Provided by Horsham Agricultural Society.
- Identify volunteers who have skills in social media and photography to form your virtual marketing team.
- Keep connected to your community all year round through social media (Facebook is recommended). Don’texpect your followers to ‘turn up’ at Show time.
- Consider all the elements of your Show to get startedand find ways how you can make them virtual.
- COMPETITIONS
Pavilion entries
Live shearing demonstrations
Interview a show competitor about how they get their entries ready
- ENTERTAINMENT
Run daily or weekly Facebook Challenges in the months leading up to your virtual (or actual) show.
Build partnerships with other community groups or events to double your marketing reach. If they’re running a virtual event, you may be able to work with them to include it on your social media as well as theirs – co branding doubles the reach. It could be part of your entertainment or craft activity (webinar).
Ask local entertainers to send footage of themselves in action to create a virtual concert
Ask local stores to send in photos of their fashions to create a virtual fashion parade
- SHOWBAGS
Run a showbag competition in conjunction with one or more of your suppliers
- EXHIBITORS
Create a virtual market to showcase the vendors who would usually come to your Show.
- RIDES
Your Show Day posts on Facebook, should be ride enough!
- Create a Facebook page for both your Show and your Society. They are two different entities. Your society page reflects the activities of your organisation (life member announcements, building improvements, AGM announcement, other events you may run). Your Show page is all about your Show because it is a specific event. Create a logo for your Show separate to your society’s logo. People don’t search for societies, they search for Shows. You can also share between the two pages, increasing your reach.
- Build brand awareness. Brand your posts to reflect the style of your website. For example put your *logo on your photos, competitions, entry forms, sponsorship packages, advertising etc. across your Show.
- Ensure your website is updated regularly. Ultimately you want your followers to go there as it will have more information.
- Link your website to the majority of your Facebook posts. (It is ineffective on Instagram)
- Use an online entry system. Showday Online provide outstanding customer By using this process, it builds on your existing database as your virtual Show will attract new competitors.
- Close off your entries 2 weeks before Show day. This gives judges enough time to scrutinize. Ensure they have the results submitted 1 week out. Use Google Drive to share links to photos and judges sheets. Post results on your website and send out certificates via email. If offering prizemoney, request the bank details of winners submit via direct debit.
- Don’t restrict your virtual show to just your local community. Seek judges and competitors from outside your region, state and country to create interest and content on social media. If you’ve got a good following, you won’t need to pay for boosted posts.
- Use Canva to
– Brand your photos with your Show’s logo for regular posts. Don’t lift photos from the internet (there can be copyright issues).
– Make them authentic, relevant and recognisable to your community/environment.
– Brand your winning and place getting photos for Facebook before sharing with your community. You can schedule up to 100 posts on your Show Day without Facebook going into meltdown. It’s surprising the amount of people who ‘watch’ your Show throughout the day.
– Schedule the photos directly to your show’s Facebook page from Canva - Congratulate yourselves on successfully bringing new skills to your volunteers and showcasing your Show to your community. Community engagement is more than money can buy.