Best tradeshow marketing tips and case studies. Call 800-654-6946.
Best tradeshow marketing tips and case studies. Call 800-654-6946.

Social Media

Social Media Rescues a Social Media Seminar

When Knoxville, Tennessee’s In10City Interactive planned a B2B one-hour seminar on event marketing with social media, they first reached out to their clients, colleagues and partners with a typical direct-mail piece. They sent out 1500 postcards a few weeks before the September 9th event earlier this year. Scott Spaid, the VP of Marketing for In10City Interactive, said that they had just a handful of RSVP’s less than a week prior to the event.

In other words, the postcard direct marketing piece was a bust.

So they jumped headfirst into social media to reach their audience. They started with an e-mail invitation blast to the same 1500 folks, and then posted frequently on their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

By show time a few days later they had received over 70 RSVPs and some 50 attended the event, which included a free lunch (hint: offer free food if you can!). Twenty of the RSVP’s came directly through Facebook, said Spaid, which they deemed a win.

According to Spaid, the event “was not a ‘101’ event; we assumed that they knew what we were talking about.” Instead they discussed social media marketing, shared anecdotes and networked. They discuss ‘Why should someone be friends with your brand? What is the value you add?’

In10City Interactive’s goal was to move more folks into their sales pipeline with the outreach event. From that aspect, Spaid called it a success: “We have four appointments on the calendar that came out of the show.” He says their typical sales cycle is 3 – 6 months.

In10City Interactive focuses on building websites, refining SEO and CRM for clients. They have some 55 employees in 5 locations in the eastern and southern US.

Check them out here:

Barking Up a Tree With Social Media

Denise Quashie shared so many ideas on how she’s utilized social media in conjunction with events that it’s not surprising to discover that her pet dog on Twitter led to the launching of a successful conference.

In my recent call for social media tradeshow success stories through HARO, Denise contacted me saying she used Twitter, Facebook and more to market shows, sell sponsorships, promote exhibitors and drive onsite traffic. And more.

Her company, Events by Canvas, is an event consultancy focusing on social media events, social media ghosting, and event consulting and training. They also produce several social media driven start-up events. Denise is always looking at ways to offer additional value to her clients with social media: sponsored Tweet-ups, platforms for press releases, Twitter mention packages, offering education benefits to attendees at her events and more.

But one of the more intriguing stories came about when she told me that when she put her dog on Twitter, which prompted hundreds of pet-lovers to start networking and helping each other. That then inspired BarkWorldExpo, a social media expo in Atlanta for pet lovers and the pet industry.

The first BarkWorldExpo, held in August of this year, drew 250 attendees and 30 exhibitors. Tickets were $129 for the event, held at Atlanta’s Atlantic Station. BarkWorldExpo featured several speakers who talked about aspects of social media; there were sponsored Tweet-ups and other gatherings, and plans are underway for a follow-up event in 2011.

Some of the successful ideas for promoting events via social media that Denise and Events by Canvas have used in the past for other shows and clients include:

  • Sending out tweets for scavenger hunts down empty aisles (first person to spot the green back pack on aisle 7 gets $100 on the spot!), which caused a stampede
  • Speakers incorporating a live Twitter wall during the speech
  • Sponsored Tweets during the event
  • Tweet lounges where several screens showed running tweets from the show
  • A Big (Twitter) bird to draw traffic to a specific area

Just chatting with Denise – and furiously jotting down ideas – inspired me to believe there is really no limit to what you can do with social media. The only limit is lack of imagination.

Besides…if a dog on Twitter can inspire a successful conference…?

Links to Denise and BarkWorldExpo…

Schmoozapalooza Update: Using Social Media to Invigorate an Event

In January of this year we took a look at an event in Oklahoma City called Schmoozapalooza.

According to Jill Harrison, the previous incarnation of their twice-yearly business networking event was slowly dying.

“This was a free tradeshow with no music and no games. There was some food and a cash bar. It was a much more professional event. We had no problem attracting exhibitors, but attendance was declining year after year,” said Harrison.

The event was rebranded as ‘Schmoozapalooza’ with more of a party atmosphere, a live band, games, food and more – and instead of making it a free show they charged $10 admission. It was still a tradeshow with dozens of exhibits (109 this year), and the event was promoted heavily through social media.

The Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce used LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter, MySpace and Facebook to build buzz before the event. They promoted a contest leading up to the event, asking people to send out a tweet with the event hashtag and one good reason why you should be at the event. Random winnder were picked out from the tweets with the hashtag.

During Schmoozapalooza, more contests were held:

  1. First person to tweet about a new friend
  2. Post a pic of something at the show
  3. First to tweet about a new product or service you found

During the event, Twitter screens were up that pulled all tweets with the #Schmoozapalooza hashtag, which further engaged attendees.

Jill says the recent event, just before Halloween, had lots of folks in costume and proved to be a great event with more exhibitors and attendees than the previous one. With two such events each, they’ve had a number of events to track over the past two years.

This year’s numbers:

  • 109 exhibitors
  • 700-800 attendees
  • 5000 FB friends (limit)
  • Twitter 3467 followers @okcchamber
  • MySpace 286 followers
  • LinkedIn 384 Chamber page followers
  • Plaxo 427 connections

Harrison says there is now quite a buzz around the event, much of it due to social media, as well as the re-casting of the shape of the event. “Guests get one drink ticket with admission and can purchase additional drinks. We really encourage our exhibitors to be creative and think outside the box. The change in atmosphere and reaching out to our audience through social media made all the difference.”

Social Media Marketing Tips from AntiSocialGuy

When a request is posted on HARO* you never know exactly who’s going to chime in.

So my interest was a piqued when I got a nice list of tips from a guy who bills himself as AntiSocialGuy. Hmmm…TradeshowGuy and AntiSocialGuy. Wonder if we could do a two-man stand-up act?

No?

A sit-down act?

Here are AntiSocialGuy’s collection of tips on using social media at your tradeshow.

  • Create a page on your site that is dedicated to your show. Start to build up hype before the show even begins. Promote your giveaways, contests etc…
  • Do the same thing on all your social pages. If you want to track the effectiveness of each social site, make sure you have different offers or giveaways on each site.
  • Offer a live stream from your booth for those who couldn’t make the actual event.
  • Create a contest that will give people a reason to come to your booth. I seen a great example of this at a recent tradeshow that I attended. Kodak offered up their new waterproof camera at various times throughout the day on twitter. There booth was constantly packed and the retweets of people letting their friends know about the free camera’s was through the roof.
  • Offer your product to any media or bloggers that are covering the event. It’s a great way to get write-ups on their blogs and other social properties.
  • If you’re speaking at the show, have a custom #hashtag during your talk. Allow the people in the audience to ask question during the presentation via Twitter.

All of those are great ideas. My fave is to offer bloggers and writers a free product/sample to get them to write about it. Unless you’re selling an expensive item such as a car, plane, tank or expensive piece of technical gear it makes sense to get your product into the hands of someone who is able to write about it.

Check the ‘about’ page and you’ll see that AntiSocialGuy.com is Robert Richardson.

HARO, by the way, is a terrific source for anyone who’s interested in connecting with reporters or sources (if you’re a blogger or reporter, for example). I’ve used HARO a few times in the past and have always been amazed and pleased at the great responses I get.

Twisplays Brings Twitter Streams to Your Tradeshow Booth

Going to be involved with social media at your next tradeshow? Will you be tweeting about your event, trying to draw people to your booth?

Joshua Persky thinks you might like to put one of his ‘Twisplays’ into your booth. Not only will the streaming text on the LED sign attract eyeballs, you’ll have the latest tweets about the event appearing in your booth.

Persky spent ten years in the banking industry until the recession hit. Recently he brainstormed an idea to combine a typical streaming display with text from a twitter account. He admits that the product could use some refining: “my developers are taking a little longer than I thought.” Some of his ideas have yet to be implemented but are coming soon, he says.

When did the company launch?

“Basically, yesterday!” said Persky, who added that a recent article on the Mashable website has created a lot of attention. “I’ve met a lot of great people because of that.”

While the Twisplay application can be used for a lot of different things, the idea of incorporating it into an event, tradeshow or convention seems natural.

Of course, seeing a shortened link on an LED display won’t really do you any good – it goes by so fast it’ll be virtually impossible to remember the link if you wanted to ‘click through’ – but it at least might draw you to Twitter to find the actual tweet.

The 26″ x 4″ displays sell for $299. The Twisplay website still is fairly bare-bones, but Joshua was easy to reach and willing to answer questions.

Connecting, Following, Sharing and Buying

guest post by Derek Leftridge of Optima Graphics

Console Radio Receiver

When I was younger I remember my grandparents always had the radio on in their car playing old radio shows that had big casts and sound effects and it was an experience. This caused me to have an addiction to radio.

That life long addiction to radio spilled over to a new addiction to Podcasts about two years ago. I tried a lot of them then settled on a handful that I still listen to today. I feel a connection with those individuals since I listen to them on a daily or weekly basis. And it is enjoyable and informative.

One in particular announced about 6 months ago that they were on Twitter. I began following them there. I started to get cool info and announcements I would not have anywhere else.

Then a contest was announced on there Twitter feed. You enter through a link in the post and agree to follow two other people on Twitter. Those two other people had a connection to the person I was already following so it was a type of bonus. And once you entered, a post from you on your own Twitter feed was created so you could begin sharing the contest with those following you. Then they could also register. Sadly, I did not win.

To recap I listen to multiple podcasts daily, I follow many important and funny people all the time and get access to things and people I could not otherwise. I pay nothing for this ability. That sounds great for me but a big waste of time and money for those who produce the podcasts, take time to post on Twitter and those paying for products then giving them away.

Or is it?

That particular person I mentioned above whose podcast I listen to, follow on Twitter and had a contest has written a book and it comes out in November. I will be buying that book thank you very much.

Yep. That is the sound of money changing hands. The ROI if you will. This relationship has taken a while but we have finally arrived at the serious part of all relationships – the spending of money part. Social Media / Social Networking is like building up to that first kiss; except it is not guaranteed on the third date.

This is an example, maybe small but true, of how offering valuable content and experiences over the Social Media / Social Networks, in time, can have a monetary result. However, I do believe the relationship I discussed that finally paid off took longer than it has to. You have to decide how much time you want to put into this type of marketing. That time, along with the content you provide, will determine how quickly someone starts buying from you.

Derek Leftridge has been in the Tradeshow industry, with Optima Graphics, for 17 years and Marketing Coordinator for the past 5 years.

With his experience and drive he is helping Optima enter into new avenues of Marketing. E: dcleftridge (at) optimagfx.com / P:636-680-9262

Creative Commons License

photo credit: ellenm1

Social Media at Tradeshows: 10 Keys to Engagement

I’ve been reading a lot about social media engagement lately – and talking about it a lot, too. Have you noticed that if you even mention the term ‘social media’ to some people, it’s like you handed them a gold Rubik’s Cube. They’ll want to play with it and play with it and never put it down.

Professor's Cube

But they’ll never solve it, either.

So how do you get on board with social media in your tradeshow marketing?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. If there was, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

Speaking of conversations, what is your audience talking about? Are they discussing your products or services? If so, are you aware of what is being said?

And if you’re aware of it, are you responding? In real-time?

In a Vocus-hosted webinar this week by David Meerman Scott, he stressed that the ‘real-time’ response is what is needed. Because if you don’t see what’s happening in real time and respond accordingly, you’ll get left behind. Or run over by the steamroller.

So when it comes to tradeshows, yes, it’s great to have a strategy in place complete with a bunch of tactics that you intend to use: tweeting out your appearances, posting video interviews, demos and testimonials and launching a bunch of cool visitor photos to Facebook. This is all important.

But are you aware of what your competitor down the tradeshow aisle is doing? Do you know that their customers are going crazy over a new product they just launched? If so, did you insert your company into the conversation in a light-hearted way steering some of those tweeters and bloggers and Facebook-posters your way?

It’s not about all the tweets or videos you post. It’s about getting the attention of your audience in a place where they live.

And when it comes to responding to the pertinent tweets and Facebook postings, as Scott said in the webinar: ‘Speed and agility are decisive competitive advantages.’

Peter Shankman went off on social media marketers this week in a ranting post. I chewed over the post along with the webinar from @DMScott, did a little mashup of those thoughts along with my own and came up with a list of reminders as you prepare to bring social media on board for your tradeshow marketing efforts (thanks to Peter and his readers for a few thoughts and phrases here):

  1. Awareness – what is the conversation about regarding your products and industry?
  2. Add value – don’t just try and get more followers to increase your numbers; what of value are you really offering those followers?
  3. Know the difference between social media and social marketing
  4. Be available – break the ‘impenetrable wall of stupid’ that seems to surround most companies
  5. Why? Make the connection with your customers by telling them WHY it matters to you and them
  6. It’s not about YOU. It’s about your customer.
  7. Twitter, Facebook, et al are TWO-WAY, not ONE-WAY communication platforms
  8. Engage. Respond. Repeat.
  9. Operate in the NOW. Not the past. Not the future.
  10. Social media are tools. Real-time is a mindset.
Creative Commons License

photo credit: t3rmin4t0r

Blogging Resources

After my Blogging 101 webinar earlier this week, I connected with a couple of folks who attended that were interested in finding out more. One question came from Sarah Meeks of Configurations in Florida: what B2B blogging resources are my faves?

Well, actually she asked which was my fave – singular. But I can’t stop at one!

So here’s the brief list I came up with – I think highly enough of these resources that I thought it would be worth a blog post:

Lots of great blogging resources…some of the more consistent and useful include:

Check in to Foursquare or Gowalla with a live Bambuser broadcast

Creative Commons License

photo credit: tomsun

  • www.problogger.net – Darren Rowse’s deep pro-blogging resource – the more you browse the site, the more great stuff you will find.
  • conversationagent.com – Valeria Maltonia; a blog not necessarily about blogging, but a great resource for creating business conversations – plus Valeria is a great blogger and I learn a lot from her.
  • socialmediaexaminer.com is also very useful on the whole social media landscape.
  • thesocialmediaguide.com.au – a terrific site with tons of useful info on blogging and social media
  • and finally if you want to follow the mobile marketing platform, which is gaining ground rapidly: mobilemarketer.com

Those are but a few of my favorite blogging resources. What are yours?

Coolest Tools I Use

I love productivity tools, and love sharing them with friends and colleagues. I got to thinking the other day that I’ve never actually compiled a list of those tools and posted it. So here ’tis: some are old friends, some are brand new tools. All of them help me do what I need to do with my online and offline world.

So…in no particular order or preference (all links open a new browser window)…

Online:

  • Freebinar.com: Do free webinars for unlimited audiences, follow-up with attendees and registrants. Download data from the webinars.
  • Freeconference.com: Ditto for teleconferences.
  • FedEx print online: Only had to use this a few times as I can usually print elsewhere, but on those occasions this service has knocked me out with how easy it is to use. Upload files, tell ’em what you want and when you want it, and go pick it up.
  • Photoshopsociety.org: I realize that my Photoshop skills are lacking – but this membership site has proven to have the goods with tons of tutorials, downloads, web and WordPress templates and more.
  • Bluehost website hosting: All my sites are hosted by BlueHost.com. Unlimited bandwidth, unlimited domains, thousands of e-mail addresses, one-click WordPress install and updates, and more bells and whistles that you can every use. All very easy. Great customer service when needed. And dirt cheap.
  • Aweber and Ratepoint e-mail marketing: I’ve used Constant Contact, which is a solid service. But they didn’t have a few items that AWeber did. I was pitched RatePoint one day and checked it out. I use it for my Tradeshowguyblog.com newsletter; I use AWeber for everything else (CommunicationSteroids.com, DigitalAudioWorld.com and others).
  • Eventbrite.com: Got a live or online event and want to track attendance, sell tickets, mine data? It’s all here. I’ve used it a couple of times and was very pleased. Looking forward to using it again.
  • Feedburner: If you have a blog, be sure to burn your feed with Feedburner. Tons of additional stats and tools with this free Google tool.
  • YouSendIt: Need to send a large file to someone that doesn’t have an FTP site? YouSentIt.com does it for free for most files.
  • WordPress: The best (in my humble opinion) blogging platform around. Tons of customization options.
  • Google Chrome: Chrome has taken over Firefox as my favorite web browser. It’s faster; the search-in-address-bar feature is easy, and there are more and more themes, plug-ins and extensions available all the time.
  • Google plug-in page rank status:  check the Alexa ranking of any website you’re on with a single click.
  • Carbonite back-up plus iPhone app to access any document at home or work from anywhere. My favorite new cool tool!
  • Google Calendar (and syncing to home and work PC’s); with Google Calendar iPhone app. No matter where I update a calendar from, it populates across all calendars. I also use ACT! which syncs with my Outlook calendar at work, so I see everything on all calendars no matter where I input it.
  • HARO: Peter Shankman’s HelpAReporter.com is tops in connecting sources with news (and blog) outlets. Free.
  • GoToMyPc: remote access to your computer from anywhere you have a ‘net connection. Just remember to leave your computer ON!

Software:

  • Software995 to create and edit and combine PDFs. They have a free version, but if you spring for the few bucks you don’t get sent to their website after each PDF you print.
  • Camtasia screen capture program: Version 7 kills. So many different ways to use it. I produce video, screen captures and more with this intuitive, easy-to-use tool.
  • Filezilla: free FTP software, easy to use.
  • Adobe Audition: multi-tracking audio recording software with more effects than I’ll ever use.
  • Photoshop / Picasa: Both are great for manipulating photos; Picasa has an online storage and sharing tool; PhotoShop is the king of photo manipulation.
  • ALZip for creating compressed files for emailing or uploading.
  • AudioShell and MP3Tag for editing MP3 ID tags. I’ve used AudioShell for years with Windows XP. With my new Windows 7 box, it doesn’t work, so I found MP3Tag which does the trick. Not as neat and unfussy as AudioShell, but workable. I only hope that the folks at SoftPointer make it work with Windows 7 64Bit soon!
  • Skype: I’ve used it off and on for years, and with my new Windows Life Cam (below) it’s becoming more of a regular thing.
  • iTunes: when iTunes first came out I was a big Winamp fan. Years later I can hardly recall Winamp.
  • UltraEdit: A super-powered notebook text editing tool. On steroids. I’ve used this for a few years and can testify it’s a great program. Not for everyone; you have to get used to how it works, but for creating simple text-only copy for copying and pasting to other documents it’s a great tool to avoid the underlying coding issues you often get with MS Word.

Hardware:

  • Flip Video camera: bought this a couple of years ago and love it. Easy to care, easy to use with a single stop-start button; it creates digital files that are easy to edit and post on YouTube or your blog.
  • ScottEVest coat – high tech clothing. Ran across this thanks to Peter Shankman. The best travel clothing. More pockets than I can use. Even lost my wallet in my coat once. Knew it was there, couldn’t get it out for five minutes until I found the right zipper.
  • Microsoft Lifecam (hi-def): My friend Tony Marino turned me on to this cool webcam which I’ve had less than a month and love it. Great quality, easy to use, powerful microphone built-in. About $55 if you look around.

What cool tools do you love? Please share!

© Copyright 2016 | Oregon Blue Rock, LLC
Tradeshow Guy Blog by Tim Patterson

Call 800-654-6946 for Prompt Service
Copyrighted.com Registered & Protected <br /> QA4E-AZFW-VWIR-5NYJ