Welcome to the Webinar, it will begin shortly. 50 Social Media Ideas for Your Tradeshow

Transcription

1 Welcome to the Webinar, it will begin shortly. 50 Social Media Ideas for Your Tradeshow

2 Today s Quick fire Session We only have ten minutes so - - let s get to the tips!

3 1. Step one: if you don t have an event presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn, start there. And don't leave your social media marketing effort in the hands of your intern. 2. Deals matter most to your social media fans. Deals also get shared more often than anything else. Offer exclusive discounts and freebies. Visit: for the article, Why We Like & Follow Businesses Online. 3. Tag everything everywhere. Think Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, using your strongest keywords and search terms, tag all of your content with them including blog posts, photo names, press releases, directory listings and company pages on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn, etc. 4. Google has compiled a guide with Google tools that can help you reveal opportunities and achieve your marketing goals. Even better? Many of these tools are free, so they also help you do more with less. Click: 5. Know when to post. Click through rates on Facebook updates are better on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays Highest is Tuesdays (Source: Vitrue Findings)

4 6. Check Facebook stats: Visit your Event Page and click Facebook Insights. This can be found by logging in as an admin and clicking "View Insights" on the left navigation. Scan your fans and page views count. If you are a member of a group, check to see if any new discussions have started. Get Insights for your domain: 7. Encourage sharing by adding Like buttons on your events website. Add to session descriptions, parties, speaker profiles, etc. Quick way for users to share content, it fires directly into attendee s and exhibitor s newsfeeds. 8. Don t overdo it with the Facebook updates. Too many updates = Increased opt-outs. Up to one week before the event post one update a week. During the event, post only one update a day. After the event post one update with a thank you and an early bird special offer. Then close shop till next year, unless you have more special pricing. 9. How to make "Tweet This" or "Post to Facebook" links. It s simple, just use the links below and add in the link and/or text you'd like people to share via a status update: Facebook: add your link here Twitter: add your link and/or text here 10. On that note, make sure that there is, at minimum, the standard social sharing buttons such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook on your event website and blog. Add your social media icons to all signatures, business cards.

5 11. Recruit exhibitors, sponsors and attendees by adding your event to LinkedIn Events use keywords. Will rank high in Google s results for your event name and those keywords. Visit: Use LinkedIn Groups to create a Your Event Alumni Group to keep all former attendees, speakers and exhibitors in the loop. 13. Answer industry-related LinkedIn questions: Search for questions on LinkedIn that you or members of your company can answer. You can set up an RSS feed for specific question categories to go to your Google Reader, as well. When you find a relevant question, respond and include a link to your website. Visit: Engage visitors by offering Foursquare discounts and prizes when attendees check in at your conference, pubcrawl, special event or scavenger hunt encourage your exhibitors to do the same. Visit: Create an event hashtag (#ExpoExpo) for Twitter to expand your audience before, during and after the event. Use them every time you tweet to help people find you. Don t forget your post-show thank you s.

6 16. Make it easy for your tweets to be re-tweeted. Keep them short enough so your followers can add hashtags and short comments. Keep your Twitter name short, too, for that reason. With only 140 characters, each space is valuable. 17. Improve the attendee experience at your show, tweet unplanned changes to schedule, reminders and notifications. 18. Twisplays are LED signs that allow you to conveniently display whatever Twitter streams you desire at your conference - your attendees, your events, your exhibitors. Check it out: HashTracking, is a paid service you can use post event to track campaigns on Twitter. They offer a free sample report and one report starts at only $40. The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is a client. 20. At the closing general session have a slide that acknowledges the Twitter handles that tweeted the most at your event.

7 21. Time Saving Tool: Using a free desktop application like HootSuite or TweetDeck you can monitor event mentions, keywords, and manage multiple Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Ping.fm and WordPress profiles and schedule messages. Set up a search to learn when people are tweeting about your event, Visit: With Hootsuite, you can schedule Tweets ahead of time. That way you can be sure announcements and reminders go out on schedule. 23. Sign up your Twitter account with Klout to get your influence score. Go to for advice on making your tweets and Facebook posts more influential. 24. Five tips to build a larger Twitter following: 1) Tweet frequently, people look at recent tweets to decide whether or not to follow you. 2) are very powerful. 3) Link to videos and pictures think variety. 4) Make sure you follow relevant industry insiders (ex: Corbin Ball, TSNN, PCMA, JoyceMcKee) 5) Assign an intern to add people who will automatically follow you back 1001 Twitter Users Who Will Follow You Back 25. Create a snazzy, custom Twitter background for free: Visit :

8 26. Fill out your Twitter bio. You have 160 characters, so make them count. 27. Promote your event by starting a free Event Blog. Use a site like Wordpress. Fresh content is good for search results, conversions and budget. Visit: Stuck for ideas on what to blog about? Ratings, exhibitor reviews, stories, surveys, Early Bird discounts, Sessions, and FAQ s. All will improve customer service about your event. Here s a link for 100 Blogging Ideas: Ways to make your content easier to read: 1) Use a less formal tone, speak in a casual way, that s how prospects search. 2) Add bullet points, headlines and quotes that let prospects breeze through posts. 3) Showcase your exhibitors with testimonials, photos, and case studies. 30. Start a free Event Blog on Tumblr. Tumbling is a fast form of blogging, and it s catching on. Blogs are loaded with inbound marketing potential. Visit:

9 31. Comment on other blogs, message boards and forums and link your name back to your own, also don t forget to respond to comments on your own blog. 32. Post event photos on Flickr, don t forget to tag them with your event name and keywords. 33. Vlog your event to reach those that may be unable to attend. Broadcast video updates during the event on your event s YouTube channel. You Tube is the 2 nd most popular search engine, next to Google. 34. Use free platforms like Ustream.tv or LiveStream.com to stream live video of company announcements or to do a live Q&A with company leaders. 35. Need ideas on what to vlog about? Exhibitor booth setup, product demos, announcements, testimonials, presentations and events during the course of the show. Interviews with exhibitors and attendees. Guest spots from editors or other industry experts, Live drawings for products and prizes. Good blog posts will generate additional press coverage. 36. Offer charging stations and Wi-Fi hotspots for free at your event. Let attendees and exhibitors connect, communicate.

10 37. Use a free URL shortener like Bitly or TinyURL to make a short and memorable URL from a long URL. Short URL s are easily shared, tweeted, or ed to friends. Also these free tools track and analyze your links. Visit: or Use Technorati for real-time search for user-generated media (including weblogs) by tag or keyword. Also provides popularity indexes. Visit: QR Coded Event. Add QR codes to cocktail napkins, brochures, displays. Link them to online info for Smartphone users. It s easy and free to make QR codes. If you simply add.qr to any shortened URL made with bit.ly or goo.gl, you will be taken to a page with a QR code for that URL. Just save the jpg to your desktop and you are all set. 40. Extend the life of your event s sessions. Upload session slides to Slideshare. Don t forget to embed an HTML lead gen form with an early discount for example, anywhere in the presentation. It s never too early to build buzz and increase attendance at your next event. 41. Wibiya is a free web toolbar that provides visitors access to innovative & useful web applications, like search, contact us form, Twitter sharing and Facebook likes. Visit: Setup a Google Profile it links all of your social profiles in one place. Visit:

11 43. Check out Knowem.com its free and lets you search more than 525 popular social networks and over 40 domain names to instantly secure your show name or username across the social web. Visit: Register social media accounts in your event s name even if you have no plans to use them right away. 45. Audioboo is a free app lets you record and upload audio for your friends, family or the rest of the world to hear. 46. Do you like Google Alerts? Use Socialmention.com for free, real-time social media alerts and analysis. Visit: you can setup an alert about your show so anytime it is mentioned on a social media website you will receive free daily alerts. 47. You may at some point decide to graduate from free tools to paid ones like: Sysomos, Radian6, Hubspot, ArgyleSocial or SocialRain.

12 48. 5 T s of Social media: Talkers: Find people who will talk, Topics: Give them a reason to talk, Tools: Help the message spread, Taking Part: Join the Conversation, Tracking: Measure and listen. 5 T s Marketing Worksheet, click here: Another great free tool, it s a button creator that helps you get traffic from Twitter and Facebook by adding the button on your site next to your freebies. Cloud Flood 50. Get found, submit your event site and blog to the following search engines to improve your search rankings. Submit to Bing Submit to Google Submit to Yahoo

13 Remember that using social media gives you the edge over other events (even larger ones) that haven t adopted these free strategies so get to work! Social Media is not a substitute for good old fashioned face-to-face conversations and meetings. At Bartizan we ve helped millions of customers form relationships and exchange information at tradeshows. Bartizan offers smart technology for tradeshows including complete event management software suites, event registration, lead retrieval and data collection technology. Scan or click the image to visit Bartizan s website: Bartizan Connects, LLC

14 At Bartizan, we are obsessed with improving connections at tradeshows With our latest Lead retrieval Services, exhibitors and attendees connect better than ever. We offer: ileads Lead retrieval using Smartphone's. Offers Instant follow up! ileads creates and sends a custom auto generated as soon as the lead is captured! Prospects walk away from a booth with a thank you already in their inbox! This is a first for any lead retrieval system. Award Winning Event Planning Software Including Event Registration and Management. We offer 13 web-based event planning software tools that cover every major function in the event planning lifecycle. Attendee Connection- Kiosks located on the show floor that give attendees access to exhibitor brochures and session handouts. This helps attendees find the product info they need fast. Product Interest Lead Codes codes are provided to exhibitors for products. Attendees can download ileads, punch in the product code and have product info ed. Visit our website,

15 In Conclusion I can be reached right after this webinar for any questions. Call me, Lew Hoff, directly at: Visit us at Bartizan.com for a quote For ileads pricing call our Sales Dept. : Love this presentation? Share it. Tweet about this! Share on Facebook Visit to download our free social media checklist