How to Maximize Event Marketing with Social Media

February 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Register to watch the recording of  the March episode of The Daily Expansion Show.

From industry tradeshows and community events to educational seminars and product launches, event marketing can be a very effective way to develop new business relationships and strengthen existing ones.  This month, we’ll be talking about How to MAXIMIZE the impact of event marketing with social media using  B-A-D Practices!

No longer does EVERYTHING ride on the event itself. Social media has STRETECHED the impact of event marketing to the MAX.
Michelle will interview Monchiere Holmes, PR Expert and President of the new start-up, The Southern Woman Expo, to learn first-hand the ups and downs of social media event promotion and what you need to do Before,After and During your event to take your event to the MAX!
Register to watch the recording.  And, to keep you informed on the ever-changing products and best practices for social business, we always feature short segments: What’s New, What’s Working and What Isn’t.  Don’t miss it!  The Daily Expansion Show airs LIVE via webinar on the 1st Wednesday of each month at 12 PM CT.  On the show, Michelle Cullison will present the principles of Daily Expansion: How to grow your business on the social web every day all year long.

You are invited to register for the next Daily Expansion Show.  If you want to be reminded of this webinar series and others, sign up for our weekly email newsletter, Daily Expansion.

Filed Under: Events, Marketing, Meetings, Social Media Tools, The Daily Expansion Show

Meeting Facilitation: To Tweet or Not to Tweet?

February 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

To tweet or not to tweet? That is the question meeting planners, facilitators, speakers and attendees are asking when it comes to meetings.  Well, they may not REALLY be asking about twitter specifically but they are asking, What is the role of social media in meetings?

Today, I was asked to share my opinion on how social media should be used for a facilitation session of up to 25 people.

Here’s what I said:

The most important role of social media (in my opinion) is post-meeting to keep the discussion going among those who attended and extending the discussions to other key people who didn’t attend.

To set the stage for a successful online conversation later, I recommend taking time at the in-person meeting to answer the following questions and make sure everyone understands the plan:

1. Where will the ongoing discussion will take place? Facebook (group or page), LinkedIn Group, Google Group
2. What are the objectives for the continuing conversation?
3. Who will be included (public, private, by invitation)? Can attendees invite people who didn’t attend the live meeting?
5. Who will moderate/motivate/manage online discussions & handle group access issues if any?
6. Who (what team of people) will get the initial content out on the group or page to frame the initial conversations?

In regard to day of meeting social media activity, a few positive tweets or status updates by those who love to post in the moment will spread goodwill about your organization and likely won’t disrupt the group process. However, I typically recommend protecting the in person face time from distractions of structured social media. With a group of 25 or so, everyone should be able to have a voice (in person). Using tools such as Twitter to poll or facilitate result in an added burden to the facilitator (even if the feedback is all positive) and it would likely disrupt the flow of live discussions.

What do you think? Have you used successfully used social media in large or small meetings? If so, what did you do and how did it work? Be sure and describe the group size and setting also.

Filed Under: Meetings