TradeshowGuy Blog

Category: Social Media

  • Panning for Gold in Your Inbox: 5 Best Inbox Links of the Week

    I admit it. I subscribe to waaay too many e-mail newsletters. Most I don’t get a chance to read. So if you’re going to get my attention on a regular basis in my inbox your stuff had better be damn good.

    Thankfully, a number of marketing and sales folks manage to do that. I thought I’d put a short list together of the top __ blog post links that arrived in my e-mail the past week or so.

    In no particular order:

    5 Ways to Love Your Customer! from Paul Castain’s Sales Playbook

    Paul consistently grabs my attention with his cool, fun, wacky bull-in-a-china-shop approach to blogging. Check some of the titles to his other blog posts, such as How My Death Taught Me To Live!, 247 Billion Emails – 6 Ways To Rethink Them!, How are you wasting your 2.1 hours today?, and Fire The Gatekeepers!

    Yes, he uses a lot of exclamation points. But that’s okay…I think they’re pretty cheap when you get them in bulk.

    4 Reasons PR Agencies Are Failing in Social Media from Valeria Maltoni’s Conversation Agent

    Valeria digs deep into the marketing, sales and social media aspects of stuff that frankly I hardly ever think of. It’s like of like driving through a car wash with the windows down. Much of Valeria’s stuff is useful, thoughtful and a slap in the face at times.

    21 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Fanbase from Michael Stelzner’s Social Media Examiner

    The Social Media Examiner blew onto the web out of nowhere last year and is now one of the premier stopping points for useful posts for anyone looking to improve their social media skills. If you’re got a Facebook page, this is a great post.

    Prepare for the mobile gold rush with your new mobile site from Joan Stewart, aka The Publicity Hound

    Joan celebrated her 500th newsletter with a look ahead. Not surprising. She had a blog post with some useful links to how she set up her mobile website http://publicityhound.mobi/.

    If you’ve ever thought of getting your website onto the mobile phone platform, this is a good introduction.

    Finally, from Marcia Yudkin “The Marketing Minute” comes some great tips on How to Perk Up Your Bio:

    On your “About” page, in conference materials, in media kits or elsewhere, a business bio should not be a cold, dry résumé, with every fact in its appropriate slot.

    Nor should it be a chronology of your career.

    Instead, in your bio, provide an overview of your achievements and distinctive work approach. Through what you say or how you say it, also impart a sense of you as a person.

    To warm up your bio with sparks of life, include one or more of these:

    * A quote from you or your personal motto
    * A phrase clients or an authority figure use about you (clients call him “the uncoach” because his advice is so laid back and subtle)
    * Fanciful or unexpected language (paints the scenes that beckon to her)
    * Concrete details (trained his first dog, a Schnauzer, at age 10)
    * Vivid extremes or contrasts (has taught everyone from CEOs to imprisoned drug dealers)
    * Tantalizing numbers (the third most quoted Canadian chartered accountant)
    * A fact that humbles you (Alan Weiss once appeared on Jeopardy, where he lost to a dancing waiter)

    Find Marcia’s newsletter and blog here.

    To my mind all of these newsletters are worth opening and at least scanning. A quick scan lets me know if I should dig deeper – and more often than not, I do.

    What’s in your inbox that’s worth sharing?

  • 9 Tips to Put a Social Spin on Your Trade Show Marketing

    The following is a guest post by Dennis Nixon, Sales Manager at Smash Hit Displays

    In the days leading up to an exciting trade show attendees are likely tweeting about it, Facebooking about it, and blogging about it too. You’re likely doing the same as a trade show marketer, right? So take advantage of it! Integrating social media marketing into your trade show marketing before, during and after the main event can be the difference between having a successful trade show booth, and an unsuccessful one.

    The world of social media and blogging can be quite an overwhelming one, but never fear. I’ve put together a list of 10 tips to help you put a social media spin on your trade show marketing efforts.

    Twitter Search

    Did you know: every single conversation on Twitter (except those from people who have private Twitter streams) can be searched via Twitter search?  Simply type in the name of the trade show you’ll have a booth at and you’ll quickly see others talking about the same event. Make sure to vary your keywords, and soon you’ll find a plethora of data to start prospecting prior to the event.

    Twitter Lists

    If you’re an avid tweeter than you likely know about Twitter lists. These can be a great way to compile a list of potential attendees, whom you can follow during the trade show. What will they be saying at the event? Where will they be having dinner or after-trade show events? Stay up to date. You don’t even have to actually ‘follow’ the users to put them in a list. AND you can keep the list private if you don’t want your competition finding all the users you spent time finding. In addition, don’t forget about the value of using Twitter for traffic, discussed in the recent post: “Are You using Twitter to Drive Traffic to Your Blog and Event?” on this blog.

    Facebook Search

    When you’re logged into Facebook you have access to their huge internal (and external for that matter) search engine. View all results for a specific term, people associated with that term, page associated with that term, groups, posts by everyone, posts by friends, etc… This can give you back results for many users going to the trade show, thinking about going, or just associated with it.

    Facebook Groups and Pages

    Using the search function detailed above, you can find groups and pages of prospects interested in the trade show you’re attending. This can be extremely helpful to start a conversation with prospects and tell them about your booth, where you’ll be located, and the fun stuff you’ll be giving away/doing at the event.

    Use Flowtown

    Have a prospects e-mail address but not sure if they are using social media? You HAVE to check out FlowTown. With this website you can upload your prospects e-mail addresses (before, during or after the event) and get information such as name, age, gender, occupation, location AND all the social networks that person is on.

    Contests on Social Networks

    Some trade show marketers suggest utilizing contests on social networks to help you spread the word about the trade show you’ll be at, in addition to getting a bit of notoriety and branding your business. Tell your fans and followers that you’ll be at the next big event, and the first five people to retweet or repost about it will get a prize when they show up to the event. There are so many ways you can spin a simple contest before and during the trade show, the possibilities are endless.

    LinkedIn

    You’re likely using LinkedIn, heck millions are. But are you utilizing it to help with your trade show marketing? Tell your connections about your upcoming event, ask them to help you spread the word, or even connect with prospects after the event takes place. There’s so much you can do with LinkedIn, you just need to think outside the box.

    LinkedIn Groups

    If the event planner for the trade show you’re is good they’ll have set up a LinkedIn group. Use this opportunity to start connecting with prospects and chatting them up. Connect with others, help spread the word about the event, and afterward discuss what was learned or how it can apply to their future endeavors.

    Blogger Outreach

    Connecting with bloggers that are going to events is extremely important. They’re already tapping into the vein of your industry, so why not utilize their current reader base? Try securing a guest blogging spot, schmoozing them when they’re at the event, and staying in contact afterwards. You never know the types of connections you’ll be able to make over a few drinks.

    If you still aren’t convinced that social media can work for you (or that others are using it), check out Tradeshow Insights post “Social Media and Tradeshow Marketing Results”, where respondents to a poll stated that a whopping 31% have already incorporated social media into their exhibit marketing!

    Have you used social media in your trade show marketing before, during and after the event? What successes have you had with it?

    About the Author: Dennis Nixon is the Sales Manager at Smash Hit Displays, a company providing trade show displays and booths to vendors throughout the United States.

  • Book Review: “Rock the World (With Your Online Presence)” – What it means to connect with a ‘super-connector’

    When I connected with author Mike O’Neil a few weeks back he asked me to connect with him on LinkedIn. I soon learned that he does this with everybody.

    “All right,” said Mike, “before you accept the inviation, go to your home page on LinkedIn. Now, click on ‘Contacts’ and then ‘Network Statistics.’ Look at what you’ve got in your connections list.”

    I did. It looked like this:

    “Now, go ahead and accept my invitation. Then wait a few moments and refresh your page.”

    So I did. It looked like this:


    Given that Mike has 27,000+ connections on LinkedIn, it was easy to see why my network statistics took a huge jump. Shortly after, I connected with Lori Ruff, Mike’s co-author on ‘Rock The World with Your Online Presence,’ a book dedicated solely to, uh, pimping out your LinkedIn profile.

    Later that day I added a connection to Lori Ruff, co-author of the ‘Rock the World’ book:

    I mean, really jazzing it up so that you can be FOUND and recognized for what you do and what you’re best at.

    So now that I’ve read the book and am starting to implement a few of the ideas for the profile, I am seeing the network grow and seeing more people finding me. I get responses and e-mails to responses on questions posted at discussions, for instance.

    In a sense, the book is too good. It has so much usable ideas in it geared directly toward improving your LinkedIn profile that it can be overwhelming. That was my first sense while reading the book. My second sense is that the amount of things I can do and people I can connect with just by making a knockout LinkedIn profile is amazing.

    When you read the book, use it. Go over your profile with a fine-tooth comb and make the adjustments and revisions in your profile that Mike and Lori suggest. See what happens. My guess is you’ll start to see how LinkedIn can powerfully impact your online networking, whether for new business leads, job leads, or other networking connections.

    Get the book. You’ll be glad you did:

    Rock The World with your Online Presence: Your Ticket to a Multi-Platinum LinkedIn Profile (Volume 1)

  • Skiing and Social Media Tradeshow Marketing (Seminar Coming!)

    What does skiing have to do with using social media to market your tradeshow booth? Very little. Okay, it’s a biiiiig stretch! But nonetheless, earlier this week I managed to get up to Hoodoo Ski Bowl in central Oregon to do a little skiing…and daydreaming about using social media, Twitter and…well, you’ll just have to watch the video:

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HshK8roKLrU

    And yes, I am planning a live/local seminar (wow, I sound just like a local TV newscaster –Live, Local!) coming up on April 8 here in Salem, Oregon. Are you in the area? Can you come? Find out more by clicking here.

    Early bird registration is still underway, which means you save $10. And IF you manage to read the fine print, you’ll see that you are actually getting my whole Social Media Tradeshow Marketing Bundle AND the live seminar…for ten bucks less than the current price of the bundle. Hmmm…is this a clever marketing ploy, or just plain stupidity?

  • Podcast: Mike O’Neil Interview

    Author Mike O’Neil recently sat down with me and discussed a wide range of topics, from LinkedIn and Facebook to Meetup.com and Twitter and how those various social media platforms can be used to promote events.

    During this excerpt, Mike discussed the differences between using Facebook and LinkedIn to promote events, and talked about how Twitter’s huge ‘people’ stream means you have to be more engaged to get people to respond to your event promotion tweets.

    The complete 40-minute conversation is included as a bonus download in the recently-released Social Media – Tradeshow Marketing Bundle now available here: http://budurl.com/smbundle.

    Mike’s book is great: “Rock the World With Your Online Presence” – a book that specifically shows you how to create a rockin’ LinkedIn profile.

  • Podcast: Steve Farnsworth Interview

    Here’s a short but worthwhile segment of a much longer in-depth conversation with blogger and social media expert Steve Farnsworth on how to use YouTube to explode your traffic at tradeshows.

    The complete 35-minute conversation is included as a bonus download in the recently-released Social Media – Tradeshow Marketing Bundle now available here (for a mighty good price, too!).

    Give a listen and get a few cool ideas on how to use video to bring more people to your tradeshow booth. Get the bundle for the whole conversation and many more ideas.

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    Find Steve Farnsworth online here:

  • Are Your Potential Customers Online? Duh.

    I love these short statistic-packed videos that keep popping up and lay out the latest data on online consumption. And yes, we are a world of ‘net consumers. Watching videos (average of 182 a month!), blogging (53% of all websites are blogs!), sending emails, dealing with spam…it’s incredible how the numbers stack up.

    Thought you’d like to take a look:

    JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

  • A Social Playbook for Marketing Events – David Berkowitz Keynote

    If you’ve discovered one thing about this blog, it’s that I like to share cool articles, videos and information from other folks that are of a like mind or offering info that is in the same vein.

    With that said, I ran across a terrific presentation from David Berkowitz, a guy I’ve followed for years. Great writer, fun thinker…he’s billed as a ‘social media and mobile marketing strategist for i360, blogger at MarketersStudio.com, author of weekly Social Media Insider with Media Post; speaker, columnist on media, marketing and technology.’

    David was the keynote speaker at ‘Event Camp 2010 conference in New York City, it covers social media marketing for event planners, including lessons organizers can learn from other marketers. It focuses on developing a strategy for social media, along with top trends such as mobile social networking, social metrics, augmented reality, and Facebook connect.’

    Informative and thoughtful slide show from that presentation:


    A Social Playbook for Marketing Events – Event Camp 2010 Keynote

  • Upcoming Webinar: “How to Close More Biz at Tradeshows Using Social Media”

    In just two weeks – Feb 17th at 1 pm Pac / 4 pm Est to be precise – I’ll be doing a one-hour webinar on what strategies and techniques you can use to close more business at tradeshows by drawing more people to your booth via your online social media activity. This means looking closely at how you can use Twitter, blogging, YouTube, Facebook and other social media sites to get people engaged with your upcoming show and ultimately with your brand and company. Here’s a quick look at one thing that we’ll be going over.

    What do you want to learn about using social media to market at tradeshows? Leave a comment and I’ll be sure to cover that in the webinar!

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSZWRz7I3x8

    To sign up, go to this link: http://tradeshowguyblog.com/seminar

  • Marketing a Local Event with Social Media: A Case Study

    Need to lift declining attendance at a regional or local tradeshow? You might take a tip or two from what Jill Harrison, the Manager of Public Relations and Image Development at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce did.

    When I asked for stories in a HARO request last year, Jill chimed in with a great story on how they brought more people to the show – and kept the buzz going during the event for attendees and those that couldn’t be there in person. Let’s let her tell it:

    Here at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, we use social media heavily for our twice annual tradeshow called SchmoozaPalooza. There are two main ways we use it: 1) to drive event attendance and 2) to update followers during the actual event.

    Our event, called “Business After Hours”, had declining attendance. We decided to re-brand it (and call it SchmoozaPalooza) and spread the word in a new way – through social media. We set up profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, MySpace and Facebook. We started by attracting “friends” before we tried to sell or promote anything. We figured out what our followers were interested in, and informed them on a variety of events, not just about SchmoozaPalooza. This helped us build credibility. After a period of time, we began to promote SchmoozaPalooza. The closer to the event we got, the more we promoted it. By the time the event drew near, we had 102 followers on Twitter, 441 friends on Linkedin, 209 friends on Plaxo, 117 friends on MySpace, and 568 friends on Facebook.

    During the actual event, we encouraged our attendees to “tweet” what they were doing, what was happening and what they thought. A large TV screen in the front and back of the event showed the scrolling “tweets” to passersby.

    After the event when we did our evaluation, we saw that attendance had nearly quadrupled – from 200 to 725. Our revenue doubled. The best part is that we can utilize these friend groups in the future. Social media helped us reach a whole new audience.

    Certainly using Social Media to draw more visitors to an event can be done – but it doesn’t happen over night and it does take planning and execution.

    I like that Jill and her team had a plan and spent some time building credibility before they started to promote SchmoozaPalooza, then built on the promotions as they got closer. I disagree with Seth Godin’s take that putting up a tradeshow booth is an event and not a process. Getting people to your show or to your booth is an ongoing process that goes from show to show and builds on past experiences and promotions.

    For your next tradeshow (whether you’re organizing the show or just putting up a booth at the show), take a hard look at Social Media and see what it can do for you. Learn from other experiences and look to create your own experiences. Then build on them.