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2. How To Get The Most Out
of Twitter and Trade
Shows Social Media for
Exhibitors

3. You’ve decided to take your company to an
exhibition or trade show. You’ve got a
shiny new product to promote, and a custom built
exhibition stand that’s going to
get you noticed from across a crowded exhibition
hall.
But being there just isn’t enough. You need to make
sure
that the people that need to know about you being
there know about
you being there. And one of the best ways to do
this is via Social Media.

4. Social Media is playing an ever increasing role in many
businesses’ marketing efforts.
The viral nature of Social means that it can have
tremendous value when it comes to
building and promoting your brand.
It is a fantastic way of not only building relationships
with your existing customer or client base, but also
engaging with potential new clients.

5. Twitter for exhibitors
Still huge, and showing no sign of falling
out of favour,
Twitter is great for events as your updates
are so short.

6. A few weeks before the event, see if there is
an event “hashtag” you can follow.
You might find this on the event website, or
the event organizers may Tweet it out ahead
of time.
You can then use this “hashtag” in a variety
of different ways

7. See who else is talking about the event.
There might just be some potential
customers or clients in there.
And you can also find out if your
competitors are going along.
Keep track of updates regarding the
event: guest speakers,
arrangements, advice…

8. During the event, you can Tweet using the
hashtag. That way people at the event can see
you’re there.
If people can’ attend, they may still be following
the hashtag for news and updates.
After the event, use it to thank people for visiting
your stand, to thank the organisers,
or to offer or ask for feedback.

9. Facebook for exhibitors
What would a post on Social Media
be without at least a mention of
Facebook?
The Social behemoth is still the most
widely used social network.
And because it is so widely used, you
need to make sure you’re making the
most of it.

10. If the event you’re attending has its own
Facebook page,
You may get access to exclusive content
if you do this too! Join in the
conversation on the event’s Wall. On
your page, post content about the
event, such as photos of products you’re
promoting, links to news items or your
blog posts about the event, or info
about any promotions or special offers
you’re running on the day.

11. Pinterest for exhibitors
Now the third most popular Social
Network on the Internet (in the USA at
least), Pinterest is a place where users
can “pin” and “repin” things they like, be
they images, links, videos, ideas, pretty
much anything. Why not try creating a
Pinterest board for your company, and
pinning information about the exhibition
there, such as date, time, venue, location
of your stand, photos of products, etc.

12. You could also pin photos of staff who
will be on your stand, along with
personal messages.
And if you see anything you like about
the event on other users’ boards, repin
it. That user will be notified that his or
her content has been repined, and may
well head your way to find out more
about you.

13. There are so many ways that you can use
Social Media to promote your
attendance at an exhibition.
But remember, too much self promotion
is annoying to your followers and fans, so
don’t post updates every five minutes.
And keep your content varied across the
various platforms.
Nobody wants to see you post exactly
the same things everywhere.

14. Author bio: Helen Laird writes for
Astro Exhibitions, a firm of exhibition
stand designers based near
Manchester, UK.
Astro design and build exhibition
stands for companies from all over
the world, at venues right across
Europe. Their exhibition stand
portfolio includes clients such as
Casio, Shell and BASF.