Fork In The Road Blog

Events: Technology. Design. Strategy.

Day 3 of Trust Agents: Social Media Strategy NOT Tools

In the third of several video clips from the Q&A during the Women Tech Council meeting, Trust Agents Chris Brogan and Julien Smith discuss the use of strategy over tools and some other ideas for you to think about. Although Chris and Julien began responding to a question about the kinds of tools the younger generation is using (since the fastest growing age group on Facebook is 65+), they finished with comments on platforms, communities and social media strategy.

In the video clip, Julien recounts attending a party where the young guests played Chatroulette. His experience with specific tools reveals that, “the tools don’t really matter. The younger generation will use whatever is the most efficient, frictionless method they can to keep doing the same things they’ve always done just with wider audiences…The strategies and the principals are more important than the tools because the answer today might be irrelevant tomorrow,” he says.

Chris talks about how teens still text each other. “They don’t want more friends and they only want their friends to see what they are saying,” he says. As with Julien, Chris believes, “if you’re in marketing, think hard about spending money on a specific platform. You should be enamored with the community and not the platform.”

Trade show organizers, like many business owners, are struggling with developing social media strategies. Focusing on the objectives and not the tools is a challenge for many. However, exhibitions occupy a unique position in marketing genre. Their success is attributable to attributes that are most effective when deployed in a face-to-face setting. The objective of a social media strategy for exhibitions should be to use social media to enhance, highlight and capitalize on those unique characteristics before, during, and after the show. Consider these points:

Memorability: It was proven years ago by research from CEIR that face-to-face experiences are inherently more memorable than virtual ones. Extend the memorability of the exhibition by using social media channels and tools to chronicle a participant’s live experience and allow it to live online for them.

Tactile/sensory: Social media may not be able to duplicate the tactile and sensory experiences available at a live event but it can, through video or graphic representations, demonstrate and emulate these attributes in a way that reminds participants of the live experience.

Entertainment: Using social media channels to plan large-scale social activities such as flash mobs, Foursquare contests, and other interactive social games can activate engagement on the trade show floor.

Intimacy: Supporting the small and large “meetups” that the user community organizes independently by using the show’s social media channels to get the word out will help to foster the valuable one-on-one interactions that are unique to exhibitions and other face-to-face opportunities.

Inspiration: Provide support to capture, highlight and broadcast speaker content through social media channels before, during, and after the event.

Destinations: Part of the enjoyment in attending live events is experiencing the destination. Encourage local restaurants and area attractions to interact with participants over designated social media channels to provide information and services such as reservations, ticketing, prices, hours, menus, specials, and directions.

All under one roof: Use social media channels to highlight and facilitate the “smorgasbord” of time savings, product choices, new contacts, and information available in a single place.

The Takeaway: Online and offline channels can work together in much the same way as traditional marketing media. Although the tools will change, the strategy remains the same—to push the live experience to become the optimum marketing channel that it can be.

How is your social media strategy driving the live experience?

Day 1 of Trust Agents: How to Fail/Succeed at Blogging

I had the pleasure (for the first time) of hearing the Trust Agents Chris Brogan and Julien Smith together on the same stage during the Women Tech Council meeting last week. During the Q&A Session, I captured some video (I’m a writer not a videographer) on their responses to questions from the audience. These are relevant topics for the event industry as well as the business community in general. Here’s what they said about blogging failure and success and some other tidbits for you to think about.

In the video, Julien mentions a blog post he did about the “Six Pixels of Separation” blog by Mitch Joel (another excellent speaker at the conference). It illustrates Julien’s approach toward blogging and growing a large community. As the blog comments indicate, this approach isn’t for everyone but it’s something for event organizers and event technology developers to think about if “more qualified eyeballs” is a goal for your blogs.

Chris Brogan offers some more good advice in the video like:

  • Make sure you have a great “About Me” page
  • Use a real picture (no cartoons or Simpsons’ likenesses)
  • Be sure to include a call to action in your post
  • Make your posts “meaty” but brief
  • Don’t write about your products
  • Write about subjects that can help people

Here are some other things to think about:

Joyce McKee of the Lets Talk Trade Shows blog developed a Webinar called “Is There a Blog in Your Future?” It is an excellent tutorial on blogging. Joyce also recommends grading your blog using Alexa rankings and the free information you can get from grader.com. “My blog score was in the 30’s a while back and now is 95.26 – not bad!  And that was due to posting more frequently,” she says.

At Fork in the Road, I’ve learned a couple of helpful things about good content, increasing my search engine rankings, and what I have observed from really good blogs like Midcourse Corrections, Engage 365, Event Coup, Social Fishing, McCurry’s Corner, Interactive Meeting Technology, Corbin Ball’s Tech Talk, and several others and in our industry such as:

  • Don’t hire an intern to blog for you unless they are technically good writers AND know your industry. I would rather read great content than great writing.
  • If you’re going to moderate comments (which I highly recommend) be quick about approving the good ones. People that comment want to see the fruits of their labors right away.
  • Always comment back to those who comment on your blog. It’s a dialogue.
  • Tie your blog electronically into your Twitter and Face Book accounts so you get automatic updates there.
  • Interlink to other posts in your blog. Google really likes this.
  • Put Google Analytics code in your blog for a fun and free way to see whether you’re getting traction with your community.
  • Write for a particular audience. In the writing world, we call them “personas.” Create a typical reader profile (Joe is a 38 year-old event organizer who loves reading about social media but doesn’t have the expertise to put it into practice, etc.). Refer to your profile when you are writing. If Joe would find it interesting, it’s probably a winning post.
  • Don’t blog just to talk out loud and grab search engine love. Plan your posts. Make them relevant and add a little humor.

There is lot’s more content coming from the Trust Agents.What do you event industry bloggers think? What has worked for you?

Thought Leaders Explore How to Change the Status Quo at MTO Summit – Part II

March’s MTO Summit in Chicago still has me thinking about some of the interesting perspectives that were shared during the conference. Here are some of the ideas that made me sit up a little straighter in my chair.

Mobile Apps

  • Event organizers aren’t necessarily interested in the new sponsorship opportunities (too many already) available with mobile apps.
  • Organizers prefer to work with trusted advisors (their registration contractor or general contractor) even if those advisors know little about the application they are selling.
  • Organizers want technology providers to partner with each other to come up with a combined solution (instead of the one-off apps and devices that do separate things).

Attendee acquisition

Taking a cue from affiliate marketers, organizers can leverage existing exhibitors and attendees using badges or contextual links (with promo codes) embedded in emails specially-designed for them to send to their clients and colleagues. When the codes are used, the exhibitor or attendee (affiliate) gets credit/cash/incentives.

In a wrap-up session on attendee acquisition, R.D. Whitney of Tarsus Online Media summarized our breakout group’s findings (from an unusual camera angle because I was trapped by other group members). Check out the video where he discusses the use of complex search streams, Webinars, affiliate programs, guest passes, requiring speakers to participate in community discussions, public relations SEM, contests with flip video, Twitter, and virtual events as attendee acquisition tools.

Data mining

Mark Ragan sparked a lively (somewhat controversial discussion) about mining the Internet for prospects. Using software from Broadlook, event organizers can “scrape” (not my metaphor) the Internet for contacts and email addresses and then feed prospects with daily e-newsletters (which they can opt out of). Such a practice creates brand awareness and a level of familiarity with the prospect that opens the door for future “offers.”

The data mining controversy stemmed from the idea of “pushing” information (one man’s info is another man’s spam) out rather than the social media principal of attracting interest with cool content and then creating a two-way conversation based on mutual interests.

Distributed Events

With discussion about large events shrinking to bring a more personalized experience to the trade show and conference floor, the idea of a distributed event was intriguing. Social Media Week debuted in New York in February 2009. It is a global platform for connectivity, collaboration and learning about emerging trends and interesting social media topics, says Toby Daniels, the conference founder. Venues were spread all over the city (and later, all over the globe), with each host creating a different “experience” for attendees. Daniels explains how it worked in this clip.

The next MTO Summit is scheduled for November 9-10, 2010 in Washington, DC. Now that MTO Summit has merged with TSNN, I am hoping the content and the brainpower will be as good or better than ever.

Thought Leaders Explore How to Change the Status Quo at MTO Summit – Part I

If there was any common thread running through MTO Summit in Chicago last week, it wasn’t the technology innovations or even the focus on execution. The room was full of people talking about new ideas and how to do something different without damaging what (if anything) is still working in the event world. In fact, there was so much great information that I‘m breaking this post up into two parts. Here is part one.

Chris Brogan, social media consultant, author, speaker (I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he was also a gourmet cook, Broadway star and base jumper), kicked off the conference with his take on changing things up. Here is some of the paraphrased wisdom he dispensed:

CB on the importance of focusing on marketing strategy: “It’s not about the tools. It’s about what we do with them and how we connect. Have a marketing strategy that integrates social media sometimes. Let’s do marketing, sales and prospecting and use these new tools.”

CB on the importance of acting human and treating customers humanely: “It used to be a little easier because we all used to be willing to accept being a number. We were OK with being on a conveyor belt as a customer. It’s about putting the ‘human’ back in your business. No letter from my Mom starts with ‘having trouble viewing this.’ We’re using blogs and Twitter to be seen and heard. You don’t get a lot of complaints on a survey.”

CB on social media: “Social media tools allow us to do what we want to do really well. No one wants to join a social media group for Diet Coke. After the first post, ‘I like Diet Coke’ or ‘really? So do I.’ What’s left to talk about? The number one opportunity is that social tools allow us to share what we like. Social media is like Hamburger Helper. It augments what you’re already doing. “

CB on marketing for events: “Be brief. What are your marketers doing writing 2,000 word missives to get you to come to the show? We are a world that lives on a 140 characters now (actually 120 so we can retweet). We process in the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) factor. The audience does too. I implore you to look at your marketing language. Make it stick by holding up a mirror to yourselves. “

CB on Using Twitter for Sales: “Ask—how do we share? How do we extend? How do we search? Search for the data (search.twitter.com) on Twitter and then execute on it. Sniff on Twitter for new press releases. Find out about the prospect before you call. Twitter is a sales channel and a prospecting tool. Use it to make fast decisions and small decisions.”

CB on who should handle social media in your organization: “The job of social media isn’t just for the guy in the t-shirt and a goatee. It’s everybody’s job.”

CB on social media metrics: “One of the things about social media metrics is that there are lots of numbers that don’t mean anything. The only metrics should be did I or didn’t I increase revenue or reduce spend? Keep looking at how to get the dollar number bigger.”

CB on webcasting and free content: “Webcasting your event is just another way to get your audience to wish they were there. Think like entertainment people. Friends don’t let friends launch bad Webinars.”

CB on mobile apps: “We as a culture are connected to our phones but we’re not taking advantage of the mobile web. We live on our cell phones but design for our laptops. Flow content between shows. Don’t only design for the iPhone.”

CB on what he does for large companies: “I Look at channel development, lead generation, and conversion. My advice is tool agnostic. Start with an objective. Look for a revenue number you can move. Use a simple execution that will move that revenue number quickly.”

CB on how to distribute your time on social media channels: “Break social media down into three things: listening (1/2 hour a day), connecting (1 hour a day) and publishing (1/2 hour a day).”

CB on cats and soap: “Cats bad. Nubby soap weird.”

The takeaway: Obviously it’s time to try something new. What are you doing differently in your organization? How are you using social media to augment your existing processes? Are you still rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic or leaping off the bow?

Keeping the Love Alive: Three Community Nurturing Tactics Offering an Intimate Connection

Blogs, Facebook fan pages, Twitter posts and YouTube videos are some of the most talked about ways to nurture an event community year round as long as you don’t break the cardinal rule of new media which is “share, don’t sell.” Producing compelling content that stimulates community conversation (usually over the heads of most college interns hired to work the social media levers at some associations and event organizations) is a requirement no matter what platforms you use. There are some other tactics, however, that trade show and conference organizers are using to keep the love alive year round.

This discussion can’t go much further without talking about virtual trade shows. I wrote recently about the National Association of Broadcaster’s virtual event DigitalVision 2010 designed to kick off major interest in NAB’s large face-to-face exhibition and conference scheduled for April 2010. In my earlier post I wrote “Brad Williams, vice president member benefits and development for NAB, has been researching the virtual option for at least three years to address the need to create a year round experience for show participants. ‘We do a great job with the physical event, why not utilize technology to touch our audience year round? Exhibitors want to touch prospects year round and attendees want information year round,'” he says.

The use of virtual trade shows and conferences as “filler” between physical events is somewhat of a new approach for face-to-face event organizers. Several had erected 24/7/365 portals (courtesy of the BDMetrics 365 platform and others) that never met expectations. This new virtual strategy could be 365 “Lite” in that the periodic virtual event content is fresh and occurring live.

Crosstech Media (does the name Chris Brogan ring a bell?) is netcasting (television-like programming over the web) for their events. For example, their ITEC conference portfolio which delivers education and networking on hardware, software, networking & mobility technology for businesses is using what it calls ITEC TV. The weekly show, hosted by Bill Sell, vice president and general manager of CrossTech Media and general manager of ITEC and ExtremeLabs analyst Tom Henderson is a discussion of news items and interviews of guests from across the technology spectrum. ITEC TV does a great job of giving viewers (the same audience for the ITEC conferences) a weekly fix of technology news and watching them live (the casts are archived as well) and feels like you’re watching, well, TV.

Rick Calvert’s BlogWorld and New Media Expo is using an online radio program called Blog World Expo Radio on the WS Radio platform to keep the love alive with his social media community (aka potential BlogWorld and New Media Expo attendees, speakers, exhibitors, media). The weekly live show (Fridays at Noon PST) is hosted by Jim Turner and the topics revolve around “speakers, exhibitors, sponsors and news makers in the social media space,” says Calvert. Not surprisingly, BlogWorld Expo Radio was broadcast live from the BlogWorld show floor (brilliant way to get attendees at the live event to become fans of the radio show afterward) and from the bloggers lounge of the famous SXSW Interactive Conference (nice crossover audience).

The Takeaway: Virtual events (trade shows, TV and radio) are more interesting when they’re live. Although the archives serve a very important purpose, there’s some kind of mental connection (the kind you want to have with your community) when you know someone is at the other end of the line dishing it out at the same time you are taking it in. Precisely because of that intimate connection, NAB’s virtual show, ITEC’s TV show and BlogTalk’s radio show are great tools for community nurturing and ultimately for driving attendance at their physical events. They are also opportunities to deliver content to community members that haven’t quite mastered the social networking platforms like Twitter and Facebook (I think there still are some) but can easily work a browser.


Be Notified of New Posts via Email