5 marketing trends to watch as an event creator in 2024

Interested in staying abreast of the latest marketing trends as an event creator? Wise move. Whether you run large-scale campaigns or rely on a handful of simple tactics to get the word out about your events – staying relevant is the key to your promo success. 

But it can be really hard to decipher the reams of marketing info out there. Especially when a lot of it is aimed at big brands and corporations, rather than individuals or smaller businesses. 

That’s why we’ve cherry picked five interesting trends to watch over the coming year that are particularly applicable to event creators. Let’s go 👇.

1. Short-form video – storytelling and building your event community 

TikTok has completely changed the way in which we consume content on social media platforms and beyond. Now, short-form video has become an artform in its own right – one that is evolving as rapidly as the trends upon which TikTok videos are pinned. This content format has been so successful because it enables us to consume entertaining, inspiring, and informative content in an incredibly accessible, engaging way. In short: it requires very little attention span, while delivering big on rewards. 

As an event creator, using short-form video – whether via TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts or another platform – gives you the perfect opportunity to engage with both your existing community and new audiences. Thanks to the plethora of editing tools out there, these quick-fire videos are ideal for storytelling; for building a narrative around your events that truly resonates with the right people, in the right way. And it requires very little investment, too, meaning everyone from community workshop hosts through to global conference organisers can get involved. Nice.

Head over to our TikTok guides for event creators to learn more:

• sing TikTok to promote your events – your handy intro guide
• Top 5 TikTok video tips to promo your festive events
• Psst follow us on TikTok to see how we do it 

2. Influencers – working with them, or becoming one

The influencer marketing trend isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Hence the reason why 2023 saw a whole plethora of successful influencer campaigns deliver impressive ROI results for big brands. Take this Express clothing influencer campaign, for example. Through running an enhanced ambassador programme – which involved partnering with style influencers on Instagram – they garnered 168% ROI in sales.

As an event creator, partnering with influencers can be a great way to land your events in front of new, relevant audiences. And the good news is – you don’t need to pay through the roof to work with a major influencer with hundreds of thousands of followers. It can actually be more effective to work with ultra-relevant micro influencers (10k-100k followers) or even nano-influencers (1k-10k followers), instead. For example, a small-to-medium sized food festival could see great results from running a campaign with a local foodie micro or nano influencer. 

On the flipside, becoming an influencer (micro, nano or otherwise) can also reap brilliant rewards for your events business. If you’ve got tons of knowledge, ideas, and interesting content to share, there’s nothing to stop you from building up your own dedicated follower base on the platform/s of your choice. 

Take Ticket Tailor user, Pure Land Farm, as an example. This organic farm, which runs pick-your-own events, regularly posts TikTok videos providing valuable farming tips and insights. In doing so, they’ve managed to accrue a sizable 17.6K followers on the platform. Impressive. And they’ve even just published a book sharing tips and tricks to help other farms to start running pick-your-own events!

3. Social media platforms – quality over quantity 

In 2023, some of the major social media platforms saw a notable increase in brands leaving them. For example, this 2024 marketing trends report from Hootsuite reveals that X (previously Twitter) saw a 7% decrease in brands on the platform from 2022-23. The same report highlights that 60% of organisations surveyed have a presence on X, but only a third of these feel strongly that the platform benefits their business.

The takeaway? Brands are clocking onto the fact that it's better to be active on fewer platforms, but in a more impactful way. 

As an event creator, this could be a sign that it’s time to hone your social media usage as we move into 2024. To do so, use data to analyse which platforms are really serving a purpose and delivering on ROI. 

In the absence of data (say, if you’re a super small organisation or one-person band), simply ask yourself: 

Am I posting on this platform just because I think I should be? Or am I posting on it because I get a lot of positive responses to my content, interaction from my community, and a noticeable increase in ticket sales when I regularly share content?

If using a certain platform feels like a thankless chore – there’s a good chance your time, efforts and money (if you use paid ads) could be better spent elsewhere. 

4. Hyper-personalisation in email marketing – time to segment your contacts 

Email can be a really powerful tool for event creators, enabling you to contact your event community with relevant updates, announcements, and ticket releases. 

The email marketing landscape is always changing, though, so it’s important to keep abreast of any new trends. In 2024, for example, it’s likely we’ll be seeing a marketing trend that involves an increase in ‘hyper-personalised’ emails. AKA: emails that are personalised in a way that involves much more than just adding the recipient’s name to the subject line. Just take a look at how Spotify Wrapped have led the way on this one pushing personalised messaging through email and the app itself!

The concept of ‘hyper-personalising’ emails involves segmenting your contact list based on certain criteria – then emailing each segment with content that’s highly relevant to them. For example, you might segment your contacts based on their location, age, interests, purchase history, or any number of other factors. You can then send each segment highly personalised emails that tap into these specifics. For example, you might send an email with some tongue-in-cheek messaging about a specific tube line for those living in a certain part of London.

5. Social media SEO – increasing your events’ discoverability on social

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is generally thought of in terms of actual websites. (That is, employing certain tactics to make sure web pages appear in search engine results pages). 

But marketers and influencers are increasingly optimising their social media posts; a behaviour that’s being driven by the fact people now search platforms like Instagram and TikTok in ways they wouldn’t have a few years back. For example, these days, someone might search for make-up tutorials or recipe inspiration on TikTok rather than on Google. 

As an event creator, it could pay off to get familiar with the concept of social media SEO as we move into the new year. When you start optimising your social media posts by using certain keywords, you might find your channel reaches vast new audiences. 

See how one Ticket Tailor event creator taught himself everything he needed to know about SEO by watching YouTube videos, helping to boost his ticket sales and capture the attention of Barack Obama.

6. 2024 marketing trends for event creators – closing thoughts

Embracing short-form video – whether on TikTok or other platforms – is sure to be a positive marketing move in 2024, as we continue to embrace this easily-digestible content format in all its glory. Branching out to work with influencers, or even set yourself up as one, could also pay off for event creators looking to make a splash across social media. Getting even more personal with emails could pack a serious punch in terms of ROI and attendee engagement. And finally, getting to grips with social media SEO is a relatively simple but effective marketing tactic to employ when it comes to making your social channels more discoverable. 

Phew! We reckon that’s enough marketing fodder to keep you going for the next 12 months – but if not, head over to our event marketing guides for more tips and inspo.

Here’s to a very happy, very sold-out new year for event creators everywhere 😌 🎉.