the year as most of the information would be repetitive and they do not have as wide of a reach. So, if your event’s social media channels ‘should’ be active year-round, but you don’t know how to approach that, here is how I approach creating content.

Find Your “Thing”

The first step is to find your “thing”, that niche market that your event falls into. For the National Cherry Festival it is cherries, for the Iceman Cometh Challenge it is mountain biking. Looking at your focal point or mission you can expand on that in many different directions. You can find a social media content calendar online and it might outline to post something educational once a week, research the health benefits of cherries, or tips for mountain bike training. When you are able to narrow your focus to one subject, you can take more time to be creative with that focus. During cherry harvest we might put out some new cherry recipes. At back-to-school time, we might find safe biking tips for kids who will ride to and from school. With your niche, you always have a general topic, you just need to find ways to put that topic out there. All it takes is a simple google search to look up social media content calendars and they will provide you with 100’s of ideas. This includes piggybacking on trends, like if you are posting recipes, hop on the #meatlessmonday train (unless of course your niche is BBQ), or during the off season, capitalize on #ThrowbackThursday and post photos from old festivals. As long as you are focused on your niche, it opens up a world of relatable doors of content for you to use.

Capitalize on Influencers

Finding your niche also allows you to capitalize on influencers. Now you might be thinking that your event is too small to have Brad Pitt endorsing a product or helping you with a social media campaign. But mirco-influncers are just as influential, if not more. “A micro-influencer is an individual who has between 10,000 and 50,000 followers on social media. They are known for the particular area of interest and have very high rates of engagement from their audiences” (ana.net). There are people in your community that are locally famous or have a very high rate of engagement, who would be willing to talk about your event or something related to your event, for just free tickets or a free registration into your event. Bloggers also fall under this category. Many people are trying to make travel blogging their side hustle so they are more than willing to come experience your event and write about it for complimentary admission. Any of these provide great and free content for you to use, because ultimately people trust other people over businesses. The other people who provide great free content are your consumers. Consumer generated content. While it mostly happens during or around your event, don’t count it out for a throwback Thursday if your social calendar is looking dry. Just make sure you get permission, as consumer generated content rules and regulations have been changing in many different countries and states.

Engage with the Community

The next thing to do to fill your content calendar, is to engage with the community around you. As a business that needs the support of other businesses, your sponsorship director, if you have one, is already asking you to do this. And highlighting sponsors or doing cross promotion can be very beneficial to both parties. This does not always have to be a direct correlation to your brand either. For example, Bissell is a large sponsor of one of our events, the Iceman Cometh Challenge, and every year they sponsor a ‘clear-the-shelters’ dog and cat adoption event. This is an event that we promote, not specifically related to our event however, but it is a good cause and strengthens our relationship with a sponsor. The other way to engage with the community around you to is highlight other events and non-profits that are doing great things in your community, that don’t compete with your event. Maybe a new nonprofit is doing great things in town, but their social media presence is much smaller than yours, add a post about the upcoming event they are hosting on your social channels. It will show consumers you are engaged in your local community which consumers want to see, but also those who volunteer at this nonprofit will see that and, in the future, may volunteer with your event. It is also a great way to show when you and your team donate time or equipment to others around the community. For example, the National Cherry Festival purchased their own water barricade when the city made the decision to move to the more secure option, we often loan those out to other events or entities in town. Our social channels are the perfect plan to mention some of those good deeds.

Show Behind the Scenes

After all, it is your organization’s story and a major part of that story is that of those who work for the organization or who volunteer their time to that organization. This gives an opportunity for the community to meet those who make the event possible. It also gives the opportunity to give a look behind the scenes. Share the story of who your team is and how everything gets pulled together to put on the incredible events that are done every year. We always post a happy birthday to our staff on our social channels, which our long-time volunteers enjoy. Also, when we have the opportunity to go on outings, work with other groups, and volunteer for other events, these are all things we like to post on our social channels. It is important for viewers to see us out in the community as ourselves, not just as the event. For example, a new charter boat company wanted to thank us for all we do, with a tour of the bay, so we posted about that adventure. On the other side of spectrum, every year we put together a volunteer team and work the trash totes at a local community picnic. We will often post about events like that one, as it shows that we are good to the community that is good to us. And keep in mind this may be something you put more on one social channel than the other. For example, we mostly “tell our story” on Instagram, and give more event facts and sponsorship posts on Facebook.

Go Viral

All of this being said, social media was made to be fun, and one of the interesting phenomenons, that still goes on is “going viral”. While it is impossible to predict what will go viral, you can always get in on the action. Do you have a mascot? Suit someone up and have them do one of the viral dance routines on Tick Tok or Reels. Does someone in the office have a dog that comes into the office often? Capitalize on that cuteness. Have them do a trend or event. Build a whole campaign around it. Have that dog or cat do a day in the life of each employee or have them volunteer for the day.

Use the National Days Calendar

Still looking for more things to post on social media? Us too! One of the final steps I take with trying to fill out my content calendar is to look at the national days calendar. I go through the calendar about 3-6 months at a time depending on how far out you are creating your content calendar. I sift through the National Days and find the ones that apply to our niche or our story. It is surprising that they have national days for everything from National Fun at Work Day, to National Cherry Turn Over Day. There are a lot of National Cherry Days that I will post a recipe for that play into our niche very well. There also happens to be a National Popcorn Day! We are so obsessed with popcorn in our office, that we have an old school popcorn machine! Those who follow us on social media probably already know this, because we post about that every year! Social Media is meant to be fun, make sure to embrace that aspect of it!

With social media, there is also the chance to combine all of these things. On National Cherry Pie Day, work together with a local business that makes cherry pie and give some away or at least buy some to support a local business. There are no bounds to what information can be shared and what innovation can come about from a crazy idea. Often working in social media, we are so focused on the correct information, the number of those engaged, and the ROI for our sponsors. But remember, social media is meant to be social, it should be engaging with the outside world, not just always information on a screen. Take your mission through the screen and make a difference, then all the content will come to you.

Bailey Judson is the creative director for the Festival Foundation, a 501(c)3 that organizes The National Cherry Festival, The Iceman Cometh Challenge, The CherryT Ball Drop, and The Leapin’ Leprechaun. As the creative director she oversees all marketing including social media for the Festival Foundation. When she isn’t working, she is spending time with her yellow Lab, Daryl and her Fiancée, Cole.

WWW.KALIFF.COM