Planning an Effective Social Media Strategyfor Your Next Event

Sarah Mitchell

Introduction

Goal for Today

Provide an introduction on what to consider when developing a social media strategy

Dispel hype and confusion

Importance of PlanningAd-hoc approach leads to:

Infrequent activity Inconsistent messaging

Firm strategy promotes: Better attendance Interactive experience for delegates Overall return on investment

Turning Point: Consumers Do Their Own Research

Online Publishers – Internet Activity IndexMonthly “Time Spent” in Internet Activity Table

Google Panda makes social media connections a bigger part of their algorithm.

Social media activity = better search engine results

Game Changer – Google Panda

What Social Media Won’t Do

It won’t close deals with sponsors

It won’t generate a delegate base if

your conference sucks Probably won’t replace your current marketing strategy.

What Social Media Can Do

Promote your conference to a wider (even global) audience

Establish your Authority

Expose negative aspects of your business

Two Things to Remember

• It’s “social” media

• You are representing your brand

Considerations before you start

What do you want to achieve?

Listening Broadcasting Engaging

You should have a content strategy,

not a social media strategy

What are you going to say?

Quality Consistency Frequency

Who’s going to own your social media activity?

Focus on your marketing strategy –not the tools

Hint: It shouldn’t be the youngsters in your organisation

How are you going to handle criticism?

It’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’

The upside of a healthy network

“Those with more years of social media experience spend more time each week conducting social media activities.”

2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

Are you prepared to invest the time required?

Percentage of Companies Using Specific Social Media Channels and/or Blogs Who Have Acquired a Customer From That Channel

020406080

100

79.3 78 7177.2 87 9275.3

88 8468 70 68

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Blogs

Usage of Tools for Business

Credit: Ignite Social Media based on Google

Twitter Users by Age

Beware of integrating tools

Recommended aids:

Tweetdeck

Sendible

How are you going to manage it?

Interesting Facts

People aged 30 to 39 years are most likely to use social media for business. (Stelzner) More women, than men,

engage in social media activities. (55% vs. 45%)

People love to look at pictures. 70% of all actions are related to photos or video. (HBS)

Women say more. Men reference links. (HBS)

Measurementsuccess/failure

Analytics Engagement Indicators

Measuring Influence

Recommendations: Before you Start

WiFi Bloggers

Graphic Designer Photographer

Pick a hashtag

Live tweet streams

Social media Q&A

players

Core team of 4 people

authentic

blog strategy

Comment

Reply to comments

go big

Multiple content / multiple platforms

ask for feedback

Attend and speak at other events

Leverage personal relationships

building networks

More than 17 major partners did email blasts including:

Social Media Examiner

MarketingProfs

Contra and more contra

power of partners

Make it easy

Pre-craft everything, leave nothing to chance

keep it simple

the results

the day after

Social Media is an asset.

Don’t shut it down when your event ends.

Be Aware

Sarah Mitchell, Director – Site Content@MiningOilGasJob

www.miningoilandgasjobs.com