Live B2B events are about starting conversations, accelerating pipeline, and continuing the post-event connections.
Here are five content-creation strategies while attending any live event or trade show.
5 Types of Social Media Content to Collect at Events
1. Take interesting videos to be used after the event
All live events offer a treasure trove of potential video! Embrace these opportunities!
- Interview clients and experts. Hold an interesting interview with someone (make sure to get the proper form to allow posting, though.) Be creative with your approach to help the sharing on blogs, YouTube, and Facebook! A few interesting ways into your interview could be “What have you seen at this event that you plan to use in next year?” “What is the most interesting thing you have learned at this event?”
- Capture product or service demonstrations. Capture a demo or a snippet of a presentation for social media sharing. Your content may be the first time this demo has taken place or connected to a trending topic. Whatever the tie-in, pass on the demo to the world!
- Records speaker sessions. Don’t take an entire video of a keynote (or any other presentation) … just take some exciting shots of one that can pass it on! Tease the world with what they are missing. And while you are at it, make sure you have an interesting title to your video post.
2. Capture interesting photos at your event
A picture is worth a thousand words, so get your camera out, take some pictures and pass them on to the social media world!
- Event signage. Take creative shots of the show logo and pass it on to the key social media contacts for the event. For instance, I recommend taking a picture of the event signage and email it to one of the social media contacts. It’s content like this that I love to love to see it posted on Facebook pages!
- Show floor pictures. Please take a picture of the most interesting thing on the showroom floor and pass it on to the event’s social media channel managers! Event organizers love to post these types of pictures to show all the non-attendees what they are missing! They might even bestow some special acknowledgment for your creativity
3. Capture quotes from key speakers
- Speaker sound bites. Everyone loves a sound bite! It’s one of the best takeaways of any session. Write them down and hashtag the keywords of your sessions. No need to tweet your quotes in real-time. Hang on to them and schedule them for between 6-8PM, the time when most retweets happen!
4. Tweet from the show floor
Put on your reporter shoes and tell the people back home what they are missing! But, if you are going do it Gangnam Style … make sure has some legs for retweeting, since the socialsphere is really only interested in relevant ‘stuff’. What should you tweet about? Here are three ideas:
- Inquire! Ask a session presenter or social media ambassador a follow-up question and look for an answer directed specifically at you! As an example, I created a blog post for a show that I will be attended that noted all the key social media attendees. Check this blog post for Twitter Handles –> How To Leverage Social Media Ambassadors & Experts At SAP TechEd Las Vegas.
- Be Ready. If you are going to tweet make sure you have your key hashtags and keywords identified. In addition to every tweet containing #TheShowHashtag make sure to include 1-2 others that have nothing to do with SAP and everything to do with the outside world (e.g., #Analaytics #Mobility)
- Share! Be a part of someone else’s moment and share their content along with your message or point of view!
5. Write a blog post to showcase the show experience
We are not all bloggers, yet we can all give it a shot! If you feel passionate about a point, then sit down and write 200 words about it on your blog or the event’s site. Follow this guidance to your word out:
- Event Site. Get signed up today and have your profile in order so you can actually contribute with a blog!
- Make It Visual. The blog posts shared the most (and found the most) have a great mix of pictures, videos, and quotes. Include all the aforementioned content you collected to get your blog on everyone’s hit parade! Leverage your collection with a smart blog post!
- Make It Memorable! Hey, who expected a blog post that tied Gangnam Style in with a live event! Make your point about one takeaway and have some fun with it! If I can do it, so can you! To be sure people find your post, take advantage of using keywords and placing the proper tags in the copy!
We all should think about how we can individually spread the word of of the events we attend so others who cannot attend can reap the benefit of relevant, humanizing and authentic content!
Reach out to me at gerry@marketingthink.com with any questions.
