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 restaurant, small business, retailer or insurance salesman, 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 ABC Company. 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.
Search Twitter
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 an incentive
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.
Connection Cards
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?
