LinkedIn is the “Go To” network for today’s professionals. It provides a solid platform for networking and endless possibilities for business development. With over 50 Million members it has passed the infancy stage breezed through puberty and is now into it’s life as a young adult.

With so many members it only makes sense to use it as a platform for driving attendance to your event and cementing buy in from those who had already planned on attending. By engaging you attendees in a network they are already actively engaged in, you have a unique opportunity to virally spread the details of your event and drive excitement.

Here’s how to do it.

Start by by building an event

1. On the left side of your home screen in is a menu bar. Towards the bottom of that menu bar you will see a link for “Applications”. Click that link, find the events app and load it to your profile.
2. Now open up the events application and find the tab at the top of the screen that says “add an event”. Click it!!
3. You’ll next be presented with a form screen where you can fill out all of your details. One of the details ask if you are the organizer of the event. If you are…..great! If you’re not….also great. You do not need to be the organizer to publicize the event.
4. Choose to add more details….always! By adding more details you have an opportunity to tell the full story of the event. Be sure to create a compelling description of the event and why people should attend. Give this section the time it deserves. Trust me….it’s worth it!
5. Preview before you publish. You should always double check your work to make sure you manage the first impression. There is nothing worst than misspelling the word “the”.
6. Is it all good? Great! Now publish it.

Now you can start promoting.

1. The first screen after you publish will give you three options for promoting. The first option is notify your network, which is done automatically.
2. I definitely recommend option 2 as well which is to share the event with you contacts. However, it’s up to you an largely depends on the nature of your meeting/event. You can pick and choose who exactly is notified and essentially you are sending them a private message with an invite.
3. Option 3 is advertising and again, depends on your event. As a rule of thumb, advertising is not necessary and you have a better chance of growing your attendance organically. However, there are specific times where you may want to target a specific audience that you are not connected to and advertising may be beneficial.
4. Find Groups that are associated with your event and create a discussion around your event. Share details and a compelling reason for people to attend. By communicating within a group your are further extending the exposure of your event and targeting an a specific arena of LinkedIn.
5. About a week after you have created the event, post a Status update reminding your network of the event and sharing a benefit of attending. I recommend doing this every couple of weeks leading up tot he event and highlighting a different benefit each time.
6. Every event has a dedicated URL that you can broadcast via email, Twitter, Facebook or any other way you choose. This is a great way to bring in new members to your event and should be used whenever possible.

Providing exposure for your event on LinkedIn is definitely a critical component to bringing your meeting/event into the world of new media. In the end, using LinkedIn as an additional tool for your promotion will help to further engage your attendees and provide a platform for creating further excitement.

An additional strategy you may want to consider would be the creation of a specific group for the attendees. Within a private group you have the opportunity to share a wide variety of information that will create engagement.

Good luck and happy promoting!