How Instagram reels can help boost ticket sales.

Video marketing and short-form videos are taking over the internet. These free forms of marketing are powerful tools to grow your business online. If you haven’t had much experience creating short-form videos this may seem like a daunting task, but it is easier than it appears. You’re in luck with Instagram’s latest feature: Instagram Reels. This new feature makes video creation so much easier. In this blog, we are going to walk you through Instagram reels for your business and why you should care about this cool new feature.

What are Instagram reels?

According to Instagram, Reels are “a new way to create and discover short, entertaining videos on Instagram.” 

Currently, the best place to discover Reels is right on your Explore page. 

Right now, Reels are taking up about two-thirds of the real estate on the Explore page.

This means, Reels is the best place for your business to be discovered by new potential clients, which will help your business grow.

Why are reels good for business?

You may be thinking, aren’t I busy enough with Instagram. Why do I need to put my time into yet another Instagram feature? Reels is worth your attention for this specific reason – over the past 2 years, we have seen a new app “TikTok” explode into the social media platform world. Instagram reels are Instagram’s version of the short-form videos that are so ever-popular on the TikTok app. Instagram has already proven to be an excellent sales and marketing platform for business and this is why it’s important to incorporate Instagram reels into your overall marketing strategy.

Here are 5 ways you can grow your business for free online.

1. Share Educational Content: Sharing educational content has worked for thousands of businesses on the platform. So if you think that tips, how-to’s, or resources you can share in a 15-30 second video. 
2. Inspire your followers: A lot of people follow accounts for inspiration. How can you as a business help your customer feel inspired? Maybe you show people what they have been missing about the theatre since they haven’t been able to attend in person.
3. Show off your products: Show demos, customers using your products, tutorials. These can be physical or digital products. Reels allow you to show your products in action. Show the benefits of your products in video form. This is what is going to help you sell more through social media. 
4. Showcase your community: Which client can you feature? Which alumni can you show off? How can you share your community with others? Whose business can you shout out? This is a great way to share how your product or service can help others too!
5. Show off your brand’s personality: More people are likely to do business with people, rather than brands. So have fun, show your brand’s personality, and have fun with it. You might be dancing your way to getting new leads! 

Instagram Reels are now unstoppable — and with this tool, businesses can showcase products and tag them directly from their Instagram reels posts. This is a major upgrade. Since many Instagram creators were already featuring products in their Reels, the addition of short-form videos is great way to increase sales and traffic to your IG and help increase ticket sales to your events.

How to use social media to increase ticket sales for your virtual event

The best way to advertise an upcoming event is by using your resources such as email, sponsors and social media. Social media platforms can move your ticket sales to the next level and are a game changer for your marketing strategies. Here are a few ways you can use social media to increase ticket sales:

Live streaming – Did you know you can use Agile Link to live stream your event? This way, attendees from anywhere can participate in your event. This is great because it actually can allow you to increase participants from your in-person events. You wont have to worry about attendees who cant attend due to travel restrictions, they can join from the comfort of their own home.

Teaser campaigns – The best way to create excitement for an upcoming campaign is to put together a teaser campaign. You can give a little bit of information that will intrigue your followers and future attendees. The bit of information could be about the speakers, the band, special guests or anything that makes the event stand out. People could simply buy tickets at an event because of any single element that attracts them.

Updating your social media strategy– Instagram recently came out with the best ways to grow your social media account is to post 10+ Stories a day, 1-3 IGTV, 3 -7 IG reels  Don’t forget to constantly update your social media accounts with useful information that is associated with your events by linking directly to the event registration page.

Share a photo of a previous event– If your event was in-person before you decided to go virtual you can show pictures from the in-person event. The crowd, the smiling faces, the comments and shares will lead you to a larger audience base and eventually generate even more ticket sales. People love to see customers experiences, o they know they are making the right choice about investing money on your next event.

Writing blogs – To increase engagement, you can write short but informative blogs based on your event topics. For example, if your event is about promoting a conference, you can write a blog about the key note speakers, about their accomplishments and why you are excited to have them speak at your event.

Virtual Fundraising Campaign Ideas 

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced a massive shift in the day-to-day operations of many organizations across the world. If you clicked on this blog, you’re likely interested in how your organization can continue fundraising during this time of uncertainty. Don’t be discouraged, here at Agile Ticketing Solutions we are here for you! 

We understand that the current state of the world has made it nearly impossible to host in-person fundraising due to safety and social distance guidelines and the state of the economy has limited the philanthropic gifts individuals are able to donate. All of this isn’t a reason to give up hope. Here are ten effective virtual fundraising campaigns ideas your organization can incorporate into your 2021 fundraising strategy. 

1. Virtual Theatrical Performances

If your organization is a part of the performing arts, cinema or theatre industry then this virtual fundraising event idea is an absolute no-brainer. You can accompany your virtual event with any of the amenities a normal performance would have, such as snacks, drinks, or intermissions. Consider selling virtual tickets and setting up a donation prompt at checkout. Use messaging such as “We understand that we are in a time where everyone is struggling. If you feel compelled to do so, please think about donating to our organization. Any amount, even a dollar helps.” 

2. Virtual Run/Walk Fundraiser

With a lot of gyms still closed around the world, it may be fun to get your community moving with a virtual run/walk fundraiser. Sell tickets with Agile Ticketing Solutions, and be sure to add the donation prompt we talked about earlier. Instead of meeting up all at one place you can have participants pledge a specific amount of miles they plan to run or walk on their own. This will allow you to reach more people outside your local community and you can use social media to help you 

3.  Virtual Guided Learning

Believe it or not, some schools still out of session, leaving many parents struggling to balance their children’s education and their own jobs. If you haven’t yet thought about hosting a virtual guided learning session, now is the time to do so. You can set this up with Agile Ticketing Solutions’ very own AgileLINK Live. Some organizations are offering virtual guided learning sessions for free, but if you want to you can also sell tickets and/or ask for donations in exchange. 

4. Virtual Live Streamed Concerts

Unfortunately for music lovers, we will not see a return of traditional concerts or music festivals for quite some time. Luckily musicians around the world are taking matters into their own hands and offering performances to benefit virtual fundraisers. Even if you can’t book a household name, people still yearn for any live music from local bands, vocalists, DJs, violinists, rappers, and everything in between.

5. Meet & Greets

If your nonprofit normally offers supporters an opportunity to meet beneficiaries in person, but no longer can with social distancing guidelines, offer a virtual meet and greet. Nonprofits can ask supporters to make a donation or purchase a ticket in order to receive a virtual conference meeting link. Zoos, aquariums, or wildlife preserves can have staff feed animals or offer informational sessions on camera.

6. Tours

Many higher education organizations, museums, and botanical gardens are no longer able to offer walking tours. Allow supporters the opportunity to virtually see your facility behind the scenes with an expert. You can even use this as an opportunity to reach supporters outside your city or state with popular hashtags like #museumathome or #museumfromhome.

7. Digital Happy Hour

Many nonprofits have been re imagining the way we do happy hour in quarantine. You can offer a free digital happy hour to fundraise money for your non profit. We have also seen this with restaurants, where they fundraise to raise money for misplaced servers and bartenders. Typically attendees will learn how to make cocktails from home while messaging in donations and questions about workers in need. This can be done on the AgileLINK platform.

8. Virtual Cooking Night

Have you thought about hosting a virtual cooking night fundraiser event where you can partner with a local restaurant and raise money for your non-profit and also simultaneously help them spread awareness of their business too!

Takeaway:

You may need to adjust your fundraising messages, especially when running a fundraising campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to remember to stay sensitive to how your patrons too have been affected by the current environments. 

Have any other ideas on fundraising? Drop us a comment below and let’s continue the conversation.

Stay safe, healthy and best of luck with your campaigns!