Harnessing the Power of FOMO

Fear of Missing Out, popularly known as FOMO, is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it is a modern take on "the grass is always greener" which is a rendition of a Latin proverb translated into English in the 1500s. Today, we may feel it more acutely because social media gives us constant connectivity to what others are doing and what they have.

Social media both feeds this compulsion to compare as well as overwhelms us with information. How do marketers rise above the online noise? One way is to understand and embrace FOMO as a natural human emotion. Marketers across industries do this including AT&T's "Don't be left behind" campaign, Duracell Powermat "Stay in charge" campaign, and the Heineken "Sunrise" campaign. The Heineken campaign, in particular, aimed to encourage responsible drinking by portraying excessive drinking as a way to miss out on the best parts of a party. This gets across the message of safe alcohol consumption without the traditional, "it's dangerous" or "bad for your health."

For event producers and marketers there are a number of ways to tap into FOMO without exploiting this very human phenomenon:[Tweet "For event producers and marketers there are a number of ways to tap into #FOMO. #GovEventsBlog"]

• Use social media early and often. By posting information about your event throughout the planning stages, you're getting repetition in views and building a story. Your followers will be able to follow the journey of the event from site selection, to speaker calls, to speaker reveals, to event set-up. Getting people invested in the story of your event before they even step foot on the floor will motivate them to see how this "story" ends by attending and participating in the event.
• Get the whole team involved. Make it easy for your speakers and exhibitors to share their participation in the event. Arm them with draft posts, images, and suggestions of how and when to share the information. Don't just send speakers this social "cheat sheet" once. Send regular updates leading up to the show so they have the freshest messages and continue to keep your event top of mind in their social media postings. The more people talk about your event, the more exposure you'll get.
• Build in exclusive treats. Many people wait until the last minute to commit to an event. Help build your attendee numbers earlier by offering special early bird registration perks to people who register by a certain date. These could be a meet and greet with a speaker, a special reception, or a free product trial.
• Keep some secrets. Use social media to continually tease what will be at the event. Keep some elements mysterious so that people feel compelled to attend to get the first look at big news.[Tweet "Use social media to tease what will be at the event. #GovEventsBlog #FOMO"]
• Encourage live sharing. Get attendees motivated to share their excitement online. Make hashtags prominent throughout the event. Plan random drawings or contests to encourage people to share live snippets of your event on social media. Getting your event to trend in real time is the best promotion for future events.

Of course with all of this hype building, you must deliver. If people attend and see that in fact the grass was not greener, there is nothing that can earn back that trust and excitement for future events. Make sure speakers are able and willing to deliver tweet-worthy insights. Keep the event logistics clean and well-timed and make sure you are responsive to attendee feedback both online and in person.

[Tweet "How do you use FOMO to your advantage in marketing events? #GovEventsBlog"]We'd love to hear from you - how do you use FOMO to your advantage in marketing events? Let us know in the comments.