To make a success of an exhibition and achieve a good ROI it’s important to market your attendance at the event. Effective marketing will bring more people to your stand, giving you the opportunity to generate more leads. Using social media at exhibitions is part of this marketing, the event organiser will be using social media to promote the exhibition and so you have the opportunity to link up with this and reach new customers. Boost your followers by reaching out to new people whilst promoting your attendance at the event. Here are some tips about how to effectively use social media at an exhibition.

Before the event

  • Follow the official hashtag being used by the organiser of the exhibition. This will enable you to see trends and connect with key people.
  • Link up with and follow fellow exhibitors, especially those who may be useful to your business.
  • If you are going to launch a new product or service at the event, start posting about it 6-8 weeks before the event.
  • Upload videos of your event preparation.
  • Use the official hashtag in any posts about the event to help people find you. Let them know the location of your stand.
  • Use instasize to help edit photos and videos, make collages and create social posts. It allows you to remove backgrounds, add filters, create borders and crop images to make your photos and videos look professional.
  • If you are running competitions or giveaways at the event, post information about these to give people an incentive to visit your stand.
  • Use LinkedIn to send invitations to your connections to meet up at your stand.
  • Create a specific landing page for the event on your website to give out information.
  • Post regular updates about the event.
  • If you are involved in any other ways, like making a presentation, post about this.

During the event

  • Take a photo of your staff standing in front of your stand at the start of the exhibition and post it on all social media.
  • Use Facebook live to post live videos of what is happening at the event.
  • Post images of the event as it is in progress to show people what is going on and encourage them to visit you. Make sure you continue to use the event hashtag.
  • When your stand looks busy take photos and post them.
  • If you receive a good testimonial from a customer, ask if you can use it on your social media.
  • If you are running any demonstrations or making presentations, video them and post them.
  • Competitions and giveaways are good ways to pull in the crowds, make sure you promote them on social media to encourage visitors to your stand.
  • Actively monitor your accounts, making sure you respond to comments and questions about your attendance at the event. Responding to comments really increases engagement.
  • Be positive and respectful, you never know who may read your tweets or posts.
  • Enjoy it – using social media at exhibitions is supposed to be fun so post light-hearted comments, photos of good stands, anything exciting that is happening.

After the event

  • Sort through the leads you have taken and follow them on Twitter, connect with them on LinkedIn and like their Facebook and Instagram pages. Look through the content they post to find out more about them.
  • Write messages to the leads you have taken, thanking them for visiting you and asking if they would like any further information.
  • On Twitter search for the event hashtag which will show you other tweets about the event. Use this to make new connections with those who attended or are interested in the event.
  • Write a longer post about the event including any orders you received, competitions you ran or presentations you made. Share this on all social media.
  • Share any video content of the event on YouTube.
  • Publicly thank those who visited your exhibition stand on social media.
  • If anyone shared your content, make sure you thank them too.

Exhibitions and events provide you with lots of interesting information to share on social media platforms. From exciting build-ups to smiling team shots, product demonstrations, and exciting stands and speeches there is a plethora of content available. If used well, social media at exhibitions can be a great way to connect with existing and potential customers, and bring visitors to your stand.