Wherever you live, there are opportunities to attend local events and fun gatherings as an influencer or content creator.

It could be the opening of a new café in a small town or an event with a national beauty brand in a big city, events are a great opportunity to meet other people in your community and network.

Today we’re covering attending brand events from start to finish and addressing:

How to get on a brand’s radar
Finding local PR agencies
Reaching out
Event prep
What to do when you’re there
Following up after an event

Get on the radar

Make sure that your Instagram is set up to be on the radar of brands and agencies in the area. In the name field on your Instagram, where you type out your name, you should also put your location and either the word influencer, creator or blogger—whatever you like to go by.

If a brand is typing into the search bar looking for influencers, your name field is searchable and it will pop up.

You can also add hashtags to your posts like #nycblogger, #chicagoinfluencer #losangelescreator or wherever you live that you want to identify with, because brands do still use Instagram to look for creators to invite to events and the hashtags are searchable.

If you want more details on how to set up a great Instagram bio as a creator, check out this blog post.

Know who is involved

Next you’ll want to look up local PR agencies in your area and send them an introduction email.

PR companies love hearing about when people are interested in their brands and in the companies that they represent and that intro email is a great way to express your genuine interest before you start asking for anything.

Time to do some research

So where can one find these PR agencies?

I’m a believer that Google and Facebook groups hold the answers to 99% of the world's questions so I would do a Google search for PR agencies and include the name of your nearest major city.

You can also search through Facebook groups of influencers, bloggers and creators on Facebook to start identifying some of the major PR agencies in the area.

You can even write a post asking other group members who hosts the best events locally and then Google the contact information on your own.

PR Newswire is a site that publishes press releases so you may be able to find some contacts on there or by doing some research on LinkedIn (you can search for brand contacts in influencer relations, PR, or marketing.)

If you’re in NYC I included a list of a few places that represent fashion and beauty brands in the area in my blog post about building relationships with agencies.

Shoot your shot

As I mentioned, once you find a PR agency that represents brands you’re interested in, I recommend sending an introductory email.

In your email I’d be sure to mention:

Who you are
Where you live and what type of content you create
Any of the brands they represent you’re particularly interested in (shows you did some research and checked out their website)
That you’d like to be added to their PR email list to stay on top of launches, collaborations, and events
Link to an example of a piece of content you’ve created either at an event or after attending an event
Thanking them for taking the time to review your request

Also, if you don’t live near a major city, you can always plan a visit and send these emails ahead of your trip.

I know lots of influencers who book an annual trip to New York or LA to meet brands IRL and who check in every few months via email to maintain the relationship.

Pro Tip:

Arrive early! You can take photos of the event space before there are big crowds and get some face time with your agency contact before things get too busy.

Event prep

When you’re getting ready to attend the event, I always like to re-read the initial event email before heading out so I can know what to expect when I arrive.

Check to see when the event starts and ends, if they’ve included any Uber codes or other transportation notes, and if there will be food/drinks or not so you can plan when you’re going to eat.

I like to look up the venue either through Google or Instagram so I can get a sense of what the space looks like and I can plan and coordinate my outfit for any photos I take.

I also find it helpful to look up the person who invited me on LinkedIn if I don’t know them so I can find their photo and look out for them at the event.

I’ll also use the “arrive by” feature on Google Maps to figure out how long it will take me to get from my apartment to the event and help me plan which mode of transportation I’m taking (bus, light rail, subways, etc.)

Attending the event

Whenever possible, I like getting to events right when they start so that I can get in and take photos or videos without a ton of people already crowded in.

This is also a great opportunity to introduce yourself to the PR person who invited you if you haven’t met them yet and to get some face time with them before things get crazy.

Be sure to take note if there are any signs that call out Instagram handles or hashtags of the brand or agencies that are hosting the event and include those in any stories or posts that you create from the event so the PR agencies can easily find them.

If you want to enjoy the event in real time, I recommend taking all photos and videos in your camera roll and then going through and editing when you get home and distributing across your different platforms.

Typically for event posts, I do recommend sharing those within 24 hours so that they’re still timely.

The morning after

No, not that kind of morning after!

The following day, I think it’s always nice to follow up with the brand and send them a quick note thanking them for inviting you to the event.

This is also where I like to share any content that I did create from the event so they can check it out, so I’ll link to any posts or reels I created and also mention if I created stories content since that will expire if they want to check it out.

Sometimes the brand may beat you to it and send out an event recap or press release in the morning and you can also reply to that email to say thank you if they reached out first.

If you were given any products, think about content you might want to create to share with your audience and keep the agency in the loop when you do share that content as well so they can see you support the brand continuously.

I hope you found this guide helpful! Do you have other questions about attending events or connecting with brands in person? Leave me a comment and let me know.

yours,

Austen

Everything You Need To Know About Attending Influencer Events