Whether it’s to have a casual hangout with friends, collect funds for a cause, or foster community spirit, hosting a bonfire event on winter nights can bring people together like nothing else. However, arranging a memorable bonfire for your community center requires more than just stacking wood and lighting a match. To draw in a crowd, you need to implement a mix of marketing strategies.
In this guide, we’ll explore 6 cost-effective techniques to promote your community bonfire event.
Promote on social media
If you haven’t already, create social media accounts for your bonfire on platforms (like Facebook and Instagram) where your audience is most likely to be active. By regularly sharing engaging content on these platforms, you can attract and retain the attention of your target audience so that your bonfire event stays on top of their minds.
Here are some types of content you can share on your socials to build hype around your bonfire:
- Behind-the-scenes photos and clips of the venue being prepared for the event.
- Stories with countdown timers leading up to the event.
- Posts showcasing vendors and/or guest lineup for the bonfire.
With PosterMyWall, you can create compelling content for your social media accounts in no time. Browse through their bonfire social media templates, select the ones that closely resonate with the theme of your bonfire, and customize them to convey your messaging. Then you can directly publish your designs on your socials from PosterMyWall.
Collaborate with local influencers
Partnering with influencers will be great for spreading the word about your bonfire. Influencers have highly engaged and loyal followers who trust their recommendations. So, if an influencer attends your bonfire or urges their followers to attend it, you can reasonably expect to have a high attendance at the event.
You can even ask one of them to do an Instagram story takeover a day before the bonfire. They can provide a backstage look at the event’s preparations and their excitement for the event by sharing video clips throughout the day.
Make sure that the influencers share important information related to the event, such as the date(s), timings, venue, guest lineup, activities, and vendors, with their audience. Additionally, provide them with the link to your Instagram handle and the landing page on your website/ticketing platforms where they can buy tickets.
Create a compelling hashtag
Yes, hashtags are still very useful for promoting your event. Your hashtag should be unique and catchy. It can be as simple as #bonfirebash2024.
Include the hashtag on every post related to the event so people can click it and see related posts. Encourage attendees, sponsors, and partners/vendors to use this hashtag when posting about the event.
Offer early bird registration
Who doesn’t love a steal deal? Get your potential attendees excited for the bonfire by offering them limited-time discounts for registering ahead of time. They will be more inclined to register for your bonfire if they’re receiving a discount on the tickets which won’t last long.
Other than creating a sense of urgency, incentives like early bird discounts also help you attract more attention to your event, driving word-of-mouth referrals.
Don’t forget print marketing
Make generous use of posters and flyers to raise awareness about your bonfire among people living in your area.
You can put up posters in nearby coffee shops, schools, markets as well as any public bulletin boards. This way they are bound to catch people’s attention.
As for flyers, you can distribute them in public places such as malls, or mail them to people lining in the same zip code as your store
Run ad campaigns
Paid ad campaigns are one of the most efficient ways of reaching out to newer audiences on social media who might have not been aware of your event before. We recommend that you create an ad campaign on platforms like Facebook and Instagram at least 2 weeks before the event for your ad to have the desired impact.
Target your ads toward people whose interests and demographic characteristics (age, location, etc.), align with those of your page’s followers. These people will be very likely to be interested in your event.
Keep a regular check on your ad’s performance (number of impressions, likes, profile follows, and shares). Based on this data, you can lengthen or shorten your ad campaign.
Conclusion
Hosting a bonfire event at your community center is great for bringing your friends and family together and making new connections. To ensure that your efforts to organize it are fruitful, you have to implement a mix of strategies. These include paid and organic social media marketing, print marketing as well as limited-time offers like early bird registrations to incentivize people to register for your event. By following the tips we mentioned, you can reach out to as many people as possible.
