Reel in Potential Restaurant Attendees with Content

Show and tell would-be guests why they should come to your event
When promoting your event to potential attendees, it sometimes takes more than just an invite with the who, what, where, and when details to get guests to commit. To get people off the fence and clicking the Register button, you may need to give them a taste of what's to come at your gathering and share why they should attend.

There are a number of ways you can use content to promote your event via your invitation, event homepage, email newsletters, social media, and your website to hook people into coming to your gathering, whether it's a class, webinar, open house, fundraiser, or party. Most importantly, your event invitation and/or homepage should provide the benefit attendees will get out of coming to your event. You could list three things they will learn, show who their donations will benefit, or include some of the items that will be available for auction at your gathering.

But there is more content that can be used to whet the appetite of those you want to attend your event, content that can used beyond the invitation and event homepage:

Have speakers write a blog post: If there are guest speakers at your event, ask them to write a quick blog post or article that previews what they will be talking about during your event. If there are multiple speakers, you could roll out posts over a number of days during the registration period to build excitement. Spur engagement by asking readers and attendees what questions they would ask the speaker and have them post their thoughts in the blog comments or to your Facebook Page.

Post videos of scheduled speakers: Some guest speakers may have video of previous talks available on YouTube or other public video sharing sites. If so, link to the video in your event communications or embed the video on your website for people to see. Such videos could provide context to what will be covered at your event (homework for attendees) or give a taste of the speaker's style and flair.

Book excerpts: Are any of your speakers or guests published authors? Ask them if you can publish an excerpt from their books as a way to promote their appearance at your event. Authors always want publicity, and the content from the book will help demonstrate the expertise that will be on display during your seminar or class.

Post thought-provoking articles: Find an article online with a topic related to your event? Post it to your social media accounts or link to it from your blog and ask readers to share their thoughts. Make sure to tie the question back to your event!

Photos of previous events: If your event is recurring and you have photos from previous gatherings, post them to your website, event homepage, Facebook Page, and/or include a couple in your email newsletters as way to show what attendees can expect when they come to your next event.

Tweet with an event-specific hashtag before, during, and after the event: When tweeting about your event, include a special hashtag (e.g. #winedinner2022) in each tweet and encourage other Twitter-using attendees to do the same. This will allow you and all your attendees to track the conversations surrounding your event and discover fellow attendees without having to first follow everyone on the invitation list.