Social media plays a powerful role in shaping consumer behavior and perceptions, and a comprehensive marketing mix should utilize social mediums to build awareness and trust. This guide walks through best practices for social media marketing in the trade show and face-to-face events world, providing the reader with insights and recommendations for building a strong social platform and making a strong social impact on the show floor.

1. Using Social Media
at Trade Shows
Maximize your social impact at face-to-face
marketing events.

2. Contents
• Creating Your Social Media Infrastructure
• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Social Media & Etiquette
• Measuring Social Impact

3. The biggest expense in
social media is time.
Pick and choose your social media outlets wisely,
selecting the ones that offer the greatest return.
Social Media

4. Have an infrastructure
before an event.
The longer your history in social media, the better your
chances of strong results.
Social Media

5. Social Media Infrastructure
• Most Popular Platforms
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• Google+
• Tumblr
• Instagram

6. Social Media Infrastructure
STEP 1
Research social platforms
STEP 2
Research your audience
STEP 3
Choose 1-3 social platforms

7. Social Media Infrastructure
STEP 4
Build your audience
STEP 5
Tailor messaging and
tone to expectations of
the platform

8. Twitter
288 million monthly users
140
character
messages
called
‘tweets’
Tweets appear in
chronological order on a
users profile

9. Twitter
Pre-Event Tactics
• Automation
• Send weekly posts 3
months prior to a
show or event
• Use automation tools
• Hootsuite
• TweetDeck

10. Twitter
Pre-Event Tactics
• Event #hashtags
• Track engagement by topic
• Get in front of new
audiences
• Promote event campaign
and drive traffic

11. Twitter
Pre-Event Tactics
• Pay attention!
• Monitor the event’s
primary Twitter and/or
hashtag
• Listen and contribute
to pre-event
conversations
• Gain followers by
contributing quality
content

12. Twitter
During-Event Tactics
• Antennas up!
• Monitor the event’s
profile and hashtag
• Receive and respond
to feedback in real
time

13. Twitter
During-Event Tactics
• Empower your staff
• Encourage booth
staffers to use
personal Twitter
profiles to engage
and draw in attendees

14. Twitter
During-Event Tactics
• Video streaming
• Periscope allows for
live streaming on
Twitter

15. Twitter
Post-Event Tactics
• Recap & thanks
• Thank visitors for
connecting
• Use booth staff!
• Share recaps such as
pictures and videos

16. Twitter
Post-Event Tactics
• Tweetwally Recap
• Tweetwally groups
your tweets collected
under one hashtag,
giving a full overview
of the campaign

17. Facebook
1.23 billion monthly users
“Status”
updates can
include text,
links, photos,
videos and
more
Brands often use Facebook as a
casual public relations outlet

18. Facebook
Pre-Event Tactics
• Attract new followers
• Ask contacts to “like” or
“follow” your
organization’s page
• Offer pre-event contest to
drive follows

19. Facebook
Pre-Event Tactics
• Create buzz
• Educational content
• New product sneak
peeks
• Special offers

20. Facebook
During-Event Tactics
• Connect products to people
• Show others engaging or benefitting with product
• Encourage sharing and build buzz

21. Facebook
During-Event Tactics
• Videos work
• Facebook’s internal video app lets you share
content and track engagement
• Keep videos short
• Show floor activities
• Contest teasers
• Attendee testimonials

22. Facebook
Post-Event Tactics
• Make friends
• Use social media info
on collected business
cards to connect
• Recap with pictures,
videos & content

23. LinkedIn
300 million monthly users
Share quality
content or
company
announcements
and news
Connect with peers,
clients and prospects

24. LinkedIn
During-Event Tactics
• Strengthen your company
page
• Company information
• Whitepapers or other
educational content
• Product & service pages
• Reviews & testimonials

25. LinkedIn
During-Event Tactics
• Join an events
LinkedIn group
• Connect to attendees
• Establish yourself as
an industry name
• Engage in
discussions

26. LinkedIn
Post-Event Tactics
• Thanks and connections
• Find LinkedIn information on business cards
• Connect with visitors
• Send thanks and appreciation
• Share product page links or ask for reviews

27. Social Etiquette

28. Rules of Social Engagement
Friendliness begets friendliness#1
“Handshake” image by Aiden Jones via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

29. Rules of Social Engagement
Beggars lose, winners choose#2
“88/365 – 1/4/2011” image by Gabriela Pinto via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

30. Rules of Social Engagement
Diversify your message#3
“Color Your Life” image by Capture Queen via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

31. Rules of Social Engagement
Think before you post#4
“Yes and No” image by *_Abhl_* via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

32. Rules of Social Engagement
Tweet unto others as you would have them
tweet unto you
#5
“Trust Yer Neighbor But Brand Yer Cattle” image by Wesley Freyer via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

33. The only way to
improve is to measure
Compare your investments to your return and look for
ways to improve in the future.

34. Measuring Social Impact
Rethink Your Return
• Measure costs
• Time
• Staff
• Content creation
• Measure return
• Exposure
• Brand awareness
• New connections

35. Measuring Social Impact
• Create a points system
• Assign a value to each type of social engagement

36. Measuring Social Impact
• Create a points system
• Assign a value to each type of social engagement
• Assign realistic engagement goals

37. Measuring Social Impact
• Create a points system
• Assign a value to each type of social engagement
• Assign realistic engagement goals
• Compare goals versus actuals

38. Mastering Social Media at Events
Research Engage Measure

39. Download Your Guide Now
Download the
Exhibitors’ Guide To
Social Media