Exhibitor 2010 Series: Part 1 – Social Trailblazing

I’ve just returned from the Exhibitor 2010 show in Las Vegas and was intrigued, mostly positive, by what I witnessed and learned. The result of which I will be putting together in a five part series to share my thoughts.

There is little doubt that the profile of events is changing. Attendees are evolving (link), organizers are tasked with battling attendance and exhibitors are constantly dealing with new hurdles. Additionally, the entire event culture is being revolutionized by technology and social media as opportunities to enhance our face to face traditions continue to grow.

During Monday’s session, Marketing Communications to Social Audience Engagement – The Changing Event Landscape, the topics focused on encouraging companies to explore and leverage social media in to their events and marketing portfolios. Despite many examples of success, many companies and individuals are still on the fringe of social media. The sessions, led by panelists Paul Salinger, Desirée Lehrbaum and Kelly Graham, took a good look at what stands in front of the pioneers looking to improve awareness with social tools.

An important center of discussion was the need for a social code of ethics. Corporate messages need to adhere to traditional regulations and the individuals distributing the content have to understand the boundaries. There are no universal rules for social media ethics for business. Each set needs to be developed around the needs, values and guidelines that are unique only to your marketing process.

The value of social media for business highlighted was not sales, yet developing communities of individuals. Building relationships with groups forms a level of trust and awareness surrounding your company. Pairing this with a strategic personal profile furthers discussions and can be interwoven as a organic marketing strategy.

Coupling my leanings from this session with my experiences browsing the exhibit floor and monitoring the #Exhibitor2010 Twitter stream, I was left feeling that the events industry is still a distance away from developing complete harmony between virtual and physical environments. Social media integration appears, as a whole, an afterthought as a marketing tool.

Though it is effectively utilized as such, social media is being utilized primarily DURING an event. Systematic “visit our booth” tweets, again should not be discarded completely, but need to be integrated with messages that are informative, valuable and generate awareness to and from your audiences. Additionally, messages should be predicated by a strategy that meshes with your traditional awareness campaigns, on AND off-site.

Your event marketing campaign and its adoption of social media can be one of two things: interdependent or cohesive. Many traditions take precedence when it comes to developing a strategy in early event planning, and most times, does not include a social element…until later. This oversight and delayed implementation forces interdependent tactics, which become exposed during execution.

One of the best tweets that I saw was from Mary-Ann Wessan and concisely reflects my thoughts:

So how do you accurately introduce social media to swing towards a more cohesive output?

1. Develop social media before and beyond your event. Focus a campaign around building awareness around your brand and develop communities and interaction with an audience.
2. Discover ways to incorporate your virtual and physical audiences together. When you develop a brand community, varying audiences have a common topic to discuss in physical and virtual platforms: YOU
3. Your social campaign begins when you register for an event….Not when you arrive. Booth size and location may dictate your strategy and developing a virtual buzz may be essential to compliment the physical restrictions and limitations to your traditional campaigns.
4. Unity, unity, unity. Make your social marketing more traditional and transform your traditional marketing to be more social.

Other takeaways from the session:

• How do you address negativity on social media?
• Develop awareness by influencing the influencers
• Most (up to 60%) of marketers don’t see concrete ROI in social media, yet understand and trust its value
• Content is king – distribute and share information to develop transparency
• Have something to offer before jumping in to social media. What are your assets?

Did you attend this session, listen to the audio broadcast or witness any comments from the Twitter stream? What were your takeaways?

Continue to Exhibitor 2010 Series: Part 2 – Guerilla Marketing

(image by sburke2478 via Flickr Creative Commons License)

1. 

   Samuel J Smith says:

   March 30, 2010 at 4:50 pm

   Hi Eric,

   I think that we are not seeing more social media before/after events – because most show organizers and exhibitors think about the event as “the thing.” It is really hard for them to think about building a community all year long. To me, this is a major mind shift in thinking and execution for most people.

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   • 

     Eric Lukazewski says:

     March 30, 2010 at 4:57 pm

     Sam, thanks for your comment. I agree with you 100%. Events need to be planned well in advance and well beyond its physical environment. I have seen good examples, and I hope others will take notice and follow suit. Thought leaders, like yourself, will prove as a valuable resource for educating individuals on these strategies as well.

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2. 

   Kevin Richardson says:

   March 31, 2010 at 10:20 am

   @Eric,

   Great synopsis of Exhibitor2010 and the trends. Thanks for taking the time to share.

   While shifting the mindset of “the event” is important (as Samuel mentioned) I think a greater shift is required: the understanding that collections/relationships are an ongoing thing. Within that mindset “the event” becomes another chance for us to get together and collaborate rather than being this single “big thing.” In other words, let’s make the connection between you and me “the big thing” and support it with both online and F2F interaction opportunities.

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