Cliftons recently took part in Sydney’s CeBIT exhibition and I was amazed at how their use of social media applications not only promoted the event, but connected all those involved from attendees to presenters to people logging on from all over the world!
CeBIT’s ‘Webciety Pulse Feed’ encompassed Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube and Facebook. Each update was then mashed together to form their stream for their website and also broadcast at the event.
While CeBIT is obviously an IT and technology showcase, there are many lessons to be learned for people trying to promote their events. Google it (or ‘bling it on’ as they say now…) – there’s a tonne of information out there, but I have compiled what I think to be relevant and achievable!
Twitter: Hashtags are great if you have a large conference – attendees can twit amongst themselves while the organised action is taking place. This gives event organisers real-time feedback on their programs and speakers. Don’t forget to promote the hashtag prior to the event! Future Summit is a great example of this – check out @ https://twitter.com/futuresummit.
It’s interesting to see that an old friend and instructor at Cliftons, Andrew Blanda, blogged about participating in this event from his desk in Sydney (the event was in Melbourne). This was picked up by Future Summit who then added it to their blog - http://www.futuresummit.org/blog/
Creating a Twitter account for the actual event is also a great way to get people talking about, thinking about and connecting with the event before its event happened.
LinkedIn: Again, connecting with your audience gives you insight into the actual people and their connections. Create a group for your event and allow attendees to connect with each other before the event. Start discussions to see what people are expecting at the event and feed news articles that are relevant.
You can also add the event to LinkedIn and promote it through your connections and groups.
Flickr: Also a great way to draw out attendee participation, especially if there is a gala dinner, cocktail reception or night out involved. Again – don’t forget to promote the Flickr ‘tag’, which will allow you to group and promote everyone’s photos.
Blogger: Fantastic for industry experts – set up an event blog (it will literally take you 2 mins) and off you go! Make sure you have buy-in and commitment from your bloggers and link in their profile, which will give them credibility. Take notice of what users are saying and what they’re commenting on – remember, blogs are all about comments and two way communication.
YouTube: Record your keynote speakers and presentations and add them to YouTube.
SlideShare: Post your presenter’s slides on this informative website.
YouTube and SlideShare are fantastic follow ups for your event and will (hopefully!) encourage your attendees to forward the link on, thus increasing your events exposure event after the fact!
Remember – promoting your event via social media is the same as any other campaign… plan, plan and plan some more. Define your goals and measure its success. Most importantly, remember that you’re starting a conversation!
Connect with me!
http://www.twitter.com/KarlieP
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/karlie-pearson/0/997/301
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