Make Your EXPO a Success Using Social Media

Posted: 28 Apr 2017

It’s no secret that exhibitions are fantastic marketing opportunities. But it’s important to remember that, these days, you’re not only promoting your business to the people at the event with you, but also to your online audience: your social media following.

If you’re not using social media to talk about the exhibitions your company is attending, start doing so now!

Events and exhibitions can provide you with plenty of engaging content to feed your social media activity. Think smiling pictures of your wonderful team… product demonstrations… or, if you’re feeling ambitious, perhaps a video walk-through of the event. The possibilities are (almost) endless.

Social media can be used at exhibitions to:

Drive exhibition visitors to your stand
Boost engagement with your social media content
Build your social media audience

This post will provide you with some top tips on how to effectively use social media at an exhibition, spreading the word about your brand beyond the four walls of the event!

Think about your platforms and your audience

Each social media platform serves its own purpose, and you should tailor your exhibition updates accordingly.

LinkedIn, for example, is the professional social network. So if you’re a b2b company attending a trade show or exhibition, this is an excellent platform for you to tell your online audience about what you’re up to.

LinkedIn updates should always be relevant to your business, professional and engaging. Although personal updates, such as smiley staff pictures, do work well on LinkedIn, these should be posted alongside more expert content such as industry news and reports.

Twitter feeds, on the other hand, move much faster. You should use this social platform to focus on real-time event updates and to connect with others attendees at the event.

Plan ahead

Do you have a decent camera phone which can take good quality photos? There’s little worse on social media than a photo which is too dark or blurry to see what’s going on!

Make sure your exhibition team have the equipment they need and that they know how to use it. Luckily, most phones will take high resolution pictures good enough to post on social media.

Think about whose job it will be to post on social media during the event. Do they have the logins to your company profiles? Do they know what they should be posting and how often?

If you’re planning to take photos of your exhibition stand, make sure you’ve got a stand to be proud of to show your company in the best light! We can help with this, just give us a call.

Don’t leave anything to chance. Plan ahead, perhaps even scheduling tweets before the day to ensure they go out.

Join in the conversation

Most events will have an official hashtag. To find out what it is, ask the event organisers or look on their social media profiles. Use the hashtag in all of your Twitter updates about the event.

Why? Well, it’s a way of capitalising on the “buzz” surrounding an event. If you search for a hashtag on Twitter, you will be presented with all of the tweets that have used that hashtag.

This can give you access to all of the Twitter accounts that are attending, or are interested in, the event. Connect with these people, and join in the conversation.

Furthermore, many events will utilise hashtags to stage live Q&A sessions. Make sure your voice is heard by asking a question and using the hashtag.

After all, social media should be just that: social!

What to post?

So you know you need to be posting about the exhibition on social media, but what should you post?

Here are some common examples of excellent exhibition social media updates:

Photos of your exhibition team: setting up your stand, manning your stand, talking to potential customers, or catching up with business connections. Smiling faces always work well on social media.
Why are you at the exhibition? Are you showcasing a new product? Or entering a new market? Whatever it is, shout about it on social!
Videos - maybe of your product, or a walking tour of the exhibition space. Again, most phones are good enough to record high quality videos.
Promotions or special offers - these can work wonders for driving footfall to your stand. Post your special offer, along with your stand location, and watch the crowds flock to you!

With any updates you post, always remember the following:

Make it shareable – something others will find valuable or entertaining
Use compelling calls to action – “Visit our stand!”
Always proof-read before you post – mistakes can be costly and embarrassing.

When to post?

This answer is simple: you should post about an exhibition before you go, during the event and after it has ended.

Before an event: use social media to announce the fact you’ll be attending, research the official event hashtag and connect with other attendees.

During an event: use the tips above to post updates live from the event. If somebody engages with you on social media during the event, always respond promptly!

After the event: consider using Twitter polls to gather feedback on the event which you can then publish as a separate piece of content about, or write your own post-show review.

At RAL Display, we’ve worked with many businesses from a wide range of sectors over the years. To find out more about how we can help to make your exhibition experience a success, call us on 0116 255 4640, or email sales@ral-display.co.uk.