Coworking Tools: Marketing & Events

Marketing

Coworking space marketing can be a daunting task, even for the very experienced among us. From design to copywriting to publishing there is a nearly endless amount of minutiae that needs to happen on a regular basis to ensure a good flow of new membership leads. The tools below offer some of the best options available for reducing marketing workload while maintaining quality results.

Buffer

Buffer allows social media administrators to schedule posts to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram (*Instagram still requires manual posting, so Buffer just sends you a reminder). It’s a great way to batch your social media work into one or two days for the entire month. Assuming you’re only doing one content piece per week you could potentially schedule content out for up to 6 months with a week’s worth of work.

You can post links, images, or just text with Buffer. You can schedule specific times for Buffer to post your content or let the tool auto-schedule them for you based on parameters you set up.

Instagress

UPDATE: This tool has sadly been shut down at the request of Instagram. Check out likegrowers.com instead as it basically does the same thing.

Let’s be honest, as a coworking manager, who has time to like, follow, or otherwise engage on Instagram all day long? Instagress is my favorite Instagram engagement automation platform I recommend to clients. It can follow, like, comment, and unfollow users based on criteria you choose (e.g. tags, location, the number of followers, age of content, etc.). It’s incredibly powerful and inexpensive, but beware, Instagress is not exactly endorsed by the powers that be at Instagram. There are a lot of tips that Instagress offers to make sure your account stays in good standing while using the service. But in general, it’s quite safe.

Archie

UPDATE: This tool has sadly been shut down at the request of Instagram. Check out rewst.com instead as it basically does the same thing.

Archie is basically Instagress but for Twitter, with fewer features. Archie can automate engagement for Twitter and Instagram, but I only use it for Twitter because Instagress is better. Primarily it likes content from users based on the tags you tell it to like. The engagement is randomized, but another warning here: Twitter doesn’t endorse the use of Archie and you’ll want to follow tips the Archie team provides to ensure your account stays in good standing. I’ve had clients gain up to 1000 new, organic followers per month using Archie’s highest tier plan. Again, use at your own risk, just like with Instagress.

Coworker and Other Directories/Marketplaces

There are hundreds of coworking and shared space directories popping up out there, but LiquidSpace is by far the largest with over 53,000 companies having used the platform to list meeting rooms, desks, and offices for rent on an hourly, daily, or monthly basis.

The initial process of putting your space on as many directories as possible can be a fair amount of work, but once done and integrated with your calendar system, the bookings just roll in. What’s more, this is a must-do for your SEO efforts, helping to boost your backlink profile from credible websites. And it’s amazing how few coworking spaces take advantage of this marketing tactic.

Events

Events serve as a critical part of a coworking space’s marketing and branding strategy, yet even the smallest events can be a serious amount of work. The tools below will save you time and energy, as well as keep you organized while planning and executing your events strategy.

Eventbrite

Obvious as this suggestion may sound, it’s amazing how many spaces try to re-invent the wheel with their own custom event software or by searching for other event ticketing tools. But there’s a reason Eventbrite is probably the most popular event platform that coworking spaces use. It has robust features for ticketing, check-ins, and provides well-designed event web pages. Plus it has a public marketplace where prospective event-goers can view and purchase tickets to your events.

Many coworking management tools out there are trying to build events management into their own management tools, but in my opinion, it makes much more sense to use an already existing tool that is as well developed and feature rich as Eventbrite is.

Sure, Eventbrite charges a small percentage fee based on your sales, but it does the job right, and if your event is free there is no charge whatsoever.

From being able to duplicate an event to create a similar one to dynamic ticket pricing schemes, Eventbrite provides just about everything you need to market and create tickets for your events.

Meetup

Another obvious one, but often over-thought by space managers and then abandoned due to upkeep. Assuming Meetup is well populated in your geographic area (in rural cities this may not be the case), it is a must-have tool in your event management repertoire.

By duplicating all of your events from Eventbrite to Meetup, you’re opening up your event to a much larger marketplace. The people searching for interesting things to do in their area will see your event and sign up if it’s interesting. You can only set one static price on Meetup tickets, unlike Eventbrite (which can change within date ranges you specify), but you can manually change the price at any time.

The marketplace on Meetup is much better than that of Eventbrite, so it’s a critical tool for attracting more people into your space via events, and getting your event on Meetup is a simple as copy and pasting information and images from your other event sources.

Eventfuel and Bizzabo

These are the only two tools I’ve seen that seem like they have the features I’d want for planning events, not just marketing and selling tickets to them. I haven’t used either, but they are worth a further look.