5 Free Web Apps for Your Small Business Event Promotion

You have this great idea to gather like-minded local small business owners in a big melting pot in which people can network, share industry-specific information and even form business partnership. You have everything ready, and your next step would be to let people know about your events.

I understand that it’s often challenging to get the words out about your small business event; no worries, this blog post will show you some web applications you can use to promote, even create your events, online.

The web apps can help you get your events – big or small – published and promoted. Several of the apps also offer paid plan/pro feature, allowing you to enhance your even marketing effort, as well as accepting registration, even sell even tickets straight from them.

Here are some of the most popular small business event creation and promotion apps I recommend you to visit and have a lookie:

1. Facebook Events

Did you know that Facebook has this nifty feature from which you can promote your event? Just in case you didn’t know, Facebook Events lets you track everything – from friends’ birthday to business event suggestions you might have interest in.

To create an event, all you need to do is by clicking on “Create Event” and start filling in your event’s detail. Of course, creating one won’t automatically get your event buzzed. You need to drive people’s interest. This article can give you some valuable pointers on how to promote your business events via Facebook.

2. SmallBizTrends.com’s Small Business Events Calendar

SmallBizTrends.com is probably the most prominent small business publication online. The articles are great read, but we often think that the site is all about small business; well, it’s not! There are more features you can make use of, such as its Press Release and Business Cartoons sections. If you are an event organizer or host, you might want to have a look at their Event Calendar.

There are small biz events listed in the page, sorted by date. You can submit your event for free. If you want more perks, you might be interested in feature your listing. As a featured event, you can have your logo displayed in the listing, including featured promotion, registration button and so on.

3. Lanyrd

Lanyrd labels itself as “the social conference directory.” However, the site lists more than conferences only – it also lists events and speakers. Of course, not only browsing for events, you can also list yours, as well!

Listing is free, but if you are representing a company in need of help for even promotion and marketing strategies, upgrading to Lanyrd Pro can offer you just that.

4. Eventbrite

This event promotion platform is particularly useful if you want to promote any kind of events – including small business meetup and networking events – and sell event tickets straight from your event page. However, it is also a friendly site for bootstrappers, allowing them to create an event for free. You only need to pay a fee to Eventbrite if your event involves ticket sales.

Eventbrite is a full-fledged service, meaning you can manage every aspect of event management – event entries, ticket printing and scanning, money collection, etc. – straight from your Eventbrite account. It’s mobile-friendly, too!

5. Google+ Events

Similar to Facebook, Google+ has Events section from which you can find events to attend, as well as create one yourself. The events are integrated with the social feature seamlessly, making event promotion a breeze.

However, Google+ has an added perk for event organizers and hosts: Google Hangout. You can arrange a hangout – with up to 9 friends – and ‘package’ it as an event. Many have done so (like this.)

Bonus: Meetup

It’s a bonus recommendation because Meetup is not free event creation tool as this blog post title suggests. Signing up is free, but if you want to create an event, there are 3 plans you can choose – pricing plan starts from $12/month. However, the simplicity and straightforward nature of the platform is worth-recommending.

If your event is less-structured and less-formal, this platform can facilitate you in launching a small biz event – fast. Typically used by a small group of people, Meetup can accommodate any number of attendants, anywhere from 5 to 500.

The upside of Meetup is the event promotion. As you create an event your event will be automatically promoted to members with the same interest as your events (tag-based recommendation.)