Social media—especially popular platforms like Instagram—allows brands to amplify the reach of their experiential marketing events. A single photo taken at your event could reach hundreds or even thousands of people if it is shared on Instagram. If you don’t know how to encourage event attendees to share pictures and videos of the event with their Instagram followers, you might miss out on a valuable opportunity. If this sounds familiar, follow these tips to make your next experiential marketing event more instagrammable:

Create a unique hashtag

A unique hashtag should be created in the early stages of marketing the event. This hashtag should be used every time you post about the event so others see that they should be using it, too. It should even be included on promotional print materials to ensure that every guest knows which hashtag they should be using to join the conversation. Not only will this help you track how much buzz your event is generating on Instagram, but it will also help other users learn more about your event. For example, if someone sees a friend post a selfie with the hashtag from your event, she can tap on the hashtag to see other public posts that may give her a better idea of what’s going on at the event.

Pay attention to the lighting

Instagrammers are not going to share unflattering photos, so make sure that you think about the lighting when planning your event. Natural lighting is best, but many events take place at night. If it’s necessary to have dark lighting throughout the event, consider creating spaces that are well lit so Instagrammers have a place to go to take high quality photos. Ideally, the light should be shone on guests from above, since this will create the most flattering photos.

Think of the design

As you plan the layout of your event, make sure that you are incorporating one or two design elements that will wow your guests. For example, people will love posing in front of a beautiful wall of flowers and posting the images on Instagram. At events with seated dinners, many people also post photos of unique placecards that show their name and seating assignment. Try to incorporate a few of eye-catching design elements like these so guests take more photos while they are at your event.

Another thing to remember when designing an event is that photos can be taken anywhere, which is a good and bad thing. This is good for brands that want guests to post as many pictures from the event as possible. But, it also means that brands need to be mindful of how every inch of the venue looks during the event.

Pull up a live feed of Instagram posts

Find a blank, white wall within your event space that you can use to display a live feed of Instagram photos featuring your hashtag. This will motivate other guests to post on Instagram so they can be recognized on the wall, too. Be sure that you have someone standing by to check the posts before they are projected onto the wall. This person should be responsible for ensuring that nothing inappropriate is displayed for all of your guests to see.

Offer an incentive

Offer event attendees an incentive for posting about your event on Instagram. For example, offer a branded tote bag, reusable water bottle, or discount off of a purchase to anyone that can posts on Instagram using your event hashtag. You may even want to limit this promotion to Instagrammers that have public profiles so more people are able to see their posts.

Surprise guests

All of the attendees will immediately reach for their phones if you surprise them with a special guest, announcement, or contest that they want to document with a photo or video. Instagrammers will be eager to be the first ones to break the news on social media, so they will instantly post the photo or video so their followers see it before anyone else.

Use FactorySnap!

Many brands use traditional photo booths at their events, but photo booths can be expensive and difficult to transport. Photo booths also remain in one spot throughout the event, so unless attendees are told to visit the photo booth, they may not even know it’s there.

A better way to capture photos at your event is FactorySnap, which is a unique mobile application developed by Factory 360. How does it work? Brand ambassadors can carry an iPhone or iPad that can be used to access FactorySnap and take photos of guests at the event. In order to receive a link to the photos that were taken, guests simply have to fill out a short data form on the mobile device. The link that is emailed to guests will take them to a website where they can view their photos and share their favorites on social media.

Not only does this mean guests will get immediate access to the photos, but it also gives brands the opportunity to collect data from their guests. In addition, all photos taken with FactorySnap can be customized to ensure they match the look and feel of the brand. Images can even be customized with a banner running across the bottom that features your logo and other information branding information.

By following these tips, brands can reach many people that weren’t able to come to the event for one reason or another. For more tips on how to make your event more instagrammable, talk to the experiential marketing experts at Factory 360. We can help you strategize, plan, and host the perfect experiential marketing event that will be buzzed about on every social media channel, not just Instagram.