Successful Social Media Promotion and Virtual Event Strategy with Mike Allton

Gray MacKenzie interviews Mike Allton, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Agorapulse, about building effective social media promotion strategies and running high-impact virtual events. Mike is an award-winning blogger, international speaker, and author of The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing. He also co-founded 360 Marketing Squad and transitioned from being an external influencer to joining Agorapulse full-time in 2018.

From Influencer to Strategic Partnerships Lead

Mike’s path to Agorapulse is a case study in how authentic content creation can lead to career-defining opportunities. Before joining the company, Mike had built a reputation as “the Hootsuite guy,” having authored a book about that platform and establishing himself as a trusted voice in social media marketing. His relationship with Agorapulse CEO Emeric developed over three months of conversations before formalizing into an employment offer.

That transition from external influencer to internal leader gave Mike a unique perspective on both sides of the partnership equation. He understands what it takes to build a personal brand, and he understands how companies can leverage partnerships with creators and agencies to grow their platform.

Why Agorapulse Works for Agencies

Agorapulse is a social media management platform designed with agencies in mind. The key differentiators Mike highlights include a unified inbox that consolidates all client communications across platforms, simplified client approval workflows that eliminate back-and-forth email chains, and a price point that is more accessible than competitors like Sprout Social.

For agencies managing multiple client profiles, the platform’s multi-account management reduces the friction of switching between clients and platforms. Recent additions at the time of recording included Google My Business monitoring and asset libraries, further streamlining the content creation and publishing workflow.

Running Virtual Events That Actually Work

A significant portion of the conversation focuses on Mike’s experience running Agency Summit, Agorapulse’s flagship virtual event. Mike has experimented with multiple platforms including Livestorm, HeySummit, Run the World, and Airmeet, ultimately settling on Airmeet for its immersive capabilities.

His core recommendation is to work backward from your event strategy, not forward from a platform’s feature set. Too many event organizers pick a platform first and then try to design content around its constraints. Instead, define what you want attendees to experience, then select the tool that supports that vision.

On timeline, Mike is firm: allow six to eight weeks minimum for planning and promotion. Compressing that timeline means cutting corners on either content quality or promotional reach, both of which undermine the event’s ROI.

Making Promotion Effortless for Participants

The most actionable advice in the episode centers on how to make it easy for speakers, sponsors, and partners to promote your event. Mike’s approach removes friction at every step. For paid speakers, promotion requirements are written directly into their contracts. For volunteer speakers, the focus stays on content delivery rather than marketing obligations.

For all participants, Mike’s team creates pre-made promotional assets - Twitter posts, email templates, personalized registration links, and CSV files formatted for bulk scheduling in tools like Agorapulse or HubSpot. The principle is simple: the harder you make it for people to share, the fewer people will share. Providing ready-to-use materials with one-click sharing dramatically increases participation rates.

Partner brands receive co-marketing packages that align with their own goals, creating mutual incentive to promote the event beyond either company’s direct audience.

Content Repurposing as a Growth Strategy

Mike also discusses Agorapulse’s content repurposing strategy through their Agency Accelerated podcast hosted by Stephanie Love. Each episode starts as a live video interview, which is then repurposed into a blog post, a podcast episode, video snippets for social media, and quote graphics.

This approach maximizes the value extracted from every guest conversation. A single 45-minute interview produces content across four or five formats, each optimized for a different platform and audience behavior. The guest promotion loop is built into the process - speakers receive video snippets and quote graphics they can share with their own audiences, extending the reach of every episode.

Resources Mentioned

• Mike Allton on Twitter - Social media strategy insights
• Agorapulse - Social media management platform
• Airmeet - Virtual event platform
• Agency Accelerated Podcast - Agorapulse’s agency-focused podcast
• The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing - Mike’s book