1. From live tweeting and live streaming to social media integration on
invitations and event pages, social media is an intrinsic part of how
people experience almost every event now. If you’re a marketer, that
means lots of new opportunities to get the word out and connect
with your audience.
We sponsor and attend quite a few conferences here at
DemandGen throughout the year, and part of my responsibility on
DemandGen’s Marketing Team is to prepare a social media strategy
that helps create awareness, booth traffic, and engagement with us
at the events.
Here are seven key tips from my bag of tricks, to help you get ready
to make the most fo social media for your next event.
1. USE those channels and hashtags.
• First, research relevant social media channels and hashtags, so
you can have a good understanding of what’s out there now, what
people are talking about, what terms they’re using, and what gaps
are there for you to fill.
• If you’re hosting your own event, obviously you’ve got to come up
with a short yet memorable hashtag. Some good examples of some
the events we attended recently are #MKTNation (The Marketing
Nation Summit) or #MME15 (The Modern Marketing World). Include
the hashtag in all your messages across the different channels, on
imagery, and in the event-related email campaigns. Be creative with
it: get it on those T-shirts, candy wrappers, skywriting, whatever.
• Even if it’s not your event, you’re a part of it, so come up with a
good hashtag for your part in it. At our last sponsored show, we had
a prize wheel with some fabulous prizes, so all our tweets included
the hashtag “#spintowin at #SDSummit”(#SDSummit was the official
event hashtag).
• Pay attention to what others are talking about up to and during
the event, so you and your team can participate in an informed way.
QUICK TIP
Providing pictures through
social media channels
make a much more
interesting post than a
paragraph full of text.
AT A GLANCE
Founded:
2007
Employees:
100+
Client Profile:
500+ clients in industries,
including technology,
SaaS, healthcare, business
services, financial services
Certifications:
Eloqua, Marketo,
Microsoft, Oracle,
Salesforce.com
blog.demandgen.com
7 Ways to “Socialize” Your Marketing Event
May 26, 2015 | Heidi Heroldt

2. 2. Cross-promote all channels.
• Take advantage of social media to spread the word about everything you have going on at
the event, and do it across channels. Promote sessions, parties, meetings, and activities at your
booth like games, giveaways, and prizes. If you know someone from your team is a guest
speaker or part of a session, promote the session information separately across your social
channels and your blog. DemandGen also often hosts private after-parties at conferences, so
we create separate email and social campaigns to create buzz and drive attendance.
3. Schedule posts ahead of time.
• More often than not, event day leaves not a minute to spare for crafting clever tweets! So
prepare your planned communications ahead of time. You can write tweets,
LinkedIn/Facebook posts, etc., and schedule them using tools like HootSuite or GaggleAMP.
You can’t do that with photos you don’t have yet — but, like a wedding photographer, you can
plan ahead and make a list of photo opportunities to create (client A in front of booth, session
in progress, award presentation, etc.).
4. Take pictures - lots of them!
• A good candid picture beats a paragraph of text every time. Use social channels to share
photos of event highlights: sessions, keynotes, presentations, the show floor, parties and more.
(Use good judgment, and always ask permission to share photos of individuals.)
5. Keep the ball rolling on-site.
• We love to come up with social campaigns during the events to engage with the attendees —
they’re enjoyable and memorable. Last year, we
created a
DemandGen ‘step and
repeat’ booth panel and
asked conference
attendees to take
pictures in front of the
wall. If they tweeted their
“red carpet” shots to our
Twitter handle
@demandgen, they were
automatically entered to
win an iPad mini. When
we do giveaways, we ask
every winner for
permission to tweet out a
photo: it makes for a lot
of fun at the booth!

3. 6. Share the fun (and the burden) with your team.
• When you make
sharing as easy as possible for
the rest of your team, you’ll
ease the burden for yourself
and improve the breadth of
distribution of your content at
the same time. Give your
team members a list of the
relevant social media
channels and tags, and even a
few sample tweets to get
them started.
7. Follow up post-event.
• A good candid picture beats
a paragraph of text every time.
Use social channels to share photos of event highlights: sessions, keynotes, presentations, the
show floor, parties and more. (Use good judgment, and always ask permission to share photos
of individuals.)
With just a little advance planning and enthusiasm, you can get social media buzzing at every
event!
About DemandGen
DemandGen International, Inc. DemandGen helps high‐performance firms leverage digital sales and marketing technologies for demand generation and
lead management — driving engaged, sustainable customer relationships. The firm’s global team of technologists, strategists, and operations experts
empowers marketers with best‐practice consulting, proven and award-winning methodologies, professional services, and engineered solutions. With
keen insights and unparalleled skills, DemandGen doesn’t just advise: some of the world’s most successful businesses depend on DemandGen’s
execution services to support their most critical objectives and spur revenue growth. Please visit www.demandgen.com for more information.
Heidi Heroldt manages DemandGen’s social media campaigns and other marketing initiatives to
help grow DemandGen’s social reach and expand brand awareness.
© 2014 DemandGen. All rights reserved. DemandGen and the DemandGen logo are registered trademarks of DemandGen International, Inc.
All other product and company names may be trademarks of their respective owners.