Social media is a communication channel, and a great tool for you to use in executing your marketing plan; especially at your next trade show.

Trade shows are used for the face-to-face marketing, networking, and selling and ultimately aim to build and/or solidify relationships.  What about before and after the show?  Along with traditional marketing techniques, begin thinking of how to incorporate social media tools to augment your tried and true pre-show promotion and post-show follow-up strategies.  These can work regardless if your company is B2C or B2B.  Trade show booth staffers may be using these tools everyday to network with customers, so let’s tap into social media to continue that conversation.

The wisdom of the 4 B’s

The 4 B’s is a practice that can be used by anyone and applies to all types of social media.  Mike Yoder, a dear friend and founder of the method, swears by it – and I humbly agree!  Here are some ideas to link the “Be’s” with the tools:

Be Interesting (Before the show)

What sets your company apart from the competition?  What’s your show theme or the critical brand message you’re trying to introduce?  How can you engage clients to get the message and want to connect with you?

Try participating in BoothTag at your next trade show and/or provide a QR code that links to a landing page of a contest instead of your website.  Take this idea, and spread your message before the show, using both traditional methods (email and snail mail) and non-traditional (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc).  Keep it simple, interesting, and have a little fun with it, but…

Be Relevant (at the show)

Not everyone buys into gamification and contests in a trade show exhibit, because it doesn’t always bring qualified leads.  However, when done correctly, you can create a contest that is relevant to your brand, theme and other trade show initiatives, which will result in attendee sign-ups that become qualified leads.

For example, say you’re a software integration firm at a trade show offering attendees a free assessment of their systems software, but since this is a common industry practice many people may not be enticed by this offer. However, create a compelling message and offer a free assessment via a fun contest, coupled with a favorable chance to win an iPad, and voila!! …you’ve now lowered engagement barriers, spawned brand/message recognition and paved the way to more qualified leads.

Keep in mind that a perfect “give-away” promotion is tied to a business need and a personal interest, and done through a positive, memorable experience.

Be Helpful (during and after the show)

This point reminds me of a TEDx presentation by Angela Maiers called, “You Matter.” The message here is that there is a power and a genius in act of caring for others.  Demonstrate that you get this and you aren’t just processing people through your booth.  Use your social media tools to thank them for spending time with you and to keep the spark you started at the show going long after it.

A person overlooked, a need unacknowledged, or a promise simply forgotten are all missed opportunities that could potentially create a negative impression on your brand and on you as a person. The Internet through social media has created a networked mobile society, a culture of immediacy, and an expectation of expedited follow up.  Fortunately, social media tools also provide the opportunity for you to respond accordingly and to continue the dialog with your new contacts over networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Be Yourself (always)

Self-explanatory, but let’s go over a couple main points. The beauty of social media is that it is a more informal communications medium where you can be yourself, just as you might at a cocktail party. It is not a promotional platform or dynamic infomercial.  It is about listening, sharing and caring.  Channel your inner-self and empathize with your clients and followers and you may be surprised how influential and powerful you really are.

Again, social media is a communication channel and a tool for marketing.  However, as with all communication channels, your success is wholly dependent on the quality of the dialog and the skillful use of the tools available.

In addition to using social media, enhance your trade show strategy by reading the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This 32-page book reaveals the most effective strategies and tactics exhibitors are using to boost their results and stretch their budgets.  Click here to request your free copy. 

According to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), 56% of companies hold some kind of education-based customer or prospect event during the year. We all know that trade show exhibits are a treasure trove of content marketing opportunities, but some event marketers forget or fail to capture content during the event. Follow these strategies, and you’ll be in the enviable position of being able to create great trade show marketing materials — all through the year.

Shoot Photo & Video Footage While On-Site

Cover your booth as though it were a news story, electronic news gathering style. You can hire a professional or assign the task to someone on your staff. Getting great footage is an achievable goal, even if you’re not a professional camera operator. Perform some Internet research on how to shoot great photos and video.  Develop your shot list before you leave for the airport so you’re prepared to execute on-site.

Here are some suggested shots. Be sure your company logo, branding and signage is visible in every shot possible.

• “Establishing shot” of the venue from the outside
• The buzz, the crowds, the show floor from above
• Customer testimonials or interviews
• Product demonstrations
• People interacting and conversing inside your booth
• Beauty shots of your trade show booth

Next, Edit Your Video Clips

If you’re a do-it-yourself-er, the magic of Apple is all you need. With photos and HD video footage shot with an iPhone and edited in iMovie, you can be an independent filmmaker in no time. You can add titles, incorporate photos or images, and seamlessly edit footage from your event to create a great looking promotional or educational video.

Upload to the Internet

Once your video is produced, you’ll want to upload the file to your favorite social media sites (and of course, your website.)  Don’t be stingy, upload everywhere — like Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Veoh and Blip.tv to name a few.

Share, Promote, Extend, Leverage

Your video is online. Let the games begin!

• Publish a press release….link to your video
• Write a blog post….link to your video
• Post status updates on LinkedIn and Facebook….link to your video
• Send an email or newsletter to your database….link to your video
• Apply a QR code to business cards and trade show graphics….link to your video
• Distribute the link to your sales team to share with prospects & customers

The Bottom Line

The name of the game is to keep your audience engaged. Creating fast-moving, interesting content is a great way to extend your event, post after post after post.

Find more effective strategies used by exhibitors by reading the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This 32-page guide has almost 100 tips for trade show marketers to boost their results and stretch their budgets.  Click here to request your free copy.

When Skyline recently exhibited at EXHIBITOR2012, we gave mini-seminars in our trade show booth to attendees at the show.  By far the most popular topic was “12 Tips About Social Media for Trade Shows.”

The idea was to communicate in just 10 minutes, 12 actionable tactics exhibitors could use on the most popular social media networks to get more people into their trade show displays.  Not a lot of strategy; just quick, usable ideas.

I covered just the most popular networks:  Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs.  Here we go:

Twitter:

1. Tweet Reasons To Visit Your Booth:  A lot of markers are reluctant to use Twitter because they simply don’t know what messages to send.  But with nearly 500 million accounts and about 9% of the U.S. population on Twitter every day, it’s worth using!  So here’s a great start: Tweet reasons to visit your booth that you are already sharing via email, direct mail, ads, and the phone.  Tell attendees all the great things you will be offering in your booth, such as show specials, giveaways, contests, new products, special offers, and the like.  Those are messages attendees will want to hear, and will get them interested in visiting you in your booth.  You can send a few messages a week for the month or two leading up to the show.
2. Pre-Schedule Tweets:  Now that you’ve got a lot to say, you don’t want to be tied to your desk or have to remember to go back to Twitter once a day or two to send out those messages.  Fortunately, you don’t have to remember.  There are free, web-based programs such as Hootsuite.com or Tweetdeck.com that allow you to to pre-schedule your tweets, even down to the five minutes you want.  For our Exhibitor 2012 event, we pre-scheduled 46 tweets starting almost 2 months before the show.  Just remember to adjust for the time difference between your location (where you set up the account) and the local time at the show.
3. Learn the Hashtag (#) for Your Shows:  One of the reasons people are reluctant to use Twitter is that Twitter has its own seemingly secret code.  One of the most important codes is the hashtag.  That’s when a person on Twitter includes a pound sign or hash symbol “#” directly in front of a word.  That turns that word into a hyperlink that lets a viewer click and see all the recent messages with that same hashtag.  So by including the hashtag of the event you are exhibiting at (for us it was #exhibitor2012) you are more likely to be seen by potential attendees.  Find the hashtag by going to your shows’ website, or by asking them directly.

Facebook:

4. Not Just Personal, Also for Business:  For many people, Facebook is their personal place for social media.  They want to use it to keep in touch with high school and college friends, not to interact with businesses.  However, Facebook is now so big that businesses – even B2B businesses — can no longer resist using it.  Facebook has 800 million users, which would make it the 3^rd largest country by population.  Facebook daily traffic and activity today is equivalent to all the volume of the entire internet in 2004.  So businesses are setting up pages for their businesses.  For example, General Electric has nearly a quarter of a million friends for their Facebook page!  You don’t have to promote your company from your personal account.  Just set up a business page and start engaging with your clients on a more personal level – no writing like a press release!
5. Post Photos and Videos from Your Trade Shows:  And what can you post on your business Facebook page?  As a trade show exhibitor, you can post photos and videos from your booth.  Show what new things you introduced.  Share with your company’s friends who couldn’t go to the show the action they missed out on.  It’s really easy to do with a smart phone!  Just test it out before the show – take a picture of your company’s building to try it out.  Even better: give your attendees a reason to have their picture taken in your booth, with a fun banner stand backdrop or a celebrity, and make it easy for them to share that picture on their own Facebook account.
6. Announce News from the Show for Friends that Couldn’t Come:  Did you announce a new strategic alliance with a partner?  Introduce a new product?  Whatever news you shared at the show in your booth, you can also post to your friends on Facebook.

YouTube

7. Include Company & Show Name In Video Title:  Guess what – YouTube is actually the second-most popular search engine in the world!  And people don’t just search on Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga, they also search on just about anything, including the name of the show they will exhibit at.  So include in video title the show name, plus your company name – and maybe even your booth number.
8. Great for Pre-Show and Post-Show Promotions:  YouTube is a great place to get your story across with all the power of video and without the cost of running an ad on a network.  For pre-show promotions, load up the video with all the great reasons to visit your trade show booth (see point #1 about Twitter).  You can also record and produce a video showing all the action you had in your booth – new products, demonstrations, happy client interviews – and post that to YouTube soon after the show.  Then email links to people, or embed the video on your website or blog, or get found by searchers by including the show name and great keywords in the video title.
9. YouTube Videos Not as Formal:  In days gone by, almost all corporate videos required a high-end production crew and a very button-down presentation format.  Now, because of the changing expectations of social media, it’s much more about a human connection than a big production.  So you don’t need to break the bank to make a video, and you don’t need everyone wearing suits, either.  Just relax and speak from the heart on why attendees will benefit by visiting your booth.

Blogs

10. Blog About Your Exhibiting – Find Out Who or Start One:  If you think you are not interacting with social media, you may be surprised to find out that you have been without knowing it – via blogs.  About half the websites on the Internet are created with blogging software.  Blogs are so much easier to set up than traditional websites, and virtually free.  Find who blogs for your company, and give them info about your events – they will want to publish great content like your event news.  Or start your own blog about what your company is doing at events.  Your blog can serve as a home base for each show’s promotional activity.  It can also boost your SEO results by how you set up its blog, which keywords you use, and the links you build.
11. Industry Bloggers = New Press, Public Relations:  If you could find a copy of your main industry trade magazine from 15 years ago, you’d be surprised by how much thicker it was back then.  Magazine ads were the main way to reach your industry audience, until the Internet and Google made online marketing more effective and took revenue away from magazines.  That also reduced the number of journalists magazines could afford to employ.  But the Internet revolution made blogs possible at a low, low cost, so bloggers have stepped in to replace magazine writers.  You can find these bloggers by going to http://www.google.com/blogsearch and searching on the names of the trade shows you exhibit at.  These are the people you want to build relationships, much like your (remaining) industry press.
12. Blog Post Show: Recap Trends, New Products:  Reach out to your new found blogger friends before the show, and give them the information they need so they write about you after the show.  Get them an interview with your company CEO or though leaders, to share your views about industry trends.  Set up an appointment to demonstrate your new products introduced at the show, so they may include it in their recap about new products on their blog.

So there you have it – 12 tips you can use today to leverage the amazing reach of social media to drive more people to your trade show booth.

What social media tactics have you found that work well for your trade show marketing?  Let us know in the comments box below.

To learn more about how social media and many other factors are helping the marketers of today, read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  Click here to get your free copy of the 32-page book that reveals exhibitors’ most effective strategies in 7 key ares of trade show marketing. 

Success at a trade show requires finding a way to capture the attention of the largest number of attendees.  Nothing can catch the eye like light, sound and motion.  If you want to make the most of your trade show opportunity you need to tap into the technology available.  Here are some effective options that clients often consider:

1. Pre-Show Technology.  Before you even set up your trade show booth you will encounter technology options offered by the trade show organization.  Investigate what’s available and take full advantage of those items that can maximize your effectiveness.  Shows typically offer exhibitors with sponsorship opportunities on their web site, email lists &  addresses of attendees, and contact / meeting technology that allows the attendees to look at all the business profiles and contact exhibitors  in advance for appointments.

2. Interactive Activities.  It’s a lot more fun to touch and feel something than to passively observe a product in action.  If you want your trade show exhibit to be the show stopper you can use interactive technology to give your prospects an opportunity to be entertained and informed.  The type of device you use will vary according to your product line.  Touch screens allow companies to gain attendees interaction and help them to quality or disqualify them as a potential customer.  Games can be incorporated in a number of ways, such as a prize game like slot machines, Plinko boards, Toss-N-Win games among others, but make sure the game is tied to your product offering.

 3. Video Loops.  An attention getting video will use vivid imagery, music, color and movement.  The video should eye-catching while being concise and to the point.  Make sure the material is up-to-date — don’t use one from last year that has out-of-date products featured.  Many trade show exhibits can hold monitors of all sizes, even portable displays, like the Skyline Mirage with Monitor Mount or Stratus Table Workstation.

4. DVDs and Flash drives.  After you draw the viewers into your trade show exhibit you need to have something more than a key chain to offer qualified prospects.  Be prepared to follow-up your conversation with promise to mail or FedEx a DVDs or flash drives that contain relevant product presentations to give to anyone who shows more than a passing interest.  The combination of video or an interactive digital piece is a complimentary marketing tool to printed materials such as brochures.

5. Social Media.  A newer addition to the trade show technology toolbox, social media, can be a cost effective marketing medium.  Many people use smart phones — sites like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare allow exhibitors and attendees connect before, during and after trade shows.  Post updates about your trade show exhibit & show experience on your Facebook Fan Page.  Follow Twitter hash tags for the show to find & interact with attendees.  Create a check-in for your booth space for attendees to create an interactive experience.

6. iPads & Tablets.  While these items are also new trade show technology additions, they can be added to your booth experience as more than just a giveaway.  Create an app for attendees to download on their tablets.  Use iPads to demo your web site or share product photos.  Create a testimonial video with a satisfied customer, which you can share during a conversation.  Take notes and develop a digital lead card for booth staffers.

Learn about more challenges and opportunities with technology that face you and your peers at trade shows  by reading The Evolving Role of Exhibit Marketers white paper.  To request your free copy, click here.  

The use of video for trade show promotions has become increasingly popular. Recently I met with Dave Anderson, Principal of Stream Three Creative an Indianapolis video production firm that assists in clients taking advantage of the power of video.

In this segment we discuss some of the benefits of using video in your trade show display.  We’ll discuss everything from the power of video as a relationship-building tool to engagement and budget.

In this segment with Dave Anderson, Principal of Stream Three Creative. Dave and I discuss using video on the trade show floor in your display. We cover topics such as taping promo’s before the show, collateral after the show and live streaming.

Video continues to increase in popularity. We’ve had clients want to integrate video more often into their trade show booths, which is why Skyline has new products like the DesignView Presentation System, the Large Monitor Station and Mirage Monitor Mount, to give them multiple ways to present video.

I hope you found this helpful if you were planning on using video in your trade show booth – and perhaps inspired you to consider video if you were not planning it before!

Trade show marketers are using more technology and social media as part of their jobs. Find out more in The Evolving Role of Exhibit Marketers, a detailed research report that shares how other exhibitors have adjusted to changes in the economy, their companies, and their jobs. Click here to request your free copy.

LinkedIn, especially when combined with Twitter, offers a way to connect with people before, during and after trade shows.

When you plan to attend or exhibit at a trade show, one of the first things you can do is determine whether there is a Twitter hashtag for the event.  Hopefully event organizers have had the foresight to designate a short and unique hashtag. Sometimes there will be multiple hashtags circulating around a single event.  You can use Twitter Search to find these hashtags.

When you discover the hashtag for a show, you can start monitoring tweets which include the tag.  Then you can also start following people who are using the hashtag.  It’s surprising how many brands are engaged in social media but do not bother to reciprocate interest by following an individual who is following the company’s Twitter stream. There are several free Twitter tools that will allow you to set up your Twitter account to auto-follow people who follow your brand. However, when you are targeting a specific event such as a trade show for the purpose of connecting with them at the show, when you find new people to follow, you should always take a moment to look at their Twitter bio.  Limited to 160 characters, Twitter bios are short and sweet and can be read in a few seconds.

Using LinkedIn Events to find trade show prospects

Okay, so how does LinkedIn fit into this, you’re asking?  Well, the same diligence and individual attention comes into play in maximizing your presence at a trade show through LinkedIn.  One of the most efficient ways to use LinkedIn for trade shows is through the Events feature. Go to the “More” drop down menu, find Events.  Then type in the event name or keywords and look for the particular event that corresponds to the date/name of the show you are interested in.

As an example, here is the resulting event on a search for CES (the Consumer Electronics Show).  Be sure to RSVP for the show yourself, as exhibitor or attendee.

Event listings on LinkedIn are a valuable way to know in advance who will be attending a show—information that is generally not available from most trade show organizers.  For serious connecting, this list of who has RSVP’d is an excellent way to cultivate relationships in advance of a show, to plan 1-on-1 meetings with potential clients, partners, vendors and existing accounts at the trade show.

Building relationships, one LinkedIn member at a time

You can begin to build a relationship with LinkedIn members who will be attending a show by following them on Twitter (most LinkedIn members who actively tweet include a link to their Twitter account on their LinkedIn profile).  Ideally, you will take the time to click through on any URL included in their LinkedIn or Twitter bio, and see if user has a blog you can connect with.  You can also invite them through Twitter to come to your booth by sending a Tweet using the “@twittername” message feature in Twitter.  Of course, you should have an inviting offer, or it’s just spamming.  Note, you will probably want to look carefully at those who RSVP to differentiate those who are attending, rather than exhibiting, or you may just end up mostly inviting your competition!

Sometimes an event will have an entire LinkedIn Group dedicated to the show.  To find these Groups, go to the main Search bar, select “Groups” under the drop down arrow, and type in the conference name.  These pages are opportunities to post valuable, relationship-building updates such learning sessions that the company may be sponsoring at the event or links to blog entries containing content that is meaningful and relevant to event attendees).

If you are interested in meeting with influential decision-makers onsite at a show or thought leaders at a conference, you can ask to connect with specific individuals through LinkedIn.  As a member of a shared Group on LinkedIn, go to Members, and search by title or proximity to a geographic location of interest, such as your company’s home region or nearby the trade show city.  Through your shared membership in a group, you will be able to ask to connect with them directly.  Obviously aggressive, self-serving sales pitches will not be appreciated, but honestly and mutually beneficial connections can be forged this way, founded on shared interests and a business development perspective.

Depending on the size of the show, you may want to break your pre-show activity into several sessions over several days, or enlist a few other people, like an administrative assistant, or a sales rep, who can help discovering event attendees, following them on Twitter, and posting to groups, and even researching emails for targeted pre-show email campaigns.

Following a conference or trade show, by promptly following up with solid leads or future partners with invitations to connect on LinkedIn, while referencing particulars of a conversation and how your linking can be beneficial, can set you apart from other acquaintances at a show and lead to ongoing business relationships.

Investing in B2B relationships

Is this time consuming?  Yes, but after all, even in B2B, it’s the people who make decisions about who they want to do business with.  If you are selling a product under $20, it probably doesn’t make sense to put all this due diligence into each Twitter connection, but if your product has anything to do with relationship building and answering individual pain points, it’s worth the effort.

A final note, as with any social media activity, it’s important to assess candidly whether contact is appropriate and welcome, and to approach potential connections and leads with respect, as well as abide by both written and common sense guidelines about contact.

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on Twitter, http://twitter.com/AnnieintheSun, sharing more marketing ideas, sites, and tips.

Social media is just one of the ways a marketer’s role is changing. To find out more, click here to request your free copy of The Evolving Role of Exhibit Marketers, a 36 page guide that examines how marketers adapt to today’s changes.

Featured image “Linkedin Chocolates” borrowed from Nan Palmero.  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nanpalmero/4278432941/

Skyline hosted webinars called “Social Media for Trade Show Promotions” on June 15th and 16th, 2011.   Thank you so much for your participation and your questions about the various main social media sites, and how to leverage them to get more people to your trade show booth.

As promised, here is the pdf of the actual presentation content.  (If the pdf viewer is not loading on your browser, you can go to the actual pdf file by copying and pasting this URL into your browser window: skyline.com/images/Social-Media-for-Trade-Show-Promotions-by-Skyline-Exhibits.pdf

During the seminar we offered several items.  Click to request your copies:

• The Evolving Role of Exhibit Marketers White Paper
• What’s Working In Exhibiting White Paper
• Info on Skyline’s portable displays and modular inline exhibits
• Info on Skyline’s custom modular island exhibits

We also mentioned three blog posts that you may find useful:

• YouTube Videos for Trade Show Promotions
• Overcoming The 3 Biggest Hurdles To Using Twitter
• How To Write Your Social Media Plan In 8 Steps

Thanks again for attending!

Correction — We gave the wrong URL in our presentation about how to find the directory for conference groups in LinkedIn.  It’s actually www.linkedin.com/groupsDirectory with a capital “D.”  Also, you have to be logged into your LinkedIn account to see the searchable directory.  Sorry for the confusion!

I had the chance to speak at the Skyline of Ohio Exhibitor Exchange to roughly 120 event marketers who were looking for ways to leverage technology in their trade show marketing strategies.  Here are some nuggets that you can start implementing today.

1. Pick The Right Team – Make sure to select people from your company that enjoy using social media tools.  You will need to choose people as booth staff who are comfortable using real-time tools (like Twitter) to follow show hashtags and connect with other attendees.  Also remember that you will want someone as a remote admin to help you pull everything together and stay engaged with social networks and pages while you are busy on the floor.

2. Tune Into the Proper Stations – It’s important to do your homework and find the official social stations that the show will be using. Oftentimes, these stations can be found on Twitter hashtags, open Facebook Groups and Pages.  Make it a point to set up and staff a listening practice for each of the different show channels.

3. Collect Your Audience – With social media as a tool base, we all have the power to be curators of humans.  Find the humans that are relevant to your exhibiting strategy, and use things like Facebook Groups and Pages, LinkedIn Groups or even group texting sites to collect them in one spot making it easier to stay in constant communication at your event.

4. Choose the Right Weapons - A big part of creating media is choosing the right tools.  Just about everyone is familiar with the popular Flip Video cameras, but there’s a whole world of equipment beyond the Flip that can make a big difference in your content production abilities for photo and video.  Go here to see the weapons list for Team Cbus to get some ideas.

5. Build Your Stage – If your trade show efforts – booth, staff and sponsorships – are part of a brand production, then your production needs an online stage.  Blogs make a great stage for showing and sharing content, whereas networks like Facebook are excellent at building dialog within a community.  The question is this: what does your company already have in place that you can use in your trade show efforts?

6. Tell Interesting Stories – Know what? Your product and services are just not that interesting.  Sorry.  Even in an environment like a trade show (that’s designed to market your stuff), simply marketing your stuff will not break through the noise on social media.  When using a blog or Facebook to build an audience for your show, try introducing your people and sharing information about them. You’d be surprised what a little introduction will do in terms of building new relationships.

7. Quit Selling Stuff - Really.  Please quit trying to sell your stuff on social media sites. I promise, we will tune you out completely.  You know as well as I do that a trade show is not really the place to sell your stuff either.  Trade shows and social media are about building relationships. Sales happen in boardrooms and on the phones.  Take that to heart.

8. Buy More Face Time – The web has been inhabited by human beings, and markets are now conversations.  Use social media to find interesting people who might also make good customers for your business.  Then invite them to meet you IRL (in real life).  You might be surprised just how easy it is to make new friends when you’ve spent some time tweeting or Facebooking with them first.

9. Always Be Mobile – Laptops are a pain in the butt in a trade show booth. Yes, there are things we need them for, but using social media at trade shows is much more friendly on a mobile device.  Make sure that your team first has internet-ready smartphones or tablets that are set up with the right applications for social media use.  You might even want apps that mirror what’s on your desktop. HootSuite, TweetDeck and Seesmic are good for that.

10. Don’t Be a Robot – While automating content distribution on social networks, so that it’s spread evenly over the day is a good practice, but be sparing with using automation at trade shows.  Trade shows are live events with things happening on the floor in real time.  To be the most relevant, pay attention to your surroundings and share content (both your own and that of other exhibitors) as it happens on the floor.

Steal My Content – Go ahead.  Use my original slide presentation about this to present to your boss.  Use it online wherever you want.  The only thing I ask in return is that you drop a link back to this post if you use it. And if you’d like to hire me to come in for a brainstorm or present to your team on how you can use social media at your next trade show, you can contact me HERE.

Learning Social Media is just one of the new responsibilities added to Exhibit Marketer’s day job.  Discover more in the new white paper, The Evolving Role Of Exhibit Marketers, by clicking here now.

Skyline hosted webinars called “Social Media for Trade Show Promotions” on February 9th and 10th, 2011.   Thank you so much for your participation and your questions about the various main social media sites, and how to leverage them to get more people to your trade show booth.

As promised, here is the pdf of the actual presentation content.  (If the pdf viewer is not loading on your browser, you can go to the actual pdf file by copying and pasting this URL into your browser window: skyline.com/images/Social-Media-for-Trade-Show-Promotions-by-Skyline-Exhibits.pdf

During the seminar we offered several items.  Click to request your copies:

• The Evolving Role of Exhibit Marketers White Paper
• What’s Working In Exhibiting White Paper
• Info on Skyline’s portable displays and modular inline exhibits
• Info on Skyline’s custom modular island exhibits

We also mentioned three blog posts that you may find usefull:

YouTube Videos for Trade Show Promotions

Overcoming The 3 Biggest Hurdles To Using Twitter

How To Write Your Social Media Plan In 8 Steps

Thanks again for attending!

If a picture tells a thousand words, then with 30 frames a second, a 1-minute YouTube video can tell 108,000 words!

No wonder marketers have harnessed the power of video to entice people to visit their trade show booths.

Let’s look at 10 examples of good pre-show, at-show, and post-show promotions posted on YouTube.  We’ll see what they include in their videos to drive more booth traffic, and finish with some suggestions on other ways you can drive more viewers to your trade show promotional videos.

PRE-SHOW PROMO VIDEOS

These 5 videos were posted before the show date to show people why they should visit the exhibitor’s booth.  You can click on the video pictures to launch the videos.

Ingersoll Rand Pre-Show Promo for PowerGen Show 2010

WHAT I LIKE:

• The video looks extremely high-end to match their brand.  Ingersoll Rand may have created it just for this show, but more likely (and inexpensively) they repurposed an existing video and just tacked on a few seconds at the end about visiting them at the show.
• Ingersoll Rand didn’t even put their name in the video title (“Visit Booth 2231 at Power-Gen International Show”); they instead started with their booth number and included the name of the show.  The goal was to show up in the search results when attendees search on the show name.

Martin Racing Performance Pre-Show Promo for SEMA Show 2010

WHAT I LIKE:

• Martin Racing Performance takes advantage of the super-low entry-level cost of video to quickly create a personable invitation: this was done right after set up in the booth.
• They show you what their booth looks like and where it is in the show hall so you will recognize it – and show you the cool bike that will be in their booth.
• They tell you what new and popular products they are launching at the show.
• The title repeats SEMA twice for better search engine results.

Flomo USA Pre-Show Promo for ASD Merchandise Show 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCXMkzUpnqk

WHAT I LIKE:

• To play off their company name FLOMO, they have two characters, Flo and Mo, who speak to the camera.  They are probably employees of the company.  They have a friendly, playful manner that is genuine and welcoming.
• Flo and Mo decorate their outfits with the kind of stuff you’ll be able to buy from them at the show, for the Mother’s Day, Graduation, and Back to School retail events.
• Flo and Mo tell you all the great things you can only get by visiting them in their booth: See lots of new products, get free pizza, free gifts, price drops, free iPod Touch giveaways, secret deals and promotions…they pile on reason after reason to visit their trade show exhibit.
• They include their company name and the show name in the video title, and end the video by telling you what booth they will be in at the show, and when and where the show is located.
• This video has been seen over 1,300 times.  You know that helped them get more booth traffic!
• Flomo has done other, similar pre-show promotions.

Aerielle Technologies Pre-Show Promo for CES 2011

WHAT I LIKE:

• Very visual, creative, and to the point to tell the story of their product.
• Began the name of the video “CES 2011” which probably helped in search results, as the video has been viewed over 20,000 times!
• Finished video with “come visit us at booth 15116.”

Working Girls Design Pre-Show Promo for International Licensing Show 2011

WHAT I LIKE:

• Very inexpensive way to create a video.  Uses a program that takes still images and creates a video by panning out or to the side.  Music added to give more of a video feel.
• Shows their greeting card products that can be licensed for other uses.
• Name of show, booth number, company, and their artists in the title for better search results

AT-SHOW PROMO VIDEOS

These 2 videos were posted during the show to give attendees more incentive to visit the exhibitor’s booth.  You can click on the video pictures to launch the videos.  Some may have been posted after the event; in any case they are also valuable after the show because they capture the energy, excitement, and products shown at the show.

HP At-Show Promo at IPEX 2010

WHAT I LIKE:

• IPEX is a 7 day show, once every 3 years.  HP had 17 at-show videos, some posted by Day 1.
• Several of these HP IPEX videos (such as this one) look like a news show as one HP employee interviews another, who is a VP, about what is going on at the show.
• Large HP exhibit is their backdrop.  The exhibit is filled with people and bustling energy.
• Company name, show name, and main industry keywords in the video title good for search results
• These videos work well both as at-show promos (come see us, we are worth it) and post-show promos (contact us, we have great new stuff we introduced at the show).

Océ At-Show Promo at IPEX 2010

WHAT I LIKE:

• Not to be outdone by HP, Océ had 47 videos associated with IPEX 2010.  They had interviews with key execs, overviews of their booth, even of their booth’s “chill and chat” area.
• This video is an interview with a client who just signed a deal with Océ about why he bought, and the client gives three good reasons – essentially selling for the exhibitor!
• This also becomes a great post-show video testimonial.

POST-SHOW PROMO VIDEOS

These 3 post-show promotional videos take video shot in the booth during the show to help capture the excitement and news shared, and then package it as a powerful marketing tool after the show.

Matrix Fitness Post-Show Promotion after IHRSA 2010

WHAT I LIKE:

• Very professionally done video that captures the energy and excitement of their booth on the show floor.
• Several new products launched at the show are profiled in the video, by showing the product in action, talking with people from Matrix, and with users who are giddy about the new exercise machines.
• Matrix uses Skyline exhibits in their booth (it’s the backdrop during the LIVESTRONG segment)!

Electric Violin Shop Post-Show Promotion after the 2009 North Carolina Music Educators Association Conference

WHAT I LIKE:

• Show people having fun with their product, letting their booth attendees do the demo.
• Tagged the products on the video so you know what products visitors were playing.
• Three violinists jamming on Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.”

Ashbury Precision Ordnance (APO)Post-Show Promotion after SHOT Show 2010

WHAT I LIKE:

• Show and name lots and lots of their products, both pictured in the booth and still photos
• “Shot Show Recap 2010” good for search rankings…they’ve had over 2,500 views

Best Practices For Your Next Trade Show Promotional Video

After reviewing these and other videos, here are 8 best practices for video trade show promotions:

1. Match the video’s level of professionalism to the brand – from casual to corporate
2. For pre-show promotions, upload the video ahead of the show to you can promote it in several ways
3. Quickly create and upload an at-show video for energetic at-show promotions
4. Post-show videos portray the new products, news, and excitement that was in your booth
5. Include the show’s name, your company name, and booth number in the title for SEO purposes
6. Show your new products you will introduce at the show
7. Show the benefits of partnering with you
8. Entice visitors with at-show gifts, giveaways, contests, discounts, and prizes

Getting More Viewers…and thus Booth Visitors

Many who post a video on YouTube hope that it will go viral: viewers like it so much they tell their friends, who tell their friends, who tell their friends, until a firestorm of viewers bring down the computer servers.  Yet that outcome is extremely unlikely.

So if your video is not going viral on its own, how can you drive more traffic to it, and thus more traffic to your trade show booth?  By:

• Emailing video links to pre-registered attendees to your shows
• Embedding the video into pages on your website, facebook page, or blogs
• Make video keyword-rich for Google or YouTube searches
• Printing shortened video links or QR codes for the video in ads or letters aimed at potential show attendees

Have you used YouTube to promote your trade show exhibit?  Tell us what you did and how it worked in the comments box below.

Learning about social media like YouTube is one way exhibit marketers like you have changed their jobs.  Learn more by getting your own copy of The Evolving Role Of Exhibit Marketers, the new 36-page White Paper from Skyline Exhibits and Tradeshow Week Magazine. Get your free copy by clicking here now