Constructing a social presence isn’t restricted to engagements on networks. It takes bringing real-life experiences to your viewers’s fingertips to nurture neighborhood and connection. Blavity is thought for combining social media and IRL experiences, internet hosting occasions all year long. However their key annual occasion is AfroTech™, the most important multicultural convention in the USA.
This yr Sprout Social attended AfroTech™ for the primary time, so we needed to convey our viewers alongside on our journey to showcase the significance of model range in social media. On this article, I’ll share our journey to AfroTech™ and our technique for occasion protection, together with our collaboration with LinkedIn. And I’ll share Sprout’s social media for occasions finest practices to encourage your technique.
What’s AfroTech™?
Based mostly in Los Angeles, Blavity is the world’s main enterprise premium content material and community for Black tradition and know-how. The media tech firm hosts AfroTech™ Convention yearly. Every year, a worldwide community of over 20,000 creatives, engineers, enterprise capitalists, founders, executives and different tech innovators be part of for a sequence of digital and in-person occasions. The convention options panels and workshops, together with networking alternatives with trade leaders. The annual occasion additionally gives an expo corridor with mid-market and enterprise recruiters. AfroTech™ 2024 was hosted in Houston, Texas.
Journey to Sprout AfroTech™
If you happen to search #AfroTech throughout social media, you’ll discover individuals referring to the occasion as a reunion, a protected house for neighborhood or an innovation incubator. For me, it’s all one in the identical due to my mentor who launched me to the convention. Our relationship started through the pandemic over Zoom. She inspired me to attend AfroTech™ in 2021, when Blavity constructed the occasion on a metaverse platform, eXp World Holdings’.
The occasion was absolutely immersive, enabling attendees to make use of customized avatars to talk and hear to one another in actual time. There have been even stay performances from artists like Jidenna. Impressed by the programming and enterprise presence, I knew I needed to attend in individual.
In 2023, I attended the occasion in individual with my mentor. I met professionals which have since change into my buddies and enterprise companions—lots of whom have served as subject material specialists or visitor audio system for Sprout. Given the influence on my profession and understanding the potential enterprise influence, I needed to convey Sprout to AfroTech™. Our community companions, clients and trade friends have been current, so Sprout becoming a member of was a pure match. I shared the insights I realized with Sprout Advertising leaders and highlighted stand-out programming with our DEI group and Black@, Sprout’s neighborhood useful resource group for Black workers.
As a Black@ management committee member, I pitched Sprout at AfroTech™ to our co-leads, Kiara Ealy and Chelsey Jordan. With their management and the collective help of our government sponsor, DEI, Recruitment and Fairness groups, we have been in a position to ship 11 Sprouters to AfroTech™ 2024.
“Attending AfroTech™ appeared like a dream at first, however when help from management began to fall in place, it confirmed Sprout’s willingness to behave on its DEI efforts. The convention was inspirational as a result of it was stuffed with leaders within the tech house which might be underrepresented in our trade, however it additionally introduced gentle to concepts and views that come from traditionally underrepresented teams.
AfroTech™ was greater than an area for networking and illustration, however it served as a spot the place our companions, clients and prospects joined for inclusive and international innovation.” Chelsey Jordan, Buyer Success Supervisor, Company and Black@ Co-lead
As our co-leads and inner groups navigated logistics, I started creating a social media occasion protection technique with Sprout’s Social Group.
Social media for occasions: Sprout’s technique for AfroTech™
For our social media technique for AfroTech™ Convention 2024, we deliberate for pre-event, throughout occasion and post-event protection to create a holistic expertise for the convention.
Pre-event
Pre-event protection breakdown for AfroTech™ 2024:
- One static put up with a branded graphic on LinkedIn
- One curated Worker Advocacy hyperlink that includes the LinkedIn put up
- One ballot asking about occasion protection
- One static put up from a nano-influencer
- One hype video on LinkedIn and Instagram
- One Sprout Social Listening Subject
For pre-event protection, our purpose was to unfold consciousness about Sprout’s attendance, together with encourage individuals to tune into our upcoming content material. With the LinkedIn static put up, we introduced our attendance and occasion protection on Instagram. We amplified the put up internally utilizing our Worker Advocacy answer. We curated an Advocacy Story and shared the hyperlink via inner channels so Sprout workers might repost it on LinkedIn. We created a ballot to share extra consciousness about our attendance and protection.
We additionally partnered with Kerry Hartley, a LinkedIn nano-influencer who shares ideas for getting ready for AfroTech™ every year. This was vital as a result of we needed to increase our attain by collaborating with somebody who already has an viewers tied to AfroTech™. Together with sharing ideas for AfroTech™ attendees getting ready for the convention, he inspired individuals to observe Sprout on Instagram and watch our occasion protection.
Lastly, we ended our pre-event protection with a hype video sharing a few of my favourite moments from final yr’s convention to additional share our messaging:
Earlier than we headed to Houston, our Social group arrange a Listening subject in Sprout to gauge conversations across the occasion and establish any potential media alternatives.
Throughout occasion
For our protection throughout AfroTech™, Sprout actually needed to convey our viewers alongside for the journey, so we posted Instagram Tales each day. To floor our posting and heart Sprout’s connection to the occasion, I made positive to incorporate content material centered round two of our narrative focus areas for 2024: memorable model experiences and synthetic intelligence (AI). For instance, we shared movies of brand name activations within the expo corridor and venue campus. We additionally posted clips from the AfroTech™ AI Stage and different occasion phases.
Publish-event
Right here’s a recap of our post-event protection:
- Every day Instagram Tales
- One recap video on Instagram
- Attendee reflection posts on LinkedIn
- One associate video with LinkedIn
- Three TikTok movies that includes match checks for article promotion
Since our purpose was to boost consciousness about Sprout’s attendance, we shared a recap video, had attendees put up reflections on their private LinkedIn accounts and a associate video. We additionally printed TikTok movies that includes match checks to advertise this text.
A number of Sprout companions have been sponsoring AfroTech™, so I labored with our Partnerships group to safe a collaboration with LinkedIn. I did a tiny-mic-style interview on the bottom with Andrew McCaskill, LinkedIn Profession Knowledgeable & International Communications Govt. Together with being a profession knowledgeable and advertising chief, McCaskill is a tradition analyst recognized for his DEI activism, making him the right subject material knowledgeable for our video.
In preparation for the interview, I met with the LinkedIn group to debate day-of logistics and potential questions. Championing DEI is a part of Sprout’s values, however I additionally needed to make use of our AfroTech™ partnership to help our AI narrative focus. With that purpose in thoughts, I requested McCaskill questions on social media, AI and the influence of investing in numerous expertise. To assist keep a social-first really feel, I included icebreakers about his favourite memes, web cultural moments and Black-owned manufacturers on social.
“[My favorite cultural moments on the internet] has to return to #ScandalThursdays and Shonda Rhimes. However nothing beats Beyoncé coming into nation music. I imply, the cowboy hats, the rhinestones, doing the [Mute Challenge] on the precise live shows the place all people went on mute all around the world,” he stated.
These rapid-fire questions served as an engagement hook and launchpad for deeper questions on AI, social media and the influence of DEI on long-term enterprise success.
“You’re committing skilled malpractice when you don’t have individuals within your group that will help you perceive, respect tradition, decode tradition after which have some modicum of reciprocity together with your audiences…we’ve a lot energy by way of driving the cultural dialog and [industry conversations]. That’s cultural capital,” he stated.
The video was shared on Sprout’s model accounts and LinkedIn for Advertising to advertise this text. If you happen to’re seeking to amplify your key messaging, prolong your attain and nurture associate relationships, take into account co-marketing initiatives when planning your social media protection for occasions.
Social media for occasions finest practices
Planning social media for occasions isn’t a simple feat. Listed below are some finest practices we used to remain grounded.
Begin planning early
The earlier you begin planning your occasion protection, the higher. This fashion you will get groups on board prematurely of the occasion in order that they perceive their roles and what to anticipate as soon as the protection launches. For instance, for occasions like AfroTech™ the place candidates, enterprise manufacturers and prospects are current, you may need to coordinate with gross sales, partnerships and recruiting. Beginning early may also allow you to create sure components of your posts, like social copy, properly prematurely so that you’re not scrambling to create content material all of sudden. An early begin will assist you create, construct anticipation, preserve your content material prime of thoughts and get your viewers excited.
Establish partnerships to increase your attain
Collaborate with creators, influencers and trade companions to broaden your social media occasion protection publicity. These partnerships may help you attain new audiences, driving extra curiosity and engagement. You may work with companions to amplify related messaging that’s vital to your model. For instance, in our LinkedIn interview, we talked about social media and the AI revolution’s influence on tradition and numerous workforces. Additionally use worker advocacy methods to amplify your protection.
Use synthetic intelligence and automation to help your work
Use AI and automation instruments to automate duties like scheduling posts and analyzing efficiency. Utilizing AI to avoid wasting effort and time means you’ll have extra time to be inventive—plus you may be extra current through the occasion. For instance, we scheduled Instagram Tales in Sprout to avoid wasting us time on the bottom. I additionally used generative AI instruments like Author.AI to assist proofread this text based on Sprout’s editorial tips.
Use social listening to information your planning
Establish conversations and sentiments surrounding your upcoming occasion with social listening. You need to use these insights to plan your method to social media for occasions protection. In Sprout you may arrange a Listening Question and add in related themes, hashtags, handles and phrases to gauge discourse round your occasion.
Profitable social media for occasions exist past the display screen
With a robust technique for social media for occasions, you may form memorable model experiences that resonate together with your viewers in-person and digitally. Planning forward, pinpoint partnerships, leaning on social listening and utilizing AI will assist streamline your protection.
AI wasn’t simply a focus in our occasion protection at AfroTech™ 2024—it’s a instrument Sprout constantly makes use of to amplify our work, save time and create high quality content material. That’s why we created an AI advertising toolkit to assist different groups do the identical. It’s stuffed with assets you should utilize to boost your content material and doc your present AI processes. Use it to help your social media for occasions and extra.
