By Brian Gordon, President, Skyline Toronto
Just because trade shows are the place where B2B buyers and sellers meet face to face, doesn’t mean you can’t add marketing value to them with some savvy social media moves. Here are 11 ways you can boost your trade show results using social media before, during, and after your trade show:
Before Your Trade Show
- Write a blog post about all the great reasons attendees should visit you in your trade show booth – your new products, your giveaways, your in-booth activities, your unique value proposition.
- Then promote that blog post, repeatedly, via whatever social media accounts you have: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and more. Use the show’s hashtag in those messages.
- Go on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and search on people who use the show’s hashtag. If they are potential prospects, reach out to them and gently invite them to your booth!
During Your Trade Show
- Take pictures and videos of your busy booth and share them on your social media accounts
- Post messages about what you are doing or giving away in your booth
- Use the show’s hashtag, again, in all your messages
- Again, go on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and search on people who use the show’s hashtag while they are at the show, and give them a good reason to come see you, too.
After Your Trade Show
- Post a video on YouTube and Facebook that features demos of your new products you introduced at the show, or interviews with happy clients who visited you in your booth.
- Start a discussion in the show’s LinkedIn Group asking what people liked best that they saw at the show
- Post photos on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter of the happy winner of your contest or raffle in your booth
- Look up all your best leads from the show, and follow their Twitter accounts and ask them to connect in LinkedIn
Whatever you do, to get full value from your social media / trade show partnership, it’s best to have healthy social media accounts in place long before your event. You want to leverage your existing social media footprint, not have to start from scratch just to promote your trade show.
Try one or two of these ideas you like best at your next show. As you get more comfortable doing them, then add more and more. You’ll reach a broader audience, and especially the part of the show’s attendees who are more likely to have tuned out (or opted out!) to promotional messages sent via email, direct mail, or advertising.
About the Author
Brian Gordon is a founding partner of Skyline Toronto, helping companies communicate their message through trade shows, events, and related displays. Clients include a broad spectrum, from Fortune 500 companies to small home-based operations. Areas of expertise include message creation, graphic and architectural design, exhibit display design and build of all sizes, set up and dismantle services locally and throughout the world, repair services, and educational trade show related seminars. Brian can be reached via his website at http://www.skyline.com/toronto-exhibits.