We all attend business expos & conferences to network with other stall holders, to increase our clients and improve our brand awareness in the marketplace. But to reach a larger audience than what you can physically speak to on the day have you thought to post & tweet what your business is doing on your stall as it happens on the day?
I must admit I can’t take full credit for this thought as I hadn’t thought of doing this either until I watched a Grey’s Anatomy replay of a nurse tweeting during surgery. Even then it might not of crossed my mind had I not been reading an email request to speak for an organisation that would be promoting the highlights throughout the day on their fan page. That was my ahuh! moment then.
To find out if the conference centre has a Fan Page, Facebook Group (or even a LinkedIn group) to join go to their website and find their section on social media or follow their social icon links if there is no page.
Promoting on Twitter will require you to tweet and attach ‘eventname#’. Use the twitter search or go to hashtag.org to search for people also tweeting about the conference or event and join in the conversation (just remember to use the hashtag in your tweet). If you need to know more about using hash tags read “Twitter – Five Must Knows When Marketing”.
Obviously, still continue to use your own social accounts as well as the conferences
& events to promote your business prior to the day and share the highlights afterwards but the added opportunities are at times in the event that you can’t obviously network face to face such as speaking times. Share tweets about the presenters key points with your followers – people who follow you who couldn’t go to the event will love you for it! Be sure to refollow any new people that join in the twitter conversations that you might connect with also.
Share posts with photos or videos about other stallholder businesses or speakers and new clients on Facebook with their page as well as yours in order to gain more exposure and build your network connections. Even share minute specials to those who are following the conversations that you are sharing with attendees at the event.
So not only can you build social media marketing momentum before the event or conference next time but plan to keep the momentum and interest going DURING the event also. By sharing your news with the network of accounts the conference centre & event organisers are spending money and effort marketing as well, will greatly improve the scope of your networking efforts on the day.
