How Hosting an Influencer Event Can Skyrocket your Sales

The power of influencers is rising, and it’s changing the way people shop online and in-store. As a result, brands worldwide are holding influencer events to boost their online presence and brand awareness.

Currently, over 67% of brands are working with influencers to promote their brand and deliver unique content to their followers. This is because 70% of millennials take the recommendations of their peers into account before shopping.

In the UK, Google searches for influencer marketing grew by more than 400% from 2016 to 2021. This is proof that there is a ton of interest in influencers. Due to the rising popularity of influencers, 44% of brands plan to increase their influencer marketing in 2021 and beyond.

With brands increasing budgets for influencer marketing, the next big thing is influencer events. Want to know more about influencer events and how they can skyrocket your sales? Read on.

What Is an Influencer Event?

An influencer event is a popular type of event where brands host influencers to connect with them on a meaningful level. This type of event allows influencers to learn more about the brand and what it stands for.

The primary appeal of this exclusive gathering lies in the influencers brought together by the brand. You can always find all types of influencers in such a gathering from mega and macro-influencers to micro-influencers.

Brands bring together these individuals because they want to maximize their reach. By achieving this, brands increase the number of social media followers. If successful, they can convert them into customers. This increases sales and revenue.

Not only that. An increase in social media followers also translates to a rise in traffic to the brand’s online store. Beauty and fashion influencer events are the most popular and more established. Cosmetic brands are keen to get influencers to feature in sponsored posts and share unique content with their followers.

For example, Tarte Cosmetics regularly flies YouTube vloggers and Instagram influencers on all-expenses-paid holidays. Past trips have seen influencers travel to Caicos, Turks, Kauai, and Bora Bora. The company unifies all its influencer events and trips under the hashtag #trippingwithtarte.

What Exposure Can Influencers Generate?

Influencers forge loyalty and trust with their followers. As such, their influence shapes the minds and behaviours of hundreds of millions of customers if not billions. Want to know what exposure influencers can generate? Read on.

Local Leverage…

Mega and macro-influencers were once the go-to influencers for brands worldwide. This is because they have more than 500,000 followers, and businesses wanted to leverage their influence to extend their reach.

However, a new breed of influencers has come up. They are micro and Nano influencers. Unlike mega and macro-influencers, micro and Nano influencers have less than 100,000 followers. As a result, their engagement rate is very high. In fact, it’s more than 3% compared to mega and macro-influencers’ engagement rate of less than 1.5%.

Because influencers are highly engaged with their followers, they have stronger relationships. As such, their opinion matters to their followers.

Companies such as Squarespace and Adobe engage micro and Nano influencers occasionally. If you want to create exposure for your events, consider adding local micro and Nano influencers.

They can draw more attendees from the area and also boost brand awareness. Plus, if your event changes location every year, the relationship with a local influencer can help with the rapport.

Target the Right Audience…

When planning an event, it’s important to target the right audience. For example, if you’re planning a fashion event, target customers who associate with your brand. This includes men, women, boys, and girls interested in buying your clothes, shoes, belts, handbags, and more.

If you partner with influencers, they can help you reach your target audience. First, they will scour social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and even LinkedIn. They will use relevant hashtags to inform your followers and non-followers of your upcoming event.

Second, they will generate content that they will share on their social media pages. For example, your restaurant is planning to hold an event. The right way to go about this is to partner with food bloggers and Mumfluencers.

They in turn will create photos and videos to pitch your event to your target audience. However, if you choose fitness or fashion influencers for your restaurant event, you won’t reach your target audience.

Build Pre-event Hype…

Before your event starts, the goal is to build suspense for what is coming. What better way to do so than with influencers. They will generate a good feeling about your upcoming event on social media resulting in more ticket sales and attendees.

One way influencers can generate buzz about your event is with giveaways and contests. Influencer giveaways and contents are partnerships made in heaven. Your brand can sponsor awesome prizes, and the influencers can give them to the winners of the contests.

Another way of creating buzz about your upcoming event is to host a pre-launch party. This comes in handy if your upcoming event is a product launch. When you invite influencers to your pre-launch party, they will go live on social media and discuss the event with their followers. They can also take their followers on a virtual backstage tour of your business operations and vlog it on YouTube.

Lastly, influencers can build hype about your event by releasing news and updates. By sharing updates and news with their followers, it could push ticket sales and attendance through the roof. The reason why social media users will listen to influencers is that this kind of content comes across as more sincere, unlike paid posts.

Promote an Event-Specific Hashtag…

As a brand, you need to have an event-specific hashtag that will also be displayed at your event. Then, partner with influencers who will promote the hashtag. It’s important to keep the hashtag simple, catchy, and brand-centric.

Let’s assume your online store is planning an event. By partnering with influencers, they can promote your brand-specific hashtag on social media. To extend your reach, provide promo codes that your target audience can use when buying tickets or shopping at the event. This way, you can track the number of people who came to your event.

Tips for Planning an Influencer Event

Here our tips for holding your first Influencer Event…

Set Your Goals…

The first step to hosting a successful influencer event is to set goals. Ask yourself these questions:

What kind of event do you want to host?
Who do you hope attends the event?
What are you hoping to gain from the event?
What kind of experience do you want to provide to the attendees?
How much are you planning to spend?

Without setting goals, it will be challenging to make a real connection with influencers and your target audience. It will also be difficult to measure the success of your event.

Create an Event Schedule…

When planning your event, create an event schedule. Start by choosing the date carefully. To do so, find out if other events are happening on the appointed date. This ensures that your target audience is available.

You should also create a document that lists all the activities that will take place during the event. If everyone knows exactly what will happen and when the event will run smoothly.

Choose the Right Location…

If you want to set yourself up for success, choose the right location for your event. Select a location that’s easy for your target audience and influencers to get to. The location should also be visually appealing.

Add photo walls, bright colours, booths, and flowers to give your attendees and influencers a reason to get excited and talk about it on social media. You can also add little signs with your WiFi passwords that your guests can use.

Send Thoughtful Invites…

First impressions always matter. If you want your influencer event to stand out and look like something people want to attend, send thoughtful invites. Use sincere language and excellent visuals to get influencers to your event. You can go the extra mile and hire a designer to create a brand-centric email template. This will make your guests feel special.

Make Goody Bags…

If you’re giving out free stuff, people want it. So, after your event, give the guests goody bags. Make sure you give them something they can use. As such, they are likely to hang on to it and share it on their social media accounts.

We recommend personalising the products and making the gifts memorable. This way, they will feel connected to your brand.

Closing thoughts

After the event, it’s important to thank the guests for taking the time to attend. After the event, don’t forget to stay in touch with the influencers. Thank them for coming, and also ask for their feedback about the influencer event. By building long-lasting relationships with the influencers, you ensure the success of your brand.