articles, news & testimonials
September 2009
One Way to Take Events
into Social Media
Events are a powerful method to effectively reach target customers. But how does it integrate with social media. Establishing a strong brand message is important, allowing your customer to engage with that message and the brand at every touch point within a marketing strategy builds brand awareness. What are your goals and who you want to reach must factor into any social media efforts, which is also a major strategy when defining the goals of any event.
It is important to bake event marketing into a comprehensive integrated marketing program. With the existing economic situation, event marketers are having a tough time with attendance and linking the face-to-face connection to the social media world. There is increasing pressure to cut budgets across marketing programs with event marketing being the hardest hit, a 22% decrease in attendance for 2008 for tradeshows and events that require travel plans. While the pressure to cut event budgets is increasing, maintaining intimacy with customers will pay high returns, especially during a recession. Social media starts a conversation with customers, fostering relationships and brand affinity.
A recent study of social media professionals conducted by MarketingSherpa.com showed 92% of respondents consider social media to be highly effective way to generate leads. Integrated with event marketing, marketers will see a greater return on their efforts, So, how does an event marketer take that face-to-face connection online to the social media arena? Two major goals for any event marketer are to generate leads and reactivate former customers, as well as convert prospects into customers. Consider integrating social media into the three phases of event planning; before the event, during the event, and after the event.
Creating Engagement at Every Phase
Before the event. Building interest before the event is crucial. Social media can help with engaging prospective attendees before the event with Facebook, twitter and communities that are targeted to prospects interest. Fully utilizing social media builds interest while allowing for a conversation with prospects that is not necessarily sales focused but thought driven to build awareness.
During the event. Now your valued prospects are at the event, fully engaged with the experience that is specifically created for them. Event marketers must continue to build on the engagement that started before the event. Prospects expects an experience that will stay with them, this ensures future consideration from prospects turning them into customers. One strategy is to provide a special area during the event for attends to speak with brand evangelist or link attends directly to your event or brand site. For instance, have an area for attendees to take a photo or video postcard that is embedded into your event site or Facebook page of attendees at your event, using Keshot.com internet capabilities. Encourage microblogging on your Twitter site using Keshot, allowing attendees to comment on the proceedings as they occur, in real-time.
After the event. Keep the event excitement going by extending the impact of the event through social media. For example, a Facebook page dedicated to the event with open discussions about the product, services or solutions to your customer’s pain point keeps the engagement created at the event going. One way to drive traffic to a Facebook page, have the attendees of your event opt-in to your page using a photo/video booth, at the event, or after downloading a photo postcard in the privacy of their home. With the photo postcard embedded on your site (for an example, click on link below), this will attract a broader audience for the content and to help build a house file for future events. Also, leverage other types of information, such as forums, to continue to engage attendees after the event.