You’ve managed to put together an event. You even have experts coming in. Good job, congrats. It’s now event promotion time.

You probably selected your experts for two major reasons.

First, they’re knowledgeable in their field. Second, they have enough influence in the community to make people attend your online event.

I’ve done over 270 summits and dealt with thousands of experts. My question to you today is, how are you getting your experts to promote your online event?

I’ve talked about why experts are not promoting your summit before. Today, we’re going to look into how to involve them in your online event promotion efforts.

Let them choose

I know it’s tempting to tell people what to do. It’s tempting to say, “I want you to write five emails and three Twitter threads.”

Instead, let them choose what they want to do. Online event promotion is a broad field, and you don’t always know which techniques your people are adept at using.

Some experts will be willing to do a ton of things for you. They might be willing to do a series of social media posts, emails, and a Facebook Live. Don’t try to box them in by telling them what to do.

Ask them what they’re comfortable doing. Promoting a summit benefits the host as much as it benefits experts. So they will be willing to promote in their own way.

Another reason is that your experts have their own following. They know where their people are and how best they can be approached. You could be making an expert promote you on Facebook, when the bulk of their followers are on Reddit.

If you trust your guests as experts in their field, you can trust them to know where their people are.

Have a live event on social media with experts a couple of weeks beforehand

Do a Facebook Live with your experts a couple of weeks before the online event. Make sure this is on their page, not yours.

The point of getting your experts to promote is tapping into their followership. That’s why you need to focus on their socials and not your own.

I always ask experts what they’re willing to do to promote the event. They’ll probably come back with something they’re comfortable doing.

That’s when I start the negotiation process. “Okay, that sounds great. Would you also be willing to do this and that? Maybe two emails and an Instagram Live?”

More often than not, the answer will always be a yes.

Tip: Avoid asking for the minimum. Don’t ask for a single Facebook post, because that’s not going to reach many people.

Conclusion

Experts are well aware participating in your online event promotion activities is to their advantage. Rather than impose upon them things they might not be able to carry out, let them choose. Whatever else you suggest must be in addition, and not a replacement of what they’re willing to do.

I’ve organized over 270 summits. I’ve dealt with my fair share of experts. If you want an experienced summit organizer in your corner, let’s chat.