Last week on #ExpoChat, a weekly Twitter chat for those involved in the trade show and expo industry, participants chimed in on best practices for using social media to market your show. I will get into why I think that concept is flawed in just a bit, but first let’s set the stage.
During the chat there was a passionate discussion about how some events can’t seem to get their attendees to participate on their show’s hashtag. Some felt there just wasn’t an audience interested in using Twitter.
I’ve heard this problem come up quite often when I speak to show organizers. The first thing I do is check out the hashtag and quite often I quickly identify two major problems.
The first most noticeable problem is that the hashtag is pretty much inactive throughout the year. There is no community organized around the hashtag and, therefore, no conversation taking place.
The second most noticeable problem is that weeks before the show, the only activity is exhibitors talking about what they will be giving away in their booth. In short, they are using the hashtag as just another advertising platform. This is most likely because of the first problem mentioned above.
So how do you fix it?
One of the best ways to build a community around a show hashtag is by hosting weekly Twitter chats. Chat topics should be focused on topics that your show attendees and potential attendees would find of interest.
Content Marketing World does a fabulous job with this. Last year, about ten weeks before their conference they hosted a weekly Twitter chat featuring speakers from the 5 industry summits, and 5 of their biggest tracks from the main event.
“Initially, it was going to be a 10-week project, and admittedly a marketing “campaign” for CMWorld. With every chat we did, we also transcribed the chat and created a blog post for contentmarketingworld.com. Then we also highlighted some key tweets from each question and created a slideshare presentation,” said Cathy McPhillips, Marketing Director of the Content Marketing Institute, in an email.
But those chats were so successful and participants received so much value from them both in information and connections they made to other content marketers there, McPhillips continued them throughout the year.
Now, every Tuesday at noon ET, marketers from around the globe pause their day to participate in these #cmworld chats.
McPhillips went on to say in her email, “While we obviously do have an end goal of having the participants make SOME action within CMI/CMW (i.e. signing up for our email program, attending a webinar or event, etc.), the benefits we have reaped have been worth it. It has spurred CMI blog post topics, given us guidance and direction, even just affirmation is always a good thing. It has sparked other conversations and has helped us build a nice community since many of us don’t see each other on a regular basis. It has been fun to see friendships and relationships form because of our chats.”
As a participant in these chats, I can definitely say mission accomplished! I feel I’m part of an intelligent community, I’ve made friends, and I feel as though I’ve missed out on an important part of my week when I can’t attend. And yes, I am going to Content Marketing World this September. It will be my second year in attendance.
This type of community doesn’t happen overnight. It takes dedication and commitment from the event organization to pull it off. But it’s more than worth it in the long run.
If you’ve never participated in a Twitter chat, I invite you to join us on #ExpoChat every Wednesday at 3pm ET. Not only will you get to see a chat in action, but also you’ll pick up and idea or two to use at your own events. We talk about anything and everything having to do with trade shows and expos.
Also, check out Cathy McPhillips’ blog post, “A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Twitter Chats in Your Content Plan.” While it is not show specific, there are great tips in there anyone can benefit from.
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