Use Social Media to Boost Your Registration
By Robert Swanwick
The vast array of social media options for events can be overwhelming even for the 21st century planner. So, let’s start small with registration, a critical component of any event, especially during trying economic times. There are well-known social media methods such as creating a Facebook.com page or a Twitter.com hashtag and promoting them via e-mail, print, Twitter, Web site and word of mouth.
Social media should not be treated the same as e-mail marketing. Promotional blasts are unlikely to garner a positive reaction. In fact, if you do too much promotion, you may actually receive negative attention—sometimes worse than if you had done nothing at all.
Social media should be all about conversations. One-on-one interactive dialogue with event prospects is important. To create even more leverage, encourage your community to engage prospects for you by feeding the conversation and setting an example. Inject fresh interesting content for the community to discuss. Make your community feel that you are paying close attention. If engaged, your registrants will help you attract additional sign-ups, but you need to help them feel good about the effort.
Your Facebook page and Twitter stream should contain frequently updated information about the event: new speakers, relevant speaker blog posts and info about the host city. Offer incentives to those who track your social media channels and those who help magnify your communication.
Event Planners ready for something more advanced should take a look at the following lesser-known, but incredibly effective means of boosting registration via social media..
BADGES
People enjoy demonstrating allegiance to their communities. A badge is a great way to meet that need. Create a simple graphic for those who are registered to place on their blogs and Web sites indicating their planned attendance. The graphic should be attractive and represent your brand. Attendees can then identify themselves as a member of the community and possibly as a multi-year delegate. Online badges can be coded so that anyone who clicks through is identified as being referred by the badge owner. This allows you to compensate registered attendees who are helping you the most with registration. Here are some attractive examples of effective badges.
NETWORK CONFIRMATION - AKA: “I’m not going if she’s not.”
There are two ways this manifests: prospects want to know who is already registered and recent registrants want to inform their networks in order to encourage their friends to join them. Event attendees want to meet new people and get exposed to new ideas, but many also enjoy reunions. Our pack nature drives our curiosity about who is going to be there that we already know. Social media tools are already tracking who we know.
There are now tools (EventVue.com is one) that compare a prospect’s personal social media connections with an event’s registrant list and report back who we know that is signed-up
ROBERT SWANWICK is the CEO of Speaker Interactive, and his past clients include ExxonMobil, Metlife, Westinghouse, Aflac, Marriott, British Telecom, Renault and more. Contact him via Twitter @SpkrInteractive or via e-mail at rswanwick@speakerinteractive.com.
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