Social Media for Exhibitions

Social Media and Exhibiting

 

Social media is an excellent way of reaching your market and spreading your message. Through your online community, it’s possible to share information and engage your customers both pre-show and post-show. If you haven’t already ventured into social media it may seem daunting or hard work if it’s unfamiliar. However, if done correctly, it can save you a lot of time and money. Establishing this two-way communication with customers is highly sought after and can benefit you in a number of ways:  

Pre-show

• Promote your presence at upcoming shows by sharing where you’ll be exhibiting and adding a teaser of what customers can expect to see
• Increase brand awareness
• Promote products
• Evaluate the effectiveness of a new product launch by generating and monitoring a conversation amongst followers to see how a new product is received in its early stages
• Promote upcoming sales
• Monitor the conversation to gain direct feedback from your target market. Everybody has a voice and WILL share it online, this obviously has its pro’s and con’s which will be discussed later
• Sales promotions online or competitions to engage customers and new followers
• Establish and capitalise on current trends amongst your customers. This can assist you in selecting what products to promote at the show to make the most of the limited space

  Post-show

• Have a link available for customers to see at the show. Note, everybody has a smartphone and instant access to social media, encourage people to join your site throughout the show whilst they’re ‘in the moment’
• Potential to gain contact of customers you missed at the show. Unfortunately it’s hard to reach everyone so a follow up message after the show can be highly effective
• Social media can be used as an additional way to develop an online database of customers for future use and a source of market research
• Receive feedback about your presence at the show that may not be received through questionnaires. Whether its positive or negative, the feedback will show you what customers did and didn’t enjoy allowing you to make changes for the next show
• Users can share your content amongst friends and colleagues that has the potential to reach a much greater audience. This action can create word-of-mouth, brand awareness and increase leads and sales

 Important things to note:  

• You don’t have to monitor social media sites all day. Schedule a regular time that is dedicated to monitoring feedback, questions and so on
• As previously noted, some comments and feedback can be negative. Everybody has a voice online and some people can take it too far. If the comments don’t generate constructive discussion amongst other users remove it swiftly
• If followers ask questions online, try and be timely in answering their question or referring them to a number of steps they can take next e.g. link to your website or contact number

  There are a lot of mediums that can be utilised to best serve your purpose, so which are the best for you?  

See our article here to find out!

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