Taking Advantage of Social Media During an Event
Written by Moveforfree on June 23, 2010 – 3:40 pm -As promised, even though it has been a while, here is my second installment of how to use social media to your advantage for an event.
Sure you could always take the lazy easy way out and just show up and hope everything goes well, but would you really plan a wedding without sending out invitations? Well, you might, if you don’t want anyone to come. 
Same goes for utilizing social media for your business’s event, trade show, benefit or conference. Nowadays if you don’t at LEAST announce it to your following on Twitter it is just like not sending out invites to a wedding or a birthday party. Unless you want to be that sad kid that cries on their birthday, I would highly recommend NOT doing that.
As important as adequately preparing for your event using social media is; it’s as equally important to use it during your event.
AV equipment? That is soooo 2000.
In the old days; i.e., 10 years ago, you needed a huge piece of luggage to haul around all of your AV equipment. Now there is something that can do all those functions in one magical device. I’m sure you are eagerly wondering what this device could be. What if I said you probably already own one? Craziness!! Well yes it is crazy, crazy AWESOME! Look no further than your smartphone; i.e., iPhone, Android, Blackberry etc…
With your smartphone you can take pictures or video during the event, upload them directly to your social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube, then share them to all of your amazing followers and fans! It really is that easy. With applications such as Twitmic, you can record testimonials or participant reactions, upload them and post them directly to your Twitter account. It’s as easy as 1-2-3!. Your tweets will be more interactive than those that are just trying TOO hard.
Capture your fans!
As a vendor at a trade show, you have a prime opportunity to capture your audience, in the digital sense. What will set you apart from the hundreds of other vendors there? What if you are handing out trade show keepsakes/ goodies? Why not take pictures of people receiving their giveaway? Then give them one of your connect with me cards and say, “I’ll be posting this picture tomorrow on our Facebook. Be sure to stop by and tag yourself or leave a comment.” Not only will these pictures look great on your business’s site, but will give these people a reason to connect with you and hopefully learn more about your company.
What’s in a status?
Remember those networks and people that you started to follow and connect with before the event? Now is the time to bring these followers to you! People are forgetful, so you need to remind them where you are at the event; booth/tent number, unmarked white van, wherever it is that you are. You also need to remind them what you are giving away. Not only are people forgetful, they LOVE freebies. Oprah [don't judge] did a study one time on what people would take if it was free. She put out a huge pile of random, non-matching pairs of shoes and people took them! What was their reasoning… it was free! Ok, while I don’t suggest you giving away non-matching used footware, if you give away something, anything… announce it on your social networks. “Stop by booth number 55 for this ridiculously awesome thingamajig!! They are going like hotcakes. If you are our 100th person to stop by, you get an extra thingamajig!” Who wouldn’t want to make more of an effort for an bonus thingamajig? No one, that’s who!
Tag! You’re it!
Use. Your. Hashtag. Remember to tag your tweets and updates with the event’s hashtag. Look for others using this hashtag too. Reach out to these people specifically and encourage them to come to your booth. This is SO important for people looking for info about the event who are not there. Folks may still want to see what is going on at the event and read what is being said. If you want people to read your tweets for this event, make sure to use the hashtag. This is also important for follow up after the event, but I will expand on that in my next post.
Did you Check- In?
Geo-locating is the hot, new, sexy movement in social media with apps like FourSquare, Gowalla and MyTown on the forefront. Shama Kabani of Marketing Zen Group and the author of The Zen of Social Media Marketing, suggests creating an entry in these apps for your event, party, conference or booth. This will help you track your traffic and can be fun for your event-goers, if you involve “checking in” with a contest. Think about it. If you tell your attendees there will be a prize for checking in, don’t you think that people will be more likely to come by your booth? Ummmm…. you betcha!
Connection is still key
Events are important because you get to talk face-to-face with your fans, customers, potential clients and followers. The whole point of social media in business and in general is to bring your community closer and for them to learn more about you. Be sure to interact with the people that come to you. What a wonderful advantage to make new customers, connect with existing clients and spread the word about your business. So go out there and network it up… the social media way!
There is so much you can do for events using social media marketing that I know I’m sure I didn’t mention all of them. Any other suggestions? Comments? Questions?
Be sure to watch out for the next entree on this topic: Taking Advantage of Social Media After an Event.
Tags: Community, Events, facebook, Social Media, tradeshows, twitter
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Taking Advantage of Social Media Before, During, and After an Event, part 1
Written by Moveforfree on June 11, 2010 – 10:09 am -[Since this is such a long topic, I'm going to break it up into 3 different posts: How to use social media before, during and after an event]
So we all know that Social Media has revolutionized the world. It has changed the way we receive our news, get other’s opinions, and connect with people all over the globe. It has also transformed the way we market our business.
By now, most businesses are catching on to how to use social media sites to their benefit. Whether you are a management company, a vendor, or a supplier, social media sites can add value to your company.
Social media is not JUST for promoting specials or sharing testimonials. It can be a great way for you to promote upcoming events and/or trade shows that your business attends.
There are important things that need to be done on your social media networks before, during and after every event in order to fully take advantage of the tools that you have within your reach.
Before the event…
Be sure to gather all the information needed about the event: The date, time and who the sponsors are. With every marketing strategy, you need to find out who your audience is. What do you need to do beforehand, to be prepared to answer any questions that these people may have?
Connect
Now, search to see if there is a Facebook page, Twitter handle, LinkedIn group etc. for whoever is putting on the event. Sometimes the event itself may have a Facebook page or a Twitter handle. For example the TAA (Texas Apartment Association) has a Facebook page for their Education Conference and Lone Star Expo. Then make sure to “like” and follow these pages. You should post on the page that you and your company will be attending their upcoming event. Be careful with this though. You DO want to promote that you will be there but make it very conversational and less sales-pitchy. You could say, “Yay! I’m so excited that I’m going to the TAA 2010 conference with MoveforFREE. Can’t wait to see everyone and make some new friends too.” That way you are telling everyone that you will be there and not writing a sales pitch. You should not only post on their page that you will be attending, but post your company’s social media pages as well.
A good thing to do is to scan keywords on search.twitter.com about the event. This way you can see who is talking about it and who else is going to be there. Follow these people and join in on their conversation. This would be a great way to meet potential customers or clients.
Hashtags
Next, see if the event has a hashtag. (Hashtags are used to create a record of groups on Twitter in real time. Putting a # sign in front of a keyword or group makes it easier for people to search for that certain keyword or group. You use hashtags within each Twitter post that has to do with that event.) If this event doesn’t have one you could contact the person in charge of promoting the event itself and suggest they use one. If not, make one up. Something simple is always nice, like #TAA2010, for the TAA 2010 conference and expo.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a strong way to reach people where they are most of the time; their inbox. If you have a email mailing list, why not send out a newsletter or an “invitation” to the event? This way you can not only tell them where and when the event is but also where exactly your company will be. (booth # etc…) In this newsletter you can put links to your Facebook, Twitter pages and your blog. Encourage those that can’t make it to check back at these sites for live updates on the event.
Give incentives
An easy and successful way to encourage people to stop by your booth at a trade show or event is to give them an incentive. On your social media pages you can say, “Stop by booth # 123 and mention you saw this on Twitter/ Facebook and we’ll give you a free t-shirt!” Contests and sweepstakes are also good ways to get people to come visit your booth.
Finally, make business card size cards that have your social media information on them (i.e. your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Blog web address). I will explain in the next post, what you do with these cards during the event or trade show.
Stay tuned for my next post on how to effectively use social media during an event or trade show.
Any other ideas on how to effectively use social media to promote your business before an event?
Tags: apartment, event, facebook, hashtags, Social Media, trade show, twitter
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New Twitter Background!!
Written by Moveforfree on February 18, 2010 – 10:36 am -Hey MoveforFREE fans and followers! I decided to do some new artwork for yesterday for a new background on our twitter page. I would love to hear what you guys think!
Tags: Apartment Locating, moveforfree, Moving, texas, twitter
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Testimonial Tuesday
Written by Moveforfree on February 9, 2010 – 2:05 pm -We really love to hear our customer’s opinions! Feel free to post your opinions, suggestions, or comments here, on our Facebook page, or on Twitter.
Here is a great one from Ankin A. from Euless, Texas.
This is the second time i have used your service, you guys are the greatest, friendly, nice, and quick… I have recommended your company to several of my friends and they have used you guys..thanks again. I will use you again in the future. (how about a referral fee program?..ha ha)
We value all of our customers and really do appreciate everyone of them.
Tags: Apartment Locating, facebook, moveforfree, Moving, opinions, suggestions, Testimon, testimonial, Tuesday, twitter
Posted in Apartment Locating, Testimonials | No Comments »