5 Ways that Social Media Can Help You Step Up Your Game on the Trade Show Floor
Knowing that you need to be using social media during your trade show is one thing. Knowing how to use social media during your trade show may be another thing altogether for some businesses. We’ve put together a list of five ways that social media can help you on the trade show floor, so that you can develop a stronger social media strategy!
Use Social Media to Build Excitement Before The Event – In today’s digital marketing age, trade shows and conferences generally have a hashtag that is made public months or weeks before the actual event. Sending out a tweet or two per day before the event, or taking pictures of your trade show preparations, then putting them on Instagram with the hashtag, are going to help you to build excitement-and let new prospects have the opportunity to learn more about you before the event, which makes things easier on your sales staff!
Use Social Media to Drive Visitors to Your Exhibit with Social Only Content – Giving your exhibit visitors the opportunity to earn an entry to a giveaway by sending a tweet or tagging you on Instagram can be a great way to get your prospects involved, build your social media following, and attract even more visitors to your booth. Make sure that your giveaway is something relevant and on-trend. You don’t want to give away last year’s swag-there’s a reason you have it leftover! Tickets to local businesses such as hotels or spas are often great giveaway items, and project the image that you’ve invested in the community.
Use Social Media to Interact With Other Exhibitors – When you see other exhibitors using social media, respond to their posts. Their followers will get early exposure to your brand, and they’ll get the same boost from your followers, at no cost to either of you. If you’ve got a staff member walking the floor of the trade show, make sure they are taking pictures of other (non-competitive) exhibitors and posting them to your Instagram or Twitter account. Chances are, the other exhibitor will comment on or re-gram the content, leading to more social standing for you.
Use Social Media to Connect with Locals for After Hours Events – If you’re looking for opportunities to network after hours, the locals will be able to tell you the hottest spots to hit after the show closes. Make sure you’re following and interacting with local hotels and clubs to see if specific events or parties have been planned for the trade show attendees and exhibitors.
How will you draw them into your booth?
Use Social Media to Keep Excitement Building During Multiple Day Events – If your event is spread over a weekend, generally people who can’t attend on day one are eagerly watching coverage in anticipation of their attendance on day two. Posts like “Here’s what happened today, can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring!” will definitely keep your prospects interested, and help to make sure that your booth is near the top of their list for when they are able to make it to the event.
Using social media can seem intimidating for some companies. However, with goals, benchmarks, and a solid strategy, it doesn’t have to be an overwhelming experience, and is almost guaranteed to lead to a better conversion rate for your trade show experience!
