5 Step Guide to a Fully Immersed Social Event Experience™
Written by ray.silva on July 15, 2011
Social Media has been championed by some of the worlds greatest marketing companies. But while Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Nike have been exceedingly successful in this area, other similarly sized businesses have been struggling.
A lack of resources or Social Media know-how has caused some of the worlds greatest brands to be left in the dust, and not just by large competitors. Around the globe, smaller more tech-savvy businesses are gaining market share by developing strong online communities.
So how can your organization successfully start an effective online presence?
Your campaign has to be immersive and engaging. 9 out of the top 10 Fortune 500 companies actively engage in conversations on their Twitter feed.[1] A Social Media campaign or event that is not engaging is doomed to fail.
This 5 Step Guide will provide you with hundreds of new followers to engage with, tens of thousands of online brand impressions, and months worth of digital content to promote discussion around your brand online.
1. PLAN
Your plan will outline your Social Media goals and objectives and determine what your social event will include. Integrate Social Media into an event flow, time line, and theme. Determine whether awareness, new members, strengthening your brand, or increasing exposure is the most important and then craft your social event around that idea. Figuring this out will allow you to rifle your efforts in the appropriate direction and ultimately lead to Social Media success.
2. DEVELOP
The development phase is where you will build the sharing features of your event. It will outline how the event venue, collateral and other environmental elements will encourage attendees to share. In order to do this, select the platforms you will share on, determine what you want your attendees to do, and plan a simple yet direct way to get them to do so. Framing your social experience as a game by providing incentives and other fun elements will be extremely effective. If conducted in a simple and fun way, attendees will not only share while at the event, but will continue to share their brand experience for weeks if not months afterwards.
3. PROMOTE
Getting the social web excited about your event beforehand is essential in achieving Social Media success. This will provide increased reach, and awareness of your brand as well as develop important relationships. Find out which influencers and media sources would be most interested in your event and connect with them via Social Media. Set a hash-tag and get people talking. These messages can be used to understand individual’s perceptions, concerns, and interests. Positive conversation will then be collected as testimonial content for future use.
You should connect with invitees by sending email invitations that connect to an online registration system. This system should allow invitees to connect with various Social Media and share with their friends. This will help promote conversation online, and increase the number of brand impressions. Connecting with invitees and non-invitees will help your brand get noticed.
4. EXECUTE
Execution is where the make or break happens. A poor user experience can result in negative sharing. This means it is essential for the elements planned in previous stages to come to fruition effectively. Avoid problems by allotting enough time to set up and plan your social elements. Educate staff and attendees as much as possible before the event in order to reduce confusion. Lastly, encourage staff and volunteers to share their experiences online. Having the team develop conversation around the event will help attendees share more and in the desired direction. Depending on the amount of social communication, your event will have the potential to trend geographically.
5. FOLLOW UP
A lot of your event’s success will come from the conversations and connections that continue after the event. Supporting the conversation around your brand by interacting and engaging will increase your brand’s buzz, impressions, following and more. Follow up with an email, blog post, or other Social Media messages to keep your new relationships connected to you.
CONCLUSION
Social Media for some organizations is a growing mystery. If done incorrectly it can lead to negative effects. However, if done effectively, Social Media can lead to impressive business results. If you’re looking to start, grow or support an effective ongoing Social Media presence then this 5 Step Guide to a Fully Immersed Social Event Experience™ will help produce results.
For further explanation, professional consultation, or Social Media event services please contact the MarketingSmartt team at sales@smartt.com, twitter.com/smarttnet, or 604 473 9700
[1] http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/studiesandresearch/bloggingtwitterandfacebookusage/
Facebook and Google – Diving Deeper
Written by alexey.lyakh on July 4, 2011
Together these two are the largest and most used Iinnternet companies in the world. Google with 150 million monthly users and Facebook hot on Google’s heels with 140, add Youtube to the equation which is also owned by Google with 125 million and you’re nearing a half a billion of monthly users. No doubt that these three websites are where the majority of us spend our free time on line. But although you might be used to thinking of these as simply a search engine or a social network you might not be fully aware of the things that go on behind the scenes of your computer screen…
What Google and Facebook are Hiding
Though the above video is quite eye opening it looks at these two giants from the perspective of an average user who isn’t getting the full picture as a result of algorithmic adjustments catered specifically to what they assume you are looking for or are interested in.
However it is important to remember that there could be other uses for the information these companies gather about you. Your entire identity is up on Facebook and Google memorizes your search habits. What are the potential uses for such a vast amount of personal information and who else could possibly have access to it?
We know that Google and Facebook use this information for making money. 97% of income of these companies comes from advertisements. Advertisements catered specifically to you based on your likes and interests derived from the vast amount information that you have wittingly or unwittingly shared with these two companies. Try paying attention to the ads you see in your gmail account. Do they change according to the content of your emails or their recipients? Privacy concerns are a disturbing issue on the Internet. We have become so accustomed to these companies and have learned to trust them so completely that we no longer question the security of our information on line. Watch the videos below and keep in mind that as positive and helpful as these sites are, it is a leap of faith on your part to fully trust in their noblest intentions.
