Between Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, tradeshow industry professionals have all of the online basics to create a successful trade show. From registration to updating attendees on the spot, social media is becoming a dominant player within the trade show industry. Social media is becoming such a big part of the industry as it was primarily conceived to make networking more personal while being fast and efficient.

In order to integrate social media into your marketing plan you must define the target market for the show. Think about who you want to target with your event. Determine the demographics, interests and behaviors of those people and make sure you’re tailoring the campaign to interest them. By gathering key insights and data from social media networks you can help yourself get a better understanding of what content sticks with attendees. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn can be utilized in different ways to promote events and share marketing information. In the Absolute marketing plan we even YouTube. Marketers can select one or two social media channels and start building a social campaign with the use of online communities.

We have found that through our Facebook sites, where a person can ‘Like’ a page and receive updates on a constant, inconspicuous basis we can convey an image to the potential client that our company is energetic, and is therefore direct and dependable. As always, we are resolute that marketers must set goals, which are more exacting than objectives. Setting goals means creating measurable benchmarks for your objectives. This allows you to measure the return on your “social media investment.”

Consider starting with Twitter – we did this at CES 2011 as it offered an opportunity for live, up-to-the-moment updates and information. This allows attendees the opportunity to keep in touch with what is going on before the show, during the show and after the show, all in 140 characters.

Including social media in the marketing of an event genuinely creates interest and awareness, which can translate into a meaningful increase in attendance and participation. However, the best part about integrating social media into an event may be the price tag. Social media is a cost-efficient way to increase awareness about your participation at a trade show, offer additional customer service, and generate interest onsite … a great tool for engagement of show attendees.