Using social media to expand your event’s
reach
A notice about the Live Event on the World Bank
website.
By Quentin Wodon
On 8 March, I helped organize an event at the
World Bank in celebration of International Wo-
men’s Day designed to illustrate the power of
women to change the world. The main speak-
ers for the event, sponsored by the World
Bank Group Staff Association, were Marion
Bunch and Deepa Willingham, both dynamic
Rotary members.
We learned a few valuable lessons from our
efforts to promote the event online through
social media. First, with about 250 people
attending at the World Bank, the event was
a success. But more importantly, 3,341
unique visitors viewed the event through
the World Bank Live platform. That means
13 times more people watched the event
online as did in person. We expect even
more people to watch the recording of the
event when it is made available on the
event’s webpage.
Several steps contributed to the success
of the web streaming:
- The event was featured on Instagram
and Facebook, with strategic placement
of low-cost ads, resulting in a total
reach of an estimated 1.6 million people. - The event was featured prominently
on the World Bank’s external webpage
for two days, drawing people to watch
the event online live. - The event was promoted through
Twitter as well as blog posts (among
others Rotary Voices, the education
and health World Bank blogs, and the
Rotarian Economist blog).
This brief analysis demonstrates how invest-
ments in social media can substantially in-
crease the reach of events. If you are organ-
izing an event that you believe has the potent-
ial to be a success online, consider streaming
it live and putting together a social media cam-
paign to increase your visibility. If you would
like more information on the event, please
visit the Rotarian Economist blog.
About the author: Quentin
Wodon is a lead economist at the World
Bank. He holds PhDs in economics and
in theology and religious studies, and
has taught at universities in Europe and
the U.S. He is a member of the Rotary
Club of Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C.,
and is involved in several innovative
global grants. He is also author of the
Rotarian Economist blog.
Notice: Please Note: Our website address
has been updated to:
www.northjacksonrotary.org
