So, you’ve uploaded your event, place, or offer to Hull What’s On. It’s a great start! But what actually happens next? And how do you give your listing the best chance of standing out and getting shared? Here’s what goes on behind the scenes, and a few quick tips to help your post reach thousands more people, for free.
Every listing is reviewed by a real person
Each morning, our team carefully checks every new submission. We make sure it’s clear, relevant, and looks good on the site. Sometimes we’ll make small edits to your headline or description to tidy it up or make it easier to read. Our goal is always to present your listing in the best possible way for our readers.
We choose up to 6 standout listings a day to share on our social media
Every day, we pick a handful of the most eye-catching listings to feature on our social channels. These can be events, offers, or places—anything that we think our followers will love.
To get chosen, we look for two key things:
- A clear, engaging headline (not too long, no all caps or jargon)
- A strong photo—ideally one that shows people enjoying the event, food being served, or your venue in its best light. If the image you upload is heavy with text, we usually have to go and search for a clean version without any text, which takes extra time, so we’re much more likely to feature listings that already include the kind of photo we can share straight away.
This is a great example of the kind of listing we love to feature.
- The headline is clear and simple, telling you exactly what the event is and who’s involved.
- The image is clean and relevant: no text, no logos, just a strong visual that represents the event.
- The description explains all the key details: what it is, who it’s for, when it’s happening, and how to book.
If this listing were selected for our social media, we’d write a custom headline post with the key details, linking directly to the event. And because it’s formatted so well, it also stands a much better chance of being picked as an Editor’s Pick on our homepage or being included in our weekly email newsletter.
This is a common example of a listing that doesn’t work as well for our platform.
- The only image provided is a flyer with a lot of text. While the design is tidy and informative, it’s too crowded for social sharing. We usually have to search for a clean, text-free image, and in most cases, we move on to listings that already include one we can use straight away.
- The listing combines multiple events across different dates. On Hull What’s On, it’s much more effective to submit each event separately, so they can appear in the right filters, search results, and categories.
- Submitting each event as its listing also gives it a better chance of being picked for our social media or newsletter, where we feature standout events individually.
We want your events to perform as well as possible, and giving each one a dedicated, well-formatted listing is the best way to make that happen.
Here’s how the difference plays out on social media. The example on the left was uploaded with a flyer full of text and multiple events bundled together. In that case, we’d have to reformat the details, search for an image, and separate each event manually—so it’s unlikely to get featured.
The example on the right, however, was submitted with a strong photo and a clear, single event title. That makes it easy for our team to build a bold, eye-catching Headline Post, like the one shown here. It’s clean, it’s clickable, and it’s instantly understandable, perfect for platforms like Facebook and Instagram, where attention spans are short.
If your event is submitted like this, it’s far more likely to be picked for a social post, Editor’s Pick on the homepage, and even our weekly email newsletter (reaching 11,000+ subscribers)—all included at no extra cost.
Social picks get even more visibility
If our Social Media Manager selects your listing to share, it won’t just go on Facebook and Instagram, it will also appear on the front page of our website under “What’s new” as Editor’s Picks, and get included in our weekly email newsletter (which reaches over 11,000 local people).
So just by putting a little extra effort into your listing, you could get thousands of extra views—for free.
Tips for a great listing
Want to increase your chances of being featured? Here’s what we recommend including:
- A clear event or offer name (e.g. Quiz Night at The Sailmakers, not Come and Join Us For an Exciting Night of Trivia Fun)
- A strong lead image with no text or logos
- A description that covers the basics:
- What is it?
- When is it happening? (date and time)
- Where is it?
- Who’s it for? (families, over 18s, kids, dog-friendly, etc.)
- How much is it, and do you need to book?
The more clear and helpful your listing is for a potential visitor, the more likely we are to highlight it.
Final thought
We love promoting what’s happening in Hull & East Yorkshire—but we need your help to do it well. A little extra effort on your part could put your event or offer in front of tens of thousands of people, all looking for something to do, somewhere to go, or somewhere new to try.
