[FAQ]

I’m helping to organise a pop-up market for local designers here in Berlin in about two months, and we’re relying heavily on Instagram to drive actual foot traffic on the day. I’m struggling to map out a content plan that builds hype without annoying our followers by posting the same flyer over and over.

I’m trying to figure out the right timeline. How far in advance should we announce it? What sort of content works best in the weeks leading up to the event versus the final few days?

My initial thought is to use Reels to showcase the designers, a main Feed Post with all the key details, and then use Stories for countdowns and real-time updates. But I’m not sure how to pace it all correctly. I’d love to hear a more structured strategy if anyone has successfully promoted an event on here before.

[Jeff Bullas]

Planning a phased content roll-out is the key to a successful event promotion.

Short Answer: You should structure your promotion in three phases: an ‘Announce’ phase starting 4-6 weeks out with a key post, a ‘Hype’ phase using Reels to build excitement, and a final ‘Urgency’ phase in the last week dominated by Stories.

The goal is to use different content formats like video, images, and text to guide your audience from initial awareness to showing up on the day.

Your initial instincts are spot on. The first phase, starting about a month out, is all about the announcement. You should create one master Feed Post, likely a carousel, that contains all the key information. This image and text based post acts as the single source of truth that people can save and refer back to.

The second phase, from two to four weeks out, is for building hype. This is where video content in Reels is your most powerful tool. You should be creating Reels that showcase the value of attending, such as behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with your designers, or sneak peeks of the products that will be on offer.

The final week is the urgency phase, and it should be almost entirely run through your Stories. This is where you use the countdown sticker, share directions, and post frequent reminders. On the day of the event, your content should be 100% real-time Stories and perhaps an Instagram Live to show the atmosphere and encourage last-minute attendance.

Cheers,
Jeff

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