Inspiration Hub

Despite the rise of Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, even in 2018, Facebook remains king when it comes to event marketing. In EventMB’s State of the Events Industry Survey 2018, nearly three-quarters — 73.3 per cent — of planners said social media is their most important tool for marketing their events, while 88.1 per cent said they’re active on Facebook, as they should be. Facebook is by far the largest social network, with 2.20 billion active users as of March 2018. That’s nearly a third of the world’s population!

Event professionals have a unique goal on LinkedIn. You use the site to network and scope out your next gig, but LinkedIn is also where many clients or sponsors will turn to get a sense of your work before working with you. So how can you put the best foot forward to all of these audiences in your LinkedIn profile?

We all know demos are a wonderful way to get attention at a trade show and showcase your products. However, sometimes it is not practical to bring your products to the show or maybe they are not easy to demo. Or, perhaps, you just can’t bring everything you would like to showcase. What do you do then? Here are some ideas on how you can use technology to give your products or services the stopping power they deserve.

92% of consumers trust an influencer more than an advertisement or traditional celebrity endorsement. So how can you work with influencers to sell more tickets to your event? Enter influencer marketing: using influential individuals to promote events. But if you’re only looking at influencers with follower counts in the millions, the price may be more than your event’s entire marketing budget.

Tech continues to play a more significant role in events, from both a planning and experiential perspective. Excitingly, virtual attendance at events is not only possible but is now becoming a serious contender in the event world. We’ve reached the point of experiencing an event without actually having to be there in person.

Social media isn’t just a good place to promote your conference — it’s an essential part of the conference marketer’s playbook. Consider this: nearly 25% of traffic to event registration pages comes from social networks, and people who register after hearing about your event on social media are 3X more likely to share it with others. To increase the amount of people who learn about your conference and increase attendance, however, you need more than a presence on social media — you need a strategy.

Think artificial intelligence, or AI, will be yet another buzzword to add to the list? Think again. In a recent survey of over 800 conference and corporate event creators, an overwhelming majority of event professionals (88%) said they’ll rely on AI this year. That’s a 107% increase from their reported usage in 2017 (42%). What changed? From smartphones to smart speakers, virtual assistants, like Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant have become a part of our daily lives.

 “We’re living in a period of unprecedented change and unprecedented opportunity,” said venture capitalist Mary Meeker, as she unveiled her annual Internet Trends report at the technology event 2018 Code Conference, held May 29–31 in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The scope of change was evident in the Code Conference’s expanded focus this year, which for the first time was not strictly for people who run tech companies, but also for those who run companies grappling with technological change — and tech companies grappling with government, according to the Code Conference website.

Technology has taken center stage at many meetings. Smart badges, augmented and virtual reality and facial recognition are popping up at events regularly. Think about it—if you carry a smartphone in your pocket, you’re already a part of the tech world. But more innovations are on the way. In a recent Smart Meetings webinar titled The Internet of Things and Its Impact on Exhibitions and Events, Corbin Ball, CSP, CMP, DES and MS, spoke about IoT—”everyday objects featuring network connectivity that allow users to send and receive data.” Here are some of the takeaways.

It’s time to get social! With a wide range of Facebook features, it’s not a shock to see that the platform has become a favourite amongst event professionals.

Now that digital personal assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Home have begun to fully infiltrate the everyday life of so many potential attendees, is it any wonder that their stripped-down cousin, the chatbot, is starting to gain inroads in events? Not really, said Brandt Krueger, owner of Event Technology Consulting and an instructor at the Event Leadership Institute, during a recent MeetingsNet webinar. Krueger, who has seen his own home become overrun with personal assistants—“They’re really quite invasive as a species”—did have some initial hesitation about event chatbots, but he now finds himself bullish on the technology.

We’re inundated with emails — in the time it took you to open this article, you probably received a few new messages. But according to Miguel Neves, CMP, head chef at digital engagement firm Social Media Chefs, that’s all about to change.

Gamification is an exploding trend as more planners and organisers recognise how guest engagement factors into a lively and well-received event. Statistics also reveal more attendees actually prefer some sort of gamification experience. Furthermore, 40% of corporations indicated they would employ some form of gamification for improving business operations.

In 2016, Gartner analysts predicted that by 2020 the average person will have more conversations with bots than with their spouse. While that is a depressing thought, there is no doubt that chatbots are popping up everywhere, including hotels and events. 

Some innovations can be lifesaving (hello dishwashers! Also, heart transplants, airbags, and carbon monoxide detectors) so advances in technology are always exciting. But “exciting” does not always mean “useful,” and for meeting planners there is a fine balance between upgrading an event and wasting resources on a fad. 

Micro-influencers have smaller, more niche followings and a much deeper sense of connection with their audience. They engage in buying conversations 22.2 times more often than the average consumer. Conversations they could be having about attending and recommending your event.

Marketing a conference means being everywhere at once. You want the professional world abuzz with anticipation, your event’s name popping up everywhere they turn. That sort of cultural infiltration takes more than basic social and web presence. Especially if you’re still building your conference brand, you have to infuse your marketing with extra oomph.

Here are 10 conference marketing tips to help stand out from the slew of conferences all around you this year:

Everyone uses social media now for marketing events. But what about the feedback you get from attendees during an event? People post about everything—and that includes how they are enjoying the venue, food, customer service and so on. Heed these six tips to stay on top of your social media throughout the day.

It’s easy to get caught up in the details of an event and neglect certain tasks. One aspect of planning that requires a prominent place on your to-do list is social media marketing. But strategic use of online platforms does not have to be a full-time job. From hashtags to Snapchat, here are some tips for tagging all the bases at your next brilliant production.

Delivering memorable and outstanding experiences is an event professional’s overarching goal. What may challenge this goal is the rise of personal devices and continuous connectivity especially for many traditional companies which may find themselves at odds with the modern digital era. However the booming wave of digitization is a great opportunity in the hands of event professionals who strive for interaction, engagement and participation.

Long before social media, event marketers would pay for celebrities to promote their events and add credibility. As social media channels continue to gain popularity, consumers are more wary of what they believe when it comes to brand messaging. 92% of them trust an influencer more than an advertisement or traditional celebrity endorsement.

User-generated content (UGC) is attracting a lot of attention in marketing circles around the world. And it’s not surprising when you consider its many advantages. We know people trust other people, which is why peer-to-peer review sites like TripAdvisor and Foursquare have flourished in recent years. The same is true of social media. In fact, a recent study shows 85% of consumers find UGC more influential than brand-created content.