Trade show marketers are now emphasizing integrating social media into your on-site event marketing strategy more than ever. Social media is one of the best channels to boost your company’s event presence and also reach out to your potential customers who didn’t attend your show.
Therefore, to get optimal results, you’ll need a solid social media marketing plan that works for your business. In today’s blog post, we’ll guide you through some smart ways to utilize social media before, during, and after the event for your trade show success.
Pre-Show Marketing
Generating buzz around your trade show participation and what you’ll be offering is one of the most effective ways to drive traffic to your booth on the event day. Here are some of the ways you can use pre-show marketing tactics on social media.
- Create a specific hashtag for your brand or your trade show marketing campaign and use it for all your tweets throughout the event. Encourage your employees, booth staff, and your clients to use your hashtags.
- Find out the hashtags of the trade show event and use them along with your specific company hashtag in your event-related tweets to promote your event participation. Also, take part in conversations actively on Twitter involving those hashtags.
- Share teaser videos on your official video sharing channels such as YouTube, Vimeo, etc. Generate curiosity about your new products and services that you’ll introduce at the trade show.
- Connect with your LinkedIn connections and invite them to your booth personally.
- Connect with media houses that are relevant to your industry and invite them to visit your booth or attend a seminar you’ll be speaking at and ask them to cover a story or share a tweet about your company’s participation.
During the Show Marketing
- Designate at least two members of your booth staff who have a good understanding of social media to share all interesting developments of your event on different platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Ask them to take good pictures and videos of product demos, seminars, special events, etc.
- Schedule your Facebook posts and tweets for different times of the day so that all the important news and information on key topics are available on your social media feeds. For example, if you have a contest the next day, you should schedule reminder posts later on the day to attract more visitors to your booth.
- Post some pictures of your happy customers standing in front of or inside your booth.
- Ask some of your satisfied customers to record a 1-2 minute video testimonial at your booth that you can share on your social media platforms and website.
After the Show Marketing
- Put up Facebook posts and tweets to thank everyone who visited your trade show booth.
- Check the list of your potential leads, and other contact details to see if you can connect with them on various social media channels. Personalize your messages when connecting with them.
- Write blog posts and create vlogs to share your event experience. Include relevant event pictures, videos, testimonials, products and services introduced at the show, contests, visitor experiences, and more.
- Send follow-up emails to all attendees reminding them of your products and services. Share links to your promotional blog posts and social media posts to encourage more engagement in the future.
These are some of the ways to integrate social media into your trade show marketing strategy. Remember that a good social media strategy is a key factor that can help you stay ahead of your competitors and plays a major role in turning your trade show event into a major success!
