Using Eventasaurus With Your Own Events System
I’m glad you asked (or searched I should probably say).
Eventasaurus was designed from the start to fit into most event organisers’ workflows. Let me clarify the sort of scenarios I’m expecting to deal with here:
- You have an in-house ticket registration system you use
- You are building your own community somewhere and events are listed there
- Your events are listed on your own website and you want people going there to register attendance
Email me if you don’t fit into any of these and I can help.
What Do I Do?
If you haven’t read our model for creating an event across multiple social networks, I’d recommend taking a look at that first. You end up with a picture that looks like this, below.
Where the diagram shows a ticket registration page, just use your own destination page instead. So if that’s your own website, great. If you’re using your own ticketing system, use the page where people register tickets for that event. If you’re building your own community, link to the event page or the member sign up page.
Eventasaurus will help you distribute your event across the web. Where interested people go once they find your event, is totally up to you :-)
How lovely.
Want more information? My inbox is always open: sam@eventasaur.us
Eventasaurus in Plain English
Marketing copy often requires using catchy descriptions of products to capture one’s attention. If you’re into that - we have that here. But often I prefer to just read the facts so let me level with you — in plain English — about what Eventasaurus does, and how that benefits different types of event organisers.
This should be fun.
Our Background
My co-founder are I are event organisers. We know what it’s like - we know how much work goes into organising events and where the stresses are. We both also come from the software world and figured we can make organising events better for ourselves, and for you.
What Does Eventasaurus Do, Exactly?
Eventasaurus doesn’t host your events. It doesn’t do ticketing. It doesn’t replace any tool or software you are already using. Instead it connects them together so the things you are already doing get done faster. Let me elaborate.
Eventasaurus is a dashboard which connects to Facebook, Eventbrite, Plancast, Lanyrd (etc) and allows you to control these places with your own profiles or accounts.
Creating Events Across Multiple Social Networks at Once
Whereas before we had to go and create events manually on each website (argh! endless create-event forms!), now in Eventasaurus you can do it automatically. First, enter your event information or your can import it from an event on Facebook or Eventbrite etc. Second, start checking boxes — Facebook, tick — Plancast, tick — Lanyrd, tick — and when you’re done hit ‘Create’. Eventasaurus will go to each of these places and create those events for you, in about 3 seconds.
Not bad for something that used to take me maybe 6 hours before.
Creating Events Using Your Social Networking Accounts
You might be wondering how we create the events with your accounts? In order for these events to be created with your profile, you need to connect your accounts inside Eventasaurus. So you login once with each of your accounts and that permits Eventasaurus to do the work for you.
Nifty, right? There’s more.
Sync Attendees and Comments From Each Event Page
Once Eventasaurus has created your events on these social networks, it has formed a connection with each one of these events. So now, the dashboard is in sync with each of the event pages. To give you an example of why that’s particularly awesome - when people start RSVPing to your events those attendees will show up in your dashboard so you can easily see what’s happening at each one of your event pages from inside Eventasaurus. Starting to feel like you’re inside Mission Control? Oh yes.
If someone comments on one of your event pages, we’ll pull that in automatically too. And if you want to post comments back to any of your event pages, you can do that from inside Eventasaurus. Clickity-click.
Update All Events Pages at Once
Ever had a last minute change to event - let’s say your venue bails and you need to change the event description and location on each one of your events websites? (Like you don’t have enough to deal with when that happens!) Well not to worry, we made editing and updating events the same way we made creating them. In Eventasaurus, make whatever change is needed to your event information and hit ‘Save’. Eventasaurus will visit each of your previously created event pages and make that change for you, again, in about 3 seconds.
Fin
So there you have it, Eventasaurus — in plain English. I hope you found it informative :-)
Want more information? My inbox is always open: sam@eventasaur.us
Not using a Ticket Registration Page?
Even if your event is free or non-ticketed, it’s a good idea to create a ticket registration page. There are a number of reasons for this:
It shows confirmed guests. This is useful for you as the organiser for obvious reasons. It’s also surprisingly useful for other potential attendees - let’s call it social proof - but being able to recognise some names amongst a list of confirmed guests can help can be a big selling-point.
RSVPing on a social network is really just an indication of interest. When an attendee goes through the steps of registering for a ticket, and receiving that via email - there’s a bigger mental barrier to not turning up on the day.
Most ticket registrations require an email address. Gathering email addresses of your attendees is a hugely valuable part of growing a community around your event, and also allows you to remind guests of last-minute changes or notify them of events planned for the future.
For non-ticketed events, this can be an optional step. Some people will choose to do it and others can skip it if they wish.
Should I Be Creating Events Across Multiple Social Networks?
Unless you’re running a private, invite-only event - there’s really no question about whether you should be utilising multiple social networks for distributing your events. Previously, there was cost and time associated with doing all of this work and that was a barrier for many, but now with [a certain dinosaur-branded events tool](http://eventasaur.us ;-) you can do all the major social networks in the time taken to do one.
Previously we also looked at how to make multiple social networks form an effective marketing funnel to your event registration: A Model For Creating Events Across Multiple Social Networks →
So let’s examine some of the advantages to creating events across many social networks.
Benefit #1: Reach New People
One of the enormous advantages to creating events on social networks is that allows you to reach people outside of your own network. You’re probably building a list of members over time but how do you keep this growing?
Social networks have a great natural distribution since they are built on top of fundamentally viral mechanics. We all know how these work — I check out an event my colleague is organising; it looks good, great line-up and I RSVP. This event gets broadcast in my stream and now my millions of friends (not really) will see that I RSVP’d to this event. This is a brilliant way of immediately broadening the distribution of your event.
Benefit #2: Show “Social Proof”
Social Proof is a psychological phenomenon commonly used in online marketing and plays a big role in events. One of the biggest influencers in people deciding to attend an events is finding out that someone they know will be attending.
Social networks do an excellent job of showing social proof, particularly Facebook (for obvious reasons) but also Lanyrd which shows events your twitter connections will be attending.
Want to dig into the numbers? Eventbrite has shared some excellent research on the business value of sharing across social networks.
Benefit #3: We Have Our Preferred Social Networks
It wasn’t long ago that I used to hear “it’s a business event - it should be on LinkedIn”, “it’s a social event - it should be on Facebook”. In reality, social networks and our habits are maturing — as this happens we each find ourselves spending more of our time in a different place. With a few minutes spare, what do you check - LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter? Ask that to 20 different people and you’ll get a pretty mixed response.
As event organisers, it’s up to us to reach our audience in their place of comfort and creating your events across most of the major social networks is a good way to reach the ‘locals’ on each platform.
Benefit #4: Search Coverage
People search for events, a lot. Plancast, Lanyrd, Upcoming, Eventful - these are huge directories of events that millions of people search to find interesting events to attend. Being listed in several of these places is a must, and since these directories are regularly indexed by Google, this is one of the best ways to get your events to show up in public web searches.
A side-benefit of our Events on Multiple Social Networks Model is that since all your event pages point to your registration point, it should boost your Google-juice for the ticketing page.
Want more information? My inbox is always open: sam@eventasaur.us
A Model For Creating Events Across Multiple Social Networks
Most event organisers know that publishing their events across multiple social networks is important but sometimes this can be done in a buckshot-sort-of-way. I want to share a model which changes this buckshot approach to an effective marketing funnel. The good news is, it’s very easy and ensures you’re getting the best return from creating multiple events across social networks.
The model
This model gives you complete freedom to use your ticket registration system of choice (whether it’s Eventbrite or your own in-house event system). You can even use this model if your events take place inside a membership-based community (like Ning etc).
The model is simple: there is a distribution side — to get your event out in front of your target audience; and then a consolidation side — to bring any interested people back to your ticketing website or community page.
Requirements and Best Practices
Make sure for each event you create that you clearly link back to the same consolidation point - don’t link to other events in your distribution.
Most event websites have a URL field for this, but it’s also worth putting the link into the event description too.
You’re good to go :-) Now you have your basic funnel which allows you to start widening your distribution as much as possible, while ensuring interested traffic is always directed back to where you want them.
A side-benefit of to this approach is that since all your event pages point to your registration page, it should boost your Google-juice for that page.
Want more information? My inbox is always open: sam@eventasaur.us
Getting Started With Eventasaurus
There’s a striking correlation between being an event manager and being incredibly busy. I think we secretly love to be busy and will always find something more to do. At Eventasaurus, we don’t want you to be less busy - we want you to be more productive. As event organisers ourselves, our vision for Eventasaurus is to let software manage the repetitive, tedious work that comes with organising events so you have more time for the work that really needs your attention.
Now that Eventasaurus is in beta, we can show you some ways to boost your productivity while managing events.
Creating Events on Multiple Websites and Social Networks
The details of your event are finalised and you’re ready to tell the world about your event right? Open up Eventasaurus and hit ‘Create New Event’ in the main dashboard.
The first thing you will notice is the chance to select which platforms to create you event on.
Each of these selections will create an event on that platform using your profile and account. To open up more publishing destinations, connect more of your accounts in ‘Settings’.
Follow through the event create form filling in your event information as usual. You know most of this stuff but let me explain some bits that you might not be so familiar with.
Event URL - it’s best practice to direct your attendees to the website where they can buy tickets. Creating lots of events around the web works excellently as feelers to get the word out - imagine them being your marketing tentacles - but you want to make sure you’re pointing everyone onwards to buying a ticket! If you aren’t selling tickets, then you can include any URL here, perhaps a link to more information about the event.
Organiser & Venue - not all websites require these but because some do, it’s best if you fill them in. We’ll save these organiser and venue profiles for later so you can easily use them again in future.
But I’ve Already Created My Event!
Perfect - there’s no need to repeat that work (seeing a pattern with us?) - just connect the account you created the event with in Eventasaurus and your event will be imported automatically. So for example, if your event is already created on Eventbrite - connect the Eventbrite account you used in Eventasaurus. We currently support importing events from Facebook, Plancast and Eventbrite and you can connect multiple accounts from each service if you need.
Please note that importing events can take a little bit of time - depending on how many events you have it can take 10 seconds or up to a few minutes so after you connect your accounts, there might be a little wait. When Eventasaurus has imported your events, they will be listed in your Dashboard.
How do I Re-Post My Event Elsewhere?
Just to recap, by now you should have your event in Eventasaurus, whether you imported it or created it. To Re-Post your event onto other websites, click your event from the Event List and hit ‘Edit Event Information’. In the Edit screen, you will see where this event has been created and with which accounts. Simply select some additional platforms and hit Save! That’s it, your event has been instantly reposted. Not seeing any more platform choices? Connect some more accounts in ‘Settings’.
I Need To Update My Event!
So normally you’d take a break from your busy schedule, start logging into each website to update your event information right? Well, keep your schedule right were it is - and open Eventasaurus, click your event from the Event List and then Edit Event Information again. Make the changes you need and hit Save. Eventasaurus will push these updates to each of your events, instantly. I’m even happy just writing that!
Watch, Listen, Engage!
Under each event in your dashboard, you’ll find a Comments tab. Here you’ll find the comments that guests are posting on your event pages. You’ll see where the comments are coming from and the profiles of the users who posted them. You can post new comments back to each event page and instantly stay in touch with your guests.
We’ve had tons of requests for Twitter integration and all I can tell you for now is something’s coming - and you’ll love it. We’ll keep you updated about things like this in our montly New Features Email (Sign Up to Eventasaurus to get on the list).
Show Me All My RSVPs!
My, you are demanding today aren’t you? OK so you have created an event on a few social networks with Eventasaurus and now some ticket buyers are RSVPing to your event all over the web. Previously this was quite a predicament to find yourself and now it’s a joyous lead generation technique! In Eventasaurus, click on your event and under Attendees you will find all of your aggregated RSVPs. You can see which platforms each person has RSVP’d on and links to their profiles if that social network supports profiles.
There’s still plenty of work to do here. We’re working on tools to give you additional insights and management over these attendees (for example: who RSVP’d on Facebook but hasn’t got a ticket on Eventbrite yet? Send them a message to remind them to get a ticket). We’ll keep you updated about all of this through our montly New Features Email (Sign Up to Eventasaurus to start receiving these).
Too Long; Didn’t Read?
I don’t blame you - I’m not a fan of instructions either. Here’s a quick 2-minute video overview instead →
We put this video up a few months ago to explain what we were building. Happy to say this is exactly what we’ve made. We have now fully integrated Facebook, Eventbrite and Plancast. Lanyrd and LinkedIn due over the next couple of months (no APIs currently available but we’re chatting with them both!)
