Organisers of the WA Indian Festival, the Jain Community of Western Australia, planned for an extravaganza of food, fashion, dancing and culture. The festival aimed to engage the community, promote small businesses and increase business to business networking. The organising committee worked tirelessly with a focus on attracting a big crowd, exhibitors and sponsors to the festival. Social Media Business Boosters were given the job of developing and implementing a marketing strategy aimed at promoting the festival.

1. How to Promote an Event on Social
Media like a S.T.A.R.
Marketing an event through Social Media requires having a good plan in place and then
executing it with precision. By using the S.T.A.R approach which stands for Situation- Task-
Action- Result for a recent event, the team from Social Media Business Boosters WA ensured
that visitors were lining up at the gate. This is how we did it…
Situation - Organisers of the WA Indian Festival, the Jain Community of Western Australia,
planned for an extravaganza of food, fashion, dancing and culture in and around Perth. The
festival aimed to engage the community, promote small businesses and increase business to
business networking.
The organising committee worked tirelessly with a focus on attracting a big crowd, exhibitors
and sponsors to the festival.
Task – Social Media Business Boosters were given the job of developing and implementing a
marketing strategy aimed at promoting the festival. The key objectives were to:
1. target additional exhibitors
2. build excitement around the event
3. create awareness of the festival
4. attract visitors on the day
Action –The social media campaign commenced only 4 weeks prior to the WA Indian Festival. It
is a good idea to allow more time for a big event, planning should start up to 6 months before.
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn were used to reach, engage and create a buzz about the event
in the following ways.
1. Interact with organisers, stall holders, sponsors and media to promote sharing
2. Find out more about key participants to share products, services and entertainment
3. Highlight special guests and presenters
4. Create interest in the Indian Culture by sharing news
5. Engage with followers, responding to questions and comments promptly
6. Create a hashtag and integrate platforms - ours was #WAIndyFest
7. Create Facebook advertising campaigns and invite stall holders to participate
8. Hold Facebook competitions around the theme of the event ie. Bollywood Movies
9. Mention key influencers on twitter, follow and retweet
10. Keep the energy flowing during and after the event

2. Results
Through planning and precision posting, tweeting and commenting – Social Media Business
Boosters reached more than 25,000 people that resulted in a buzzing crowd of over 4,000
visitors and over 70 smiling exhibitors.
This was above the expectations of the organisers, who were extremely pleased with the
outcome. Social Media activity during and after the event was monitored closely and
feedback provided to the Jain Community to assist with creating the next WA Indian Festival.