Social Media is a catchall phrase that everyone is bantering about. However, how does it really work on the trade show floor? It is an amazing tool that everyone should be using and we can help you to get started. First, read this very educational article from our Social Media Editor, Rocky Khamken – then send questions to [email protected] or call Rocky at 714-685-2888. You can ask a quick question, or he can work with you and quote you a price for setting up a a social media campaign. We are here to make a difference in your trade show success.
The moment I had the chance to grab a pass for CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2011 back in January, I knew I had to take it. Luckily, it was easy for me, because we have clients that attend the show, so I had a more substantial reason to go, besides engaging in my nerdy, techy side.
CES is probably my first actual trade show that I attended, and I’m glad it was. Not only is it the country’s largest tradeshow, but it targets almost every generation in our time. I’m in my late 20’s, and I assure you that my generation will definitely take the lead in where technology is going.
Because the show is so large, a few exhibitors and even CES themselves developed some interesting social media campaigns to increase awareness, attendance, and excitement. CES created places for all the halls in the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) in Foursquare, a location-based social network, where they offered special prizes (including a spiffy electronic badge for your profile) for attendees after they have checked-in to all the halls. They also had a list of various exhibitors who offered free give-aways to those esteemed individuals.
Cool part is, all of this was feeding into my Facebook profile, and all my friends noticed where I was. I got comments and texts saying “OMG you’re there!? Jealous! Take pics! What’s cool right now??” No longer did they have to wait for bloggers to write up the news- they had my feed in real-time. Now THAT’S what you call awareness and excitement.
The exhibitors themselves also ran their own campaigns. My favorite one was Sony’s Foursquare special. Check-in to their booth, show the Sony personnel you’ve checked-in, and you receive a free $25 coupon to Sony Style. Now, I’ve never really liked to buy Sony products, but not only did I get free money to spend on their products, they got me to their booth; let me just say, boy was I impressed. I spent nearly an hour just at their exhibit.
Some other exhibitors also had Twitter specials. If you mentioned them on Twitter (with the @ and their Twitter name), then you got a small free gift if you came to their booth. Something else that I see taking off in the future, is MultiTouch’s Twitter wall, which was an interactive, real-time, graphic feed of all Twitter mentions about CES2011. Here’s a video I captured while playing with it: http://youtu.be/2tuQb8pd2Bk
Granted, this is a new tool that communicators are experimenting with to connect with potential consumers (and their friends, don’t forget). Problem is that a lot of businesses are skeptical in its effectiveness because they want to see case studies and facts before they devote time to it. But why wait until everyone’s done it to jump in on the action? At that point, it’s no longer novelty, and our fast-moving generation has moved onto something else before there are actual quantified results published.
Fact of the matter is, new and different items pique interest. Walking around all the exhibits and seeing a bunch of signs, things started to look the same and I started to lose energy to focus. But when I saw things with “Tweet us @” in bold letters, a logo for a Foursquare check-in, some scavenger hunt campaign, a large QR code with some interesting one-liner enticing you to scan it, a video commercial with a social call-to-action, in all sorts of places from the hotel we were at, from the buses we took to get around, and even swag that was being passed out in front of the LVCC, it really got me excited to be a part of the action; I was actually involved with the show rather than just speculating as a normal visitor. And don’t forget, all my friends on my social networks saw what I saw.
