Nothing can replace the face-to-face interaction that trade shows provide. But with budgets tight and attendance down, today’s marketers need to ensure that every dollar spent is driving measurable results that add to their company’s bottom line.
Most marketers understand the importance of booth giveaways; they entice people to the table and reinforce a company’s brand. But in today’s economy, spending money on logoed pens or t-shirts that have no measurable ROI attached and no guarantee that they won’t end up in the trash bin makes no sense. So how do you turn that trade show giveaway into a high-performance incentive that captures leads and guarantees customer engagement ? Think digital promotions and social media.
The Multi-Pronged Power of Social Media Promotions
In the past two years, digital incentives have emerged as a powerful trade show tool because, in addition to driving booth traffic and reducing shipping and storage costs, their online delivery enables companies to generate post-show Web traffic.
But with the arrival of social media, savvy trade show marketers can accomplish even more by offering a trade show incentive that integrates digital incentives and online promotions with social media networks such as Facebook to build qualified customer and prospect business networks.
And once trade show attendees are part of your businesses’ social media network, you have an instant way to:
- Share ongoing information, news about your company
- Engage and interact with your customers and prospects
- Build an virtual customer loyalty program
Along with building your business’s social media f an base, you can use a social media promotion to capture valuable data through a survey or quiz. And because the trade show prizes aren’t given away until people become a fan of your Facebook page, measuring ROI is easy.
Three Steps to Launching a Social Media Promotion for Your Next Trade Show
- Team up with a digital promotions specialist that can build an instant win promotion for your Facebook page.
- If you haven’t already launched a Facebook page for your business, get started now.
- Offer a compelling giveaway, such as a large prizes sweepstakes, or an Instant Win promotion that features guaranteed prizes such as music downloads with the chance to win bigger prizes such as a gift card or iPod.
- Advertise the promotion via company-branded postcards that are given away at your trade show or event. To find out what they have won, prospects must first become a fan on your Facebook page, giving you a forum to keep them engaged and abreast of your company’s news, promotions and new products and services.
Interested in Experiencing the Power of Social Media Promotions? Demo our Instant Win promotion by becoming a fan at facebook.com/rcstrategiesgroup and clicking on the Instant Win button in the top blue navigation bar. As a thank you, you’ll automatically win music downloads and may even walk away with a $20 Amazon gift card or an iPod Touch. Everyone Wins!
Turn your college recruiting events into a social media building platform by giving students an Instant Win card good for music downloads, and a chance to win an Amazon Gift card, an iPod, gift certificate to your school store, or other great prizes. To find out what they have won, students must first become a fan on your school’s Facebook page, giving you a direct line to instantly engage and interact with them on an ongoing basis.
You can also build in data capture capabilities that will gather valuable market information that will help you better cater to students in the future, giving you an ever-expanding captive audience that is always just one mouse click away!
Once students are in, get them to help further your following with a refer-a-friend promotion that gives both them and their friends a chance to win an exciting prize, like an iPod, laptop or other school-related gift. Instant Win giveaways are a great way to get the attention of the masses, especially when offering something students want, need and use on a daily basis like music, electronics and custom school paraphernalia.
Keep prospective students engaged with your school through fun interactive quizzes that test their knowledge about the school’s programs, history and community. These quizzes will give students a short and fun way to interact with the school, keeping them not only abreast, but interested in the programs and activities you have to offer. Draw in the online crowds by offering participation incentives, such as sought-after seats to a school sporting event, tickets to an on-campus play or visiting lecture series, or even a custom branded laptop skin, which will promote campus affiliated events and promote the school brand.
Now that you’ve developed a loyal fan base, maintain that relationship for the future by continuing the conversation. Keep your students and followers connected with frequent status updates via Facebook and Twitter that keep them informed about important dates such as registration deadlines, finals schedules; departmental news such as updated class offerings, faculty profiles and students groups; on campus happenings such as visiting lecturers, events put on by student organizations, school sports scores, and more!
Social media is a hugely powerful – and highly untapped – marketing tool that could propel your company into the digital age! Why? Because it has the ability to reach a greater number of people faster and more organically than any other marketing strategy.
Social media allows you to engage your customers and prospects on a more personal level, an interaction that helps the viral growth of your prospective base. Today’s consumers have a choice of when, where and how they will engage with a brand – and they increasingly choose to do so online. So how do you entertain your customers easily and effectively with the simple click of a mouse? Draw them in through their interests, engage them as participants and then reward them for their contribution!
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It’s easy as pie! Simply invite customers and potentials to join your Facebook Fan page, and as a thank you, offer them a chance to win music downloads with a few larger prizes tossed in. Once a customer becomes a fan, they can click on the promotion to see what they’ve won. And voila, you have yourself a satisfied and loyal customer!
Aeronautics star Lockheed Martin wanted a compelling trade show campaign that would drive booth traffic at its trade show exhibits. The company needed a solution that was easy, inexpensive, portable and required minimal storage space. The answer? Custom-branded music download cards.
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Red Cross distributed 270,000 flyers to people who visited Red Cross locations, each featuring a mystery code guaranteed to win a prize. Most codes contained music downloads good for either one or five free songs. But there were also a few iPods, DVD players and a 40-inch flat screen TV up for grabs. To find out what their mystery code was worth, flyer recipients were first required to log onto the Red Cross web site and register in their blood bank database. The result? Red Cross increased its database by 105,000 people, a 39 percent conversion rate.
Automakers and retailers aren’t the only business sectors feeling the economic crunch these days. Financial advisors, attorneys, fitness clubs, hotels and others that cater to older, well-to-do professionals are also bearing the weight of the economic downturn.
them with an audiobook download when they submit their resume online.
