A recent Collison Media & Events webinar focused on social media – and how to make it fun again. We took away some helpful tips from the engaging discussion between Stephanie Davis Smith, Kelsey Ogletree and Natalie Dupuis about how to get the most from our social media platforms.

Social Media: Overall Value and Approach

• Social media gives you a place to engage, connect and vent.
• You need to have a social media presence so your audience knows you exist.
• It’s important to nurse relationships with followers.
• Social media needs content.
• Do research: see what your competition is up to.
• Find a way to make your pages addictive, so they will keep coming back to you.
• It’s important to put out different types of content to find out what your audience wants and what will make them keep coming back.

Is Twitter Worth It?

• Is your target audience on Twitter?
• Twitter is good place for online interaction and sharing.
• At an event, “tweeting is wonderful” – it is very interactive, gets attendees engaged. Hashtags also get attendees to engage with each other.
• There are great opportunities to have live interaction with onsite attendees. Twitter can help solve a problem – use it to build relationships.
• Brand loyalty – find the one percent of Twitter users that will bring up your brand. Find and engage with them, and then they will engage with their followers about you. Interact and retweet with them – “they will do wonders for your brand.”

Facebook: Should You Boost?

• There are multiple ways to use Facebook.
• Boosting posts is necessary to make sure posts are being viewed – $5 could be difference between five people and 1,000 seeing a post. Budgeting $20/month could go a long way. You can also target your audience. The editors encouraged viewers to try boost at least once.
• The editors said posting on Facebook once a day is sufficient.

Instagram: Fun with Photos

• Millennials are most engaged on Instagram versus other social platforms.
• Instagram scavenger hunts can be fun and well-received.

In closing, the editors encouraged thinking outside the box when it comes to social media.

Extra Reading:

Looking for ways to grow your conference’s social media presence? Check out some of our recent posts about the tie-ins between a show daily and social media. The publication creates content while also reminding attendees to post during the conference.

• Increase Your Social Media Reach: Turn Your Show Daily into Tweets & Posts!
• Enhance Your Social Media Strategy with Real-Time Posts
• Attendees + Social Media = Free Marketing
• Springtime Recap: Using Social Media In and Around Your Meetings

Want to see just how a show daily could strengthen your social media strategy? Contact Jenn Waters today for examples and a sample posting schedule, jwaters@showdailies.com.