How Meeting Planners can use Social Media

to Promote Themselves and their Events

MARKETING FOR MEETING PLANNERSOctober 24, 2009

A fancy way to describe the zillions of conversations that people are having online.

WHY SHOULD WE CARE?

Social media really is about tearing down the artificial walls between customers and the individuals who work at companies.

How Does Your Company Attract New Customers?

Pre-event survey

People don’t want to be shouted at by companies.Instead they want to be listened to and

to be able to have a conversation.

Think about how you can get through the noise and carve your own niche

Essentials:•Awareness of your specialty•Your reputation•Trust factor

Stand out from a crowd

•Entrepreneur•Event Industry Leader•Crazy Networker •Natural Connector•Passionate Marketer•Social Media Insider

Leverage my Strengths:

Its simple:People like working with those they admire and trust

WHAT'S A BLOG?WHAT'S A BLOG?A Business blog is a place where you can A Business blog is a place where you can post yourpost yourthoughts, observations, ideas, crow about thoughts, observations, ideas, crow about your accomplishments and tell the world your accomplishments and tell the world about your brand.about your brand.

People can subscribe to your blog and People can subscribe to your blog and comment on your post and even ask comment on your post and even ask questions.questions.

blog topics can also be found on how small biz use social media.

YOUR BLOG IS WHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE

The business behind the artistryTHE BUSINESS BEHIND THE ARTSTRY

GREAT NEWS! ALL OF YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITIES HELPS TO DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE!

• Over 43 million members in over 200 countries & territories around the world. • Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site.

A Facebook Business Page is a public profile that enables you to share your business and products with Facebook users.

• Over 250 million active users.•Affluent teens and young adults; Slightly female biased following.

• 55 million monthly visits.• Highest indexing group: 45-to-54-year-olds.

Twitter is the ultimate tool for relationship marketing and for building your business network.

• Make sure your profile to date• Connect with vendors, partners, suppliers, & customers.• Check references on people you may hire or do business

with.• Ask for recommendations and share the love by doing the

same for others.• Learn about people you would like to do business with.• Join groups that you are interested in and participate.• Become an expert.• Share your business accomplishments.• Upload presentations using Slide Share.• Review competitors’ information.• Virally market tips, ideas, articles.

Great way for people to get an impression of you and interact with your company

Used facebook to build an army of supporters

May have won cause he knew no one answered landline!

• Gain respect in what your passionate about• Meet people thru social media• Engage with people who can help you• Build your brand with your followers• Carve a niche for yourself• Drive traffic to your blog• New visitors to your website• Don’t forget to give value back!

85 % PBS and 15% QVC- Elizabeth Beskin

Twitter is first and foremost a place to connect, learn, and listen.

Small Business Twitter Frustration

Sometimes you give up without talking to anybody because the sheer numbers are overwhelming.

Amongst the business people that I discuss Twitter with there appear to be two types of discouraged small venture owners who give up on Twitter at rapid rate.

The case of the large cocktail party where you know no one

The kid in the candy store- she sees only opportunities

Terms to know

Newbie-anyone who is new to twitter and just learning.Tweet : A Short Update of what you are doing for about 140 characters.Followers : People who are subscribed to your updates or tweetsDirect Message (DM) : Sending a Direct Message to your followers.(privately)At (@) : You can use this when you are referring to someone’s tweets in your updates. You can also use this to reply publicly if the person is not following you.Re-tweet (RT)-highest form of flattery- if someone re-tweets what you tweeted-they are saying-”I like what you just said and I’d like to pass it along to my followers.Hashtag(#)- are phrases or keywords that can be used to monitor who is saying what about a particular topic. Standards for hashtags are one word (#Conference) and can be used for tweetchats to follow an entire conversation.Followfriday (#FF)-tradition of recommending good tweeters you follow to your following on fridays!URL Shortener- Since Twitter only allows 140 characters, every single character counts. URL Shortener allow you to post weblinks more efficiently and some will even offer tracking capability that you can see how many twitter followers click on the link. TinyURL, Bit.ly are some popular URL Shorteners.

Live twitter feeds during events

#oak09

For the bizbash event the hashtag was #bizbash

•Its networking in your sweats!•3 E’s-Educate ,Engage & Entertain•Be helpful•Be polite, say thank you when someone does something nice like #RT or #FF •follow those back that follow you-this is how you grow your network•Don’t make your tweets private-defeats the whole purpose of twitter•Talk about others and they’ll talk about u•How many people you follow is less important than the amount of people who you converse with

Final twitter thoughts:

•Which 1 social media site is best for your biz needs & learn that?

•start off slow

•everyday use is best to develop real relationships

• Develop your OWN brand marketing plan

• Determine what makes YOU different

• Follow your PASSION

• LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN, before you talk

• Embrace your INNER AUTHOR

• Build out your NETWORK

• Be ENTREPRENEURIAL, think outside the box

• SHARE 85% of the time, PITCH 15% of the time

• Be SELF-AWARE, not self-involved

TAKE AWAYS

Social mediaIs not a one night stand…

It’s a long term commitment !

Elizabeth Beskin@photobiz @albumboutiquewww.fifthavenuedigital.com/ www.albumboutique.com