Posted by

Barry Siskind

Community manager

 

Social media holds the promise of great things for organizers, attendees and exhibitors yet with everyone jumping on the bandwagon at the same time what may have been created is nothing more than marketing clutter. Trevor Jonas is director of social media at Canada based Access Communications. In his blog he created six basic rules for incorporating social media into an exhibition plan that are worthwhile considering.

.

http://sonorachase.tumblr.com/post/20811664390/6-ways-social-media-can-bring-your-next-event-to-life

 

His six rules are:

1. Create an Online Hub for Social Content

 

One of the problems many organizers face is the sheer number of social media sites attendees can access to obtain information about the exhibition. The challenge is to create one that all interested parties have access to.

2. Hash Out the Hash tag Strategy

 

Each exhibition should create a hash tag that conforms with “the basics of good Twitter etiquette, including being unique, descriptive, and short (ten characters or less).”

 

3. Prominently Display the Discussion

The most common example of this is when organizers set up Twitter walls throughout the event.

4. Curate and Share the Best Content

This requires a dedicated person whose responsibility is to sift through the thousands of pieces of digital content and ensure that navigating through all this content is easy for attendees.

5. Surprise Attendees by Going Retro

Focusing all your attention on the digital world can have a deleterious effect of having you look similar to everyone else. Jones suggests that you should not abandon a print edition of your materials to be handed out to attendees.

6. Consider a Good Comic

Most people are visual learners so sticking with words only will lose many of them. Animations, drawing and diagrams added to your messages will go a long way towards creating content that is friendlier as well as readable.

It’s a good posting which I believe holds a lot of truths for all of us.