How Social Media Can Drive Traffic to Your Trade Show
Small businesses are quickly realizing the power of social media and are incorporating it into their offline marketing activities. With a good social media plan, you can drive traffic to your booth and make prospective customers eager to do business with you.
Social media can add leverage to your small businesses to reach prospective clients and attract them to your trade booths.
Below are some social media marketing tips you can use to boost brand awareness, and make your next trade show a success.
The number of people using Twitter continues to grow every day. This makes the social network a good avenue for businesses that are looking to connect with prospective customers.
You can use Twitter to inform prospective customers of your next trade show. If the majority of your customers are using Twitter, you need a strategy to reach them to market your trade show.
Here are some tips that will help:
- Share news and information about the trade show by tweeting, using the official designated hashtag.
- Check the profile of users tweeting with the event’s hashtag, and follow those that are likely to be prospective customers. You can determine whether a person is likely to be a prospective customer from their profile information.
- Identify the show's organizers and follow them on Twitter. Retweet their messages to increase visibility of the event. The organizers may return the favor by retweeting your content, which can expose your business to more potential customers.
- Publicize your booth number by tweeting it. Also, request your followers to retweet the booth number in return for a special offer.
- Invite people to visit your booth, and encourage them to post on Twitter with the event hashtag in return for a special offer.
Facebook is the largest social network in the world with over one billion active users. If you have a business Facebook page, use it to publicize the trade show to your fans.
You can increase the visibility of your Facebook page content by interacting with fans. For example, you can ask the fans questions and reply to their messages.
When fans comment on your Facebook page, other people in their network will see the activity and may also “like” your page. This helps to improve your brand’s visibility.
Here is how you can use Facebook to drive traffic to your trade show:
- Follow and share the trade show’s Facebook page on your business page timeline.
- Improve engagement and exposure of your business by posting information about the trade show, or special events leading to the show. For instance you can post information about the best places to stay in town, some of exhibitors that will be attending, and so on.
- Use your Facebook business page to promote the trade show and your booth number at the exhibition hall.
- Start a contest, or create an “event” on Facebook, and encourage your fans to confirm attendance of the tradeshow. You can also ask fans to invite other people to the show in return for a special offer.
If your business primarily serves the B2B market, use LinkedIn to publicize the trade show event. For example, you can create a group in LinkedIn, and invite other users to the event.
Other ways of using LinkedIn to drive traffic to your trade show are listed below:
- Join relevant groups in the social network and engage in discussions related to the upcoming trade show. Alternatively, start conversations around the trade show. Offer spearheading information to establish your business as an authority in your industry.
- Share an update on LinkedIn groups informing members of upcoming events, or contests, leading to the show.
- Start building relationships with people that have expressed interest in attending the show. Befriend and tell them where to find you at the show.
- Connect with businesses that share a similar audience, and use the opportunity to start discussions about the trade show.
Related: Leveraging Social Media to Meet High Profile People
Google+
Google+ is one of the fastest growing social networks, and can be an accessible platform to build communities to publicize a trade show. You can share content related to the event on your Google+ page. This content will be indexed on Google search results.
Here is how to use Google+ at a trade show:
- Keep your feeds moving with updates and pictures about the event
- Broadcast the event live on Google Hangout
- Make the content available to prospective customers in your circles
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