Using social media after the trade show is done
Have you just completed your first trade show, or are you just starting to explore your exhibiting options? Either way, you may be wondering how you can boost the ROI of exhibiting at a trade show. Have you considered using other marketing methods, such as social media, to market your participation at the trade show? If not, you should! Social media and trade shows may be on opposite ends of the marketing universe, but they play very nicely together if used correctly. Here are some pointers on how you can begin to use social media to improve your trade show ROI.
Know Your Audience
Find out where people you want to connect with are spending their time online. You can use Facebook Groups, or LinkedIn Groups to place everyone together and make it easier to communicate with them. Blogs are a great place for showing content and sharing information from the trade show, while Facebook is ideal for encouraging dialogue.
Make It Interesting
Don’t spend all of your time talking about your business and products. No matter how interesting it may be to you, it gets boring for your audience. Instead, take the time to introduce the people you worked with at the trade show; tell interesting stories and put a face to the company. This can help build a new relationship or strengthen a current one.
Don’t spend all of your time trying to sell your products. Trade shows and the social media interaction afterwards are about building relationships. Keep this in mind when you are communicating with your audience.
If you were using social media at a trade show, you will not need to reiterate everything that went on. You can do a recap and give your impressions, but ask for comments from your audience. Find out if they attended and what they thought about the event. Getting your audience involved will increase the likelihood that they will check back in for updates.
Share photos of the trade show for those who missed it as well as to serve as a reminder for those who attended. Everyone loves to reminisce about an event over photos. Make sure they are not just about the products but also about the people.
Respond to Comments
When you are using social media at a trade show, you may not have time to respond to the comments you get. After you have gone home, you should try to answer the questions and comments of as many people as you can. It will make them feel like you care about what they have to say. It goes back to building a relationship with your audience and can determine how successful your trade show really was.
Don’t forget to ask for ideas on what worked and what you could do better another time. Feedback is an integral part of any event to allow you to make improvements to reach more people.
If you had been using social media at a trade show, it is important to continue with it once you have finished the event. Interact with your audience and get their comments; build relationships and you will have more successful events in the future as word spreads.
