How to Add Influence [and ROI] to Your Meeting and Event Marketing

Truth: Social influencers are already at your meeting or event. 

So...what happens when you turn on social influencer marketing?

One study shows social influencer marketing delivers 11x higher returns than any other form of digital marketing ROI.

Social influencers can unlock many benefits for event marketers, including. . .

1. Focused promotion
2. Closer engagement
3. Colorful personalities
4. Reduced team stress
5. Live coverage
6. Measurable impact

Here are five ways to get started.

Step One: Scout Talent

Finding the right influencers is the biggest challenge 75% of marketers face.

One easy place to look: your speaker line up. Did you book speakers who can promote your conference or event throughout their networks – is it in their agreement? Another no brainer: participants who love to get social.

Keep in mind, it’s not all about follower count. Studies show the higher the reach, the lower the engagement. It’s more about PR or Personality + Reputation. Authenticity counts, as does production value.

Step Two: Send Invitations

Make a list of the top 20. Narrow it down to the bottom 10 and start there. These influencers will be easier to reach and may be more open to a beginning a new relationship. A newer trend is to focus on smaller micro-influencers to build big engagement.

Once you’ve decided to work with each other, it’s agreement time. Although it’s tempting to think about contracting with influencers for one event, it’s much better to structure the agreement, and the relationship, over a longer term. 

Step Three: Agree on Everything

Social influencer marketing agreement essentials may include frequency and types of updates, appearances and photo opps, reporting requests and detailed compensation that outlines travel, registration, food, affiliate commissions and review clauses.

Step Four: Always, Always Disclose

Have you heard about the Fyre fire? When you follow FTC disclosures guidelines, the good news is influencers can fire up your event – and no one will get burned. Videos have their own set of guidelines. Communicate exactly how you would like the relationship to be disclosed and then monitor influencer accounts to make sure the disclosures are running.

Step Five: Activate Promotion Plans

Now that the agreement is signed, it’s show time!

Send a series of emails with suggested social media posts to use before, during and after the event. You don’t want them to miss anything important – and you don’t want to restrict their creative freedom. Have a list of words/terms/hashtags/competitors to avoid? Share it. Clue them in on social media accounts and hashtags to mention, including event, industry, sponsors and speakers.

Step Six: Track and Report

When you weave social influencers into your event marketing plan, you can count on greater visibility, new connections and personalized reporting you can’t get anywhere else. Who’s ready for higher ROI?