Is your organization guilty of any of these mistakes? Here's why you should change course today!

Stopping Tweeting/Blogging/Facebook Immediately After the Event. The event’s over, the marketing’s over! Not so fast! Social media marketing is a commitment. You’re establishing a dialogue with participants and they expect to chat with you regularly not just in the months before the event. Letting the conversation lapse weakens your social media ROI because your online friends will lose interest in you and might now come back when you decide to get back to it.

Not Live-Tweeting/Facebook Posting from the Event. Live tweeting serves three purposes, one it lets attendees at the event know what’s going on and where and is a great on-site marketing tool. Many people will follow your networks after arriving at the show and then continue following when they go home. Two, it’s easy for people to share what’s going on at your event. Three, it lets people not in attendance see what they’re missing- and perhaps encourage then to participate next time.

Only Sharing Promotional Content. Nobody likes the person who only talks about themselves at a party. And the same is true on social media. Interact with your connections. Ask (and answer) your followers/friends questions on Facebook, retweet their relevant content and engage them in conversation in addition to sharing your promotional information.

Not Establishing a Unique Twitter Hashtag and Promoting it to Your Followers. Hashtags are a way to bring people together around a particular topic who might not otherwise be linked. They can follow the entire conversation about your event and make new connections online that lead to in-person meet-ups and relationships.

Have any other social media marketing no-no’s event planner should know? Add them here!

You’re likely familiar with the term, “media relations”. You and your PR team work with reporters to cultivate reciprocal relationships of sharing news and expert information. Strong, positive, trusting relationships take years to develop.

Now, how are your “blogger relations”? If your PR team hasn’t mentioned this term, they should. Today, good blogger relationships are as critical as good media relationships. Bloggers offer influence online and through social media reaching national and international audiences. They often hold the key to the coveted idea of “going viral”. When a blogger with a large following blogs on a particular topic, his/her readers will tweet/Facebook it or write subsequent blogs on the topic and yes, readers include traditional media reporters who write blogs of their own. Google’s spiders will also pick up on it and include it in organic searches.

So where to begin with this new public relations effort? While some reporters might disagree, I believe bloggers require even more personal attention than reporters. Most reporters will accept relevant press releases tied to their beat interspersed with one-on-one contacts via phone or email. Bloggers on the other hand, are largely “self-employed”. They don’t have an assigned beat or an editor to report to so they can pick and choose their topics more freely. Therefore, they generally do not appreciate press releases and only respond to direct, focused pitches.

1. Start by creating list of bloggers that meet your target topic separate from your media list.
2. As you would with a reporter, study their past posts to understand what they like to write about.
3. Contact them individually only when you have news that interests them.
4. When they post about you, they may ask that you reciprocate and write about them on your blog.

This takes at least as much if not more time and effort than your media relations campaign, but when your news is the hot topic online, it’s worth it!

There’s an end in sight to the endless debate on the correct spelling of all of the new electronic words. The 2011 AP Stylebook comes out this month and they’ve given away a few secrets of the contents of the new edition on Twitter.  Quickly, here’s what we know as it pertains to new technology words:

1. website, email, cellphone, smartphone are also officially one word(s).
2. e-book, e-business and e-commerce require a hyphen.

Hope this provides a little clarity when you’re writing. I’m sure AP will tweet more tidbits at @APStylebook to help us out!

Recently, our client, Potomac Valley Brick, offset the carbon emissions from its BrickStainable Awards Ceremony by purchasing carbon offsets from Enterprise Green Communities Carbon Offset Fund. The Fund helps low-income families find affordable green-housing. This got me thinking…large conferences and tradeshows are working to increase their sustainability efforts. Couldn’t they apply this practice to their events? I mean, we all know no matter how much paper is cut out of events, travel to events is hardly “green”.

I think it could be done in three ways:

1. Attendees can decide if they want to offset their own travel to the event. Show managers would simply add an option for attendees and exhibitors to purchase a carbon offset on their registration forms. Then, the total amount offset can be announced at a general session.
2. Show managers could estimate the total amount of carbon emissions for their show by averaging the number of miles participants travel and making an overall donation to cover that amount.
3. Carbon Offsets make a great new sponsorship opportunity for exhibitors—particularly one who has a strong sustainability platform—to increase visibility in this area.

Are there any other ways your show is offsetting its carbon emissions?

Kevin and I recently gave a presentation on beginning social media for business, You’ve Got To Have Friends. There’s a lot more to know than what we were able to cover in the brief session, so I wanted to expand on some Twitter and Facebook hints, tips and jargon here. Feel free to post your questions for me to answer!

Twitter

1. Handles. Your Twitter account name is known as your Twitter “handle” and is referred to with the @ symbol followed by your name. (e.g. @frostmiller)
2. Follow and Followers. You’ll have two lists- the people you follow and the people that follow you. Anyone who follows you will see your tweets.
3. Mentions. When referencing another user in your Tweet you should refer to them by their handle including the @ symbol, so that it automatically becomes a link back to them. They will see that you mentioned them in your tweet and may respond or retweet. Mentions are public for your entire follower list to see.
4. Direct Messages. To send a direct (private) message, you must both follow each other. When you DM a friend, the rest of your followers will not see it. (I don’t think this tactic is very widely used for marketing).
5. Hashtags. A hashtag is created by turning a word or topic into a link by putting a # symbol in front of it. (e.g. #electrician). Anyone who clicks on the hashtag will see all the tweets that use that hashtag, thus people can follow an entire topic or conversation no matter if they follow all of the Tweeters or not.
6. Links. Links to more information in your tweets are key, but they take up a lot of characters. Use a link shortener, like bit.ly, to shorten your link before you add it to your tweet. You’ll also be able to track how many people click on the link.

Facebook

1. It’s All Business. Begin your organization’s Facebook page by setting up a business page as opposed to a personal page. This will allow the page to be available to the public.
2. Likes/Likers. Facebook recently changed the terminology from “fan pages” to pages that you “like” so your Facebook friends will show up as people who like your page.
3. Vanity URLs. After you have 25 likers you can change the generic URL Facebook gives you to your organization name. (e.g. www.facebook.com/frostmillergroup)
4. Comments. You can now use your organization’s Facebook page in the same manner as you would your personal page and comment in your organization’s name on other organizations’ pages. See more about that in my previous blog post, All Social Networks Lead to Your Website (Part II).
5. Stats. Under Page Insights, Facebook provides you with information about your page. See how much interaction your posts are getting—whether people viewed the posts, liked them, or commented on them. You can also learn more about the demographics of your page’s friends.

Two weeks ago, I wrote All Social Networks Lead to Your Website, sparked by my feelings on the limitations of Facebook for B-to-B marketers. Well, wouldn’t you know, Facebook was listening! (Thanks Mark).  Last week, it made changes that addressed several of my concerns—allowing Facebook pages to interact as the company on other pages and view a newsfeed of the Facebook pages they like. These new tools are great and I’ve already used them on behalf of Frost Miller Group’s page by commenting on other pages. BUT. I still say your own company website is the hub of your digital marketing effort. The changes Facebook made just prove  that you have no real control over your content on other sites. Next time, the changes Facebook or any other social networking site make could hurt rather than help your digital marketing strategy. So stay true to your hub and spoke model and continue to make your website content interesting, relevant and dynamic, and draw your audience to it through social networks.

I read this blog post—Five Reasons Why Facebook will Never Replace Your Website—and I can’t agree more. I shudder when people ask why they still need a website. In addition to all the good points, Maggie McGary makes, I would add the following thoughts for B-to-B companies. When it comes to connecting with customers who happen to be other businesses, things get a little challenging. Facebook doesn’t let you use your fan page like a personal page and interact with other businesses’ fan pages. Sure, you say, those businesses are run by people who can like your fan page and vice versa. True, but many people use Facebook for personal use only and don’t want to make connections for their businesses there. Plus, what if those people leave? You still want a connection with the business.

Still, a company Facebook fan page has many, many benefits and I do recommend B-to-B companies invest in them in conjunction with other social networks. It’s a great outlet for showing off your products and services and sharing your expertise and your industry’s news and trends.

Rather than replacing your website, however, your Facebook page (and Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, etc) should all lead back to your website in a Hub and Spoke model. Your website—where you have complete control and gain SEO credit from search engines in your business name—should contain the most up-to-date and dynamic content. The content on your Facebook page should entice people to visit your site.

Did you notice how the term Web 2.0 mysteriously vanished from our vocabulary in 2010? On this last business day of the year, that leads me to ponder, what will go by the wayside in 2011? It’ll be something that we think we can’t live without for sure. Will it be blogging? Apps? 3-D TV? Let us know what you think is on it’s way out along with 2010!

Last night, as Kevin and I followed a marching band from the IAEE opening general session to the opening night reception a few blocks away; we were handed beads, Hurricanes and doused with confetti. While not every city is known as a party city like New Orleans, every city does have its own characteristics it’s known for. Tradeshow organizers should think about the unique aspects of their destination city and work to incorporate little signs of the city into their events. How about a cheesesteak cook-off (with samples for the crowd) at a closing session in Philadelphia, or a presidential photo opportunity with Lincoln or Washington at the exhibit hall in Washington, DC, or a coffee-tasting break in Seattle? And CVBs (Convention and Visitor Bureaus) should be helping organizers connect with restaurant and entertainment services that can provide city-specific services. Little touches of creativity not only keep attendees engaged in your event while still experiencing the destination, but also help with marketing. Memorable moments will keep current attendees coming back and generate social media buzz that will create interest among potential future attendees.

Remember that part of a tradeshow is the show! Make it interesting! Keep attendees guessing! They’ll welcome it after action-packed days learning in educational sessions and walking the exhibit hall floor!