As we grow marketing strategies and initiatives online a sometimes overlooked resource are the deliverables gained from real-world physical events. These events provide a wealth of before and after content, including photos and video, as well as many other benefits.
Events are rich resources for on and offline press releases, Twitter, Facebook pages, blog posts, email campaigns and print and digital newsletters-to name a few. Events provide valid content development and opportunities to engage your constituencies through updates, invites, “save-the-dates,” live posts in real-time at the event, after-event highlights and testimonials from attendees, and of course images.
Events offer a means of engaging attendees in spreading the word, and your brand, by leveraging their social reach. At the same time events not only offer a chance to provide tangible benefit to constituents who you may mainly engage with in the digital world- there can be strategic opportunities for real-time mini surveys at the event.
During the course of the event you obviously announce and reinforce your posting hashtags. And you incentivize attendees to tweet and post real-time by thanking and acknowledging them via social media as well as possible tangible incentives (product discounts, free invite to a webinar, dollars-off deals, free consultations…..).
You also take the opportunity to encourage folks to take a minute to answer a few quick survey questions. You point out the survey takers, who by the way you have strategically selected to demographically mirror survey respondents you are targeting so that survey targets are comfortable and at ease. Make it known survey results will be posted to your site (as a boost for site traffic) and/or shared on your Facebook page or Pinterest as an infographics.
Either through a contracted research vendor, or your own team, it is a simple matter of pinpointing no more than 4 questions that can be answered quickly (multiple choice, true/false, ranking 1 -10) with responses entered on a tablet/iPad in a previously built survey template.
You’ll have the opportunity to reinforce to you audience that their feedback matters and that they are important. And as you graciously thank them for their time, and reinforce how much you value their feedback, you politely ask if it would be okay to contact them with a few quick follow up questions. This provides an opportunity to collect person contact information. We all know how valuable that is.
Also integral to your event strategy, increasing brand exposure and developing content consider integrating synergistic, noncompeting, strategic collaborations and partnerships you engage for the event. Don’t simply encourage these collaborators to use their media contacts and resources. Make it easy for them, while at the same helping control the messaging and your brand’s representation. Do this by sharing pre-approved quotes, images, video, sound bites, hyperlinks and social icons. This can be done via your website press room and/or special tailored information packets.
As appropriate remember to strategically invite press representatives, bloggers and other influentials. Make it worth their while. Provide them opportunities for spotlight such as inclusion in press materials, real-time acknowledgement at the event, creating event photo opportunities, mentions in social media posts and newsletters, capturing them on video for streaming, emails mentions, providing access to event photos and video. Provide a VIP/influencer area where they have exclusive opportunity to network with one another. And if you have budget, or through your collaborations, provide a VIP appreciation thank-you goodie bag (no mediocre tchotchkes please).
The value and resources generated by a single event goes a long way. You generate loads of valuable usable content. You physically connect and engage with your audience; possibly the media and key influencer and you create social media synergies via attendees as well as marketing and media synergies through partnerships and collaborations.
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