Using social media prior to, during and after events is a great way to connect with your audience. This presentation will outline the best practices for planning and executing social media outreach around events. Interactive components of this session will ask people to tweet using #UMDSocial, critique posts and more.

1. #UMDsocial
Effective Event Coverage
August 3, 2016
Alissa Arford JOUR ’94, MBA ’10
Director of Online Strategy
Office of Marketing Communications
University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business
@AArford | AlissaArford.com

2. Who Am I?
Alissa Arford, Director of Online Strategy
Robert H. Smith School of Business
- Executive MBA, Robert H. Smith School of Business
- BA, Journalism, Philip Merrill College of Journalism
University of Maryland, College Park
Alissa has worked in the Office of Marketing
Communications at the University of Maryland’s
Robert H. Smith School of Business since 2000. She
was brought on to create the first comprehensive
website for the Smith School and has since led the
school through multiple website iterations and brand
identities. Currently, she manages the school's award-
winning online and social media marketing and
communications efforts. Before coming to Smith, she
held various marketing and communications positions
in non-profit associations and a publishing company.
@AArford

3. About Smith
• #1 full-time MBA student satisfaction, U.S.
Bloomberg Businessweek, 2015
• #7 executive MBA program, U.S.
Financial Times, 2015
• #11 PhD program, world
Financial Times, 2014
• #19 part-time MBA program, U.S.
U.S. News & Report, 2016
• #22 full-time MBA program, U.S.
Financial Times, 2016
• #22 undergraduate program, U.S.
U.S. News & Report, 2015
• #23 research, world
Financial Times, 2016
BY THE NUMBERS
Faculty: 150 full-time, 50 part-time
Staff: 155 full-time
Students:
• 2,950 undergraduate
• 230 full-time MBA
• 820 part-time MBA
• 220 online MBA
• 785 specialty masters
• 100 PhD
• 230 Executive and EMBA students
Alumni: 60,000+ worldwide,
30,000 alumni in metro D.C.
4 Locations in the U.S.

4. About Smith
6 Academic Departments
1. Accounting and Information Assurance
2. Decision, Operations and Information
Technologies
3. Finance
4. Logistics, Business and Public Policy
(Supply Chain Management)
5. Management and Organization
6. Marketing
8 Academic Majors
1. Accounting
2. Finance
3. Management (formerly General
Business)
4. Information Systems
5. International Business
6. Supply Chain Management
7. Marketing
8. Operations Management & Business
Analytics
3 Academic Minors
1. General Business
2. Business Analytics
3. Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Graduate Programs
Full-time MBA, Part-time MBA,
Online MBA, Executive MBA,
Specialty Masters, PhD, Executive
Education

5. About Smith
1. Center for Complexity in Business (CCB)
2. Center for Digital Innovation, Technology and Strategy (DIGITS)
3. Center for Excellence in Service (CES)
4. Center for Financial Policy (CFP)
5. Center for Health Information & Decision Systems (CHIDS)
6. Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER)
7. Center for Leadership, Innovation and Change (CLIC)
8. Center for Social Value Creation (CSVC)
9. Center for the Study of Business Ethics, Regulation, and Crime (C-BERC)
10. Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship (Dingman Center)
11. Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets (Snider Center)
12. Supply Chain Management Center (SCMC)
12 Research & Business Centers

6. Social Media @ Smith
22 Official Twitter
Handles
@SmithSchool
4 Official Instagram
Accounts
@UMDSmithSchool
20 Facebook Official
Pages & Groups
@SmithBusinessSchool
1 YouTube Channel
/SmithBusinessSchool
12 Official LinkedIn
Pages & Groups

7. Event Marketing on Social Media
Social Media Goal: Expand Reach and Influence
• Credibility
Events with social media coverage seem more legit and the
content is more authentic – You’re posting with a purpose
• New followers
Events are a lure for new followers
• Increased exposure via engagement
Reach extends to friends of attendees when they join
the conversation or like/comment/share/RT
• “Trending”
The ultimate goal for events =
Get your hashtag trending!

8. • The event #hashtag is the most important component of event
marketing on social media
• Not all events need a custom hashtag or social media campaign
• If you don’t need or want an event hashtag, use the sponsor’s
preferred hashtag. At Smith, we use #SmithTerps
• We use acronyms and years for most event hashtags
• Make sure your hashtag is not too long, misleading, awkward, or
currently in-use
• Include the hashtag in your marketing materials
• Without a hashtag, the relevance of your tweet is fleeting
• But if you have a hashtag and don’t use it, that’s even worse
Smith School Business Summit (#SSBS16)
CEO@Smith (#CEOatSmith)
Women Leading Women (#WLW16)
Graduation (#SmithGrad)
Emerging Markets Forum (#EMF2016)
Cupid’s Cup (#CupidsCup)
Social Enterprise Symposium (#SES16)
Examples
Event Marketing on Social Media

9. Effective Event Coverage - #DoingItAll
1. Pre-Event
2. Event Day
3. Post-Event
Event Marketing on Social Media

10. Pre-Event
Event Marketing
• What’s your goal? Do you need to get attendees?
• Think about: organic posts, paid/boosted posts, engagement
contests/giveaways, surveys, videos, countdowns
• Over time, modify your strategy based on your attendance
numbers. Increase or decrease number of posts.
• Get into the existing conversations: #UMD #DC #DMV
#MotivationMondays #TBT #GoTerps #FearTheTurtle
• Images are important! If you must repurpose existing images go
ahead – but it’s better to make images specifically for social
media that have less text and are more square.
• Is it a huge event? Think about updating your cover photos to
custom images promoting the event. #GivingDayUMD

11. Pre-Event
Event Marketing
• Include handles of speakers, sponsors, organizers, and
location in pre-event tweets.
• Have an especially prominent speaker or large company?
Offer praise and do what you can to get a retweet!
• To increase the perceived engagement, make different tweets
from multiple accounts.
• If possible, schedule weekly posts via Hootsuite so you don’t
forget.
• If you will be too busy at the event doing other things,
schedule event-day tweets throughout the day – welcome,
agenda/speaker related, closing/thanks.
• Make a “Tweet Sheet” for the event with handles, hashtags
• Provide a toolkit with sample posts and images to partners
• ALWAYS USE THE EVENT HASHTAG!

12. Pre-Event
Cupid's Cup Tweet Sheet 2016
#CupidsCup – Include event hashtag with every Tweet
http://www.cupidscup.com
LIVE FEED - Access 2-4 p.m. via http://www.cupidscup.com
Related Handles:
@CupidsCup
@TheClariceUMD
@UofMaryland
@UMD_Dingman
@SmithSchool
@UnderArmour
#CupidsCup #StartupShowcase
There are four businesses at the @UMD_Dingman Startup Showcase with #SmithTerps: @RouteOneVC @spothis
@nonichhouse #uBoard
#UMD Finalist:
@JAVAZEN
Eric Golman ’15 (economics and environmental science)
Ryan Schueler ’14 (marketing)
Aaron Wallach ’14 (kinesiology and exercise science)
Yoni Razin ’14 (communication)
#CupidsCup Judges: Kevin Plank @UnderArmour & @cavsdan @cavs @QuickenLoans & @WesMoore1 @BridgeEdUTeam &
@ariannahuff @HuffingtonPost
Tweet Sheet Example for
Live Event Coverage

13. Pre-Event

14. Event Day
Top priorities for posts:
• Remind attendees to tweet using the
event hashtag
• Audience photo (unless the room is
empty)
• Host welcome photo
• Photos of keynote speakers - Can’t get a
great photo? Ask for a posed shot
afterwards.
• Quoting a speaker? Use their
personal/company handle.
Paraphrasing? Don’t use quotes!
• Twitter and Instagram are the best
outlets for live event coverage. Don’t
annoy your Facebook audience with
too many posts. Direct them to the
event hashtag. Using SnapChat? Create
a story and geofilter.
Alissa A. Arford @AArford Apr 20
#Ravens Coach Harbaugh: There's no
such thing as failure unless you decide
to stop trying. #fearlessteams

15. Event Day
• Mess up on a post? Don’t be afraid to delete or apologize.
• Live tweeting at an event is not easy!
• Enlist help from others. One of you can do Twitter, the other
Instagram or split up sessions.
• Be sure to like all of the audience-generated event posts and
retweet some, but it’s not necessary to retweet everything.
• Is no one tweeting at your #hashtag except you? We’ve all
been there. Maybe your audience is just not into Twitter.
• An amazing event can look like a bomb if there is not
adequate coverage on social media and a small event can look
fabulous with the right social media coverage!

16. Post-Event
It’s a Wrap
1. Tweet out a thanks at the end of the conference.
2. Connect with people you met on social media.
3. Organizers should post the event photos on Facebook so
attendees can tag themselves.
4. If there is a highlights story and/or video, post the links.
5. Using Storify? Collect Twitter highlights.

17. QUESTIONS?
Alissa Arford @aarford
aarford@rhsmith.umd.edu