Tag Archives: marketing

Harnessing the Power of FOMO

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Fear of Missing Out, popularly known as FOMO, is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it is a modern take on "the grass is always greener" which is a rendition of a Latin proverb translated into English in the 1500s. Today, we may feel it more acutely because social media gives us constant connectivity to what others are doing and what they have.

Social media both feeds this compulsion to compare as well as overwhelms us with information. How do marketers rise above the online noise? One way is to understand and embrace FOMO as a natural human emotion. Marketers across industries do this including AT&T's "Don't be left behind" campaign, Duracell Powermat "Stay in charge" campaign, and the Heineken "Sunrise" campaign. The Heineken campaign, in particular, aimed to encourage responsible drinking by portraying excessive drinking as a way to miss out on the best parts of a party. This gets across the message of safe alcohol consumption without the traditional, "it's dangerous" or "bad for your health." Continue reading →

I Want My Streaming Video

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We've written before about how to create video for events, but today's post takes a deeper dive into a video medium that has quickly catapulted into everyday use - video streaming. Driven in great part by the wide release of Facebook Live, streaming video is becoming a key tool for marketing and citizen journalism. Recent use of Facebook Live to communicate not just marketing messages, but also news, has served to legitimize streaming video as a channel to reach the masses. According to a Cisco report, by 2019 video will account for 80 percent of global internet traffic.[Tweet "Streaming video is becoming a key tool for marketing. #GovEventsBlog"]

While there are many ways to capture and broadcast streaming video, Facebook, by essence of its popularity and reach, is driving the streaming revolution. With a reported 1.71 billion users on the Facebook social platform, you no longer have to entice people to watch your video on another site; you can meet them where they already are.

Facebook Live allows up to 90 minutes of broadcast content. Filming can be done directly from a smartphone with no additional equipment needed. After the broadcast ends, the video remains accessible in your page's feed and can be adjusted to allow different viewing permissions.  In general, Facebook's algorithms favor video as a way to keep people on the site longer. By creating a live stream and promoting the video, it can increase your Facebook page appearance and organic reach in your audience's feeds.[Tweet "Creating a live stream and promoting the video can increase your organic reach. #GovEventsBlog"] Continue reading →

How Ambassadors Extend a Brand

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Our connected world has enabled everyday people to become trusted sources for news and information. Take for example, buying a car. "Historically," you would do research through the mainstream media reading Consumer Reports and car magazines. You'd get the input of professionals in the car industry, likely someone you had never heard of before, but trusted them because cars were their job.

Today, you may still do some traditional research, but you may also put a post on Facebook or Twitter asking your friends and connections their thoughts on the models you are considering. What you get back is first hand knowledge from the people you know. The feedback is in more than the words they offer in their response. What you know about their personality and lifestyle will likely impact how you view their input. Those offering positive feedback have become ambassadors for the car brand.[Tweet "Those offering feedback have become ambassadors for the brand. #GovEventsBlog"]

Now, let's move this to the event world. Events are not objects like cars - they are living, breathing entities that are powered by the people that plan and attend them. Because of this, the perspective of people is critical in making decisions about what events to attend. With this in mind, a formalized event ambassador program should be part of event marketing. Continue reading →

Through the Looking Glass: Adventures in Social Media

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Social Media has become a critical component for marketing an event. It has also proven to have great worth in providing real time feedback on the event. But even with these benefits it can feel overwhelming to manage all of the work and data resulting from social media. Without focus, it can turn into a never-ending quest with many distractions. Like Alice traveling through Wonderland to find the white rabbit, we can get distracted by all of the new and interesting things we see along our way.[Tweet "Through the Looking Glass: Adventures in Social Media #GovEventsBlog"]

To make social media management easier, we need to focus on the data that really matters. This means looking beyond likes and shares and really digging into what people's social activity is telling us. If you know what you are looking for, you'll have a better chance of finding it. There is a good deal of work and analysis involved, but there is also a valuable level of insight that can be gained if you put in the time.

Here's a quick list of what to spend time looking at within your social media strategies.[Tweet "Quick list of what to spend time looking at within your social media strategies. #GovEventsBlog"] Continue reading →

Getting the Most Out of Tradeshow Investments

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Exhibiting at tradeshows involves a lot of time and money. From the upfront costs of renting the exhibit space, to travel expenses, not to mention staff time working the event -- choosing to exhibit at a tradeshow may be one of the costlier line items in a marketing budget.[Tweet "How do you know if you are getting the most out of tradeshow investments? #GovEventsBlog"]

How do you know if your investment was worth it? How do you measure and then ensure ROI? Here are a couple of tips for making the blood, sweat, tears, and dollars all worth it.

  • Know your audience. Presumably you've done your research on show attendees before committing to attending, but when planning metrics and ROI measurement take another look at the attendee profile. Do they have direct buying power or are they the influencers? If they don't have direct buying power, setting a metric around closing new sales within a month of the conference will likely be unsuccessful. If your audience is influencers, look instead to measure success by follow-up meetings or increased engagement with your brand online.
  • Be clear, stay focused. Make sure everyone staffing your booth knows who your target audience is at the show.[Tweet "Make sure everyone staffing tradeshow booth knows who target audience is. #GovEventsBlog"] Focus efforts and time on qualified leads and set clear expectations for follow-up. You may collect 200 names at the show but if no one is tasked and incentivized to follow-up, those leads will just be names on a list. You can even make it easy to start the follow-up at the show.[Tweet "Make it easy to start the follow-up at the tradeshow. #GovEventsBlog"] At a recent networking event we had a goal of setting a minimum of 15 post-show appointments. We designed a promotion where any attendee that scheduled a phone appointment with us to discuss their marketing needs for 2016 was entered into a drawing to win their choice of a $350 Visa gift card or an Apple iWatch Sport. We had a printed calendar on the table with available times for meetings so we could easily write in their info on the day/time that they chose for quick follow-up and action.
  • Create a theme. If you are taking the time to create and print new materials and design a booth or signage, make sure there is a unifying theme within all of these materials. This theme should, of course, tie into your brand but also reflect the theme of the show you are attending. This will help make your booth more relevant to attendees and will provide a focus in message for your staff.
  • Get to know your sales rep. Stay in touch with your sales rep after you sign the contract. Make sure you understand all of the benefits of your sponsorship or space buy and make sure you are using them to their fullest. As the show gets closer, check in to see if there are any other additional opportunities to promote your brand. They may be running deals on additional sponsor activities as the show gets closer, making additional exposure at the show more affordable.
  • Be Picky. Choose your booth staff carefully. At too many shows we see staff on their phones who barely look up when someone comes by their booth. Find the people that will be able and willing to carry your message and will respond to the overall goals of the event. Make sure they are qualified to talk to all sorts of potential customers on a variety of topics. Arm them with key messages as well as incentives for bringing in qualified leads.
  • Get creative. Creativity does not just apply to your theme, it can apply to how you measure success. Leads and sales are obvious metrics, but don't stop there. If your company has a social media presence or a blog, use the show to drive more followers. Set a goal around the number of new followers gained from a show. Make your social properties prominent in materials and find ways to encourage people to start following your company. Collect details on the social properties of attendees and prospects and begin following them. This interaction on social will give you touch points with these leads long after the show doors have closed.

We'd love to hear from you. How do you ensure you are getting the most out of your tradeshow investments? Let us know in the comments. If you have not decided what shows might work for you, spend some time searching the listings at GovEvents.