You want your attendees actively posting to social media and using the mobile event app. These two besties can do wonders for your event marketing efforts and your onsite attendee engagement!
However, finding new and creative ways to incorporate social media into your events can be challenging. So whether your event audience is full of social media novices or professional second-screen multi-taskers, I hope you’ll find these ideas helpful when planning how to incorporate social media into your next event!
1. Networking Photo Challenge
Set tent cards around your networking event with different photo challenges. Some examples to consider: “Take a photo with someone new you’ve just met!” “Take a photo with someone wearing the same color outfits as you.” “Take a photo with someone who shares your birthday month.”
Not only does it serve as an ice breaker, it encourages attendees to get social! Make sure your hashtag is included on the challenges.
2. Larger-Than-Life Hashtag
Who doesn’t love big, bold signage?
Give your attendees the perfect backdrop to their Instagram photo as well as a big reminder of what your event hashtag is. In fact, put the hashtag on all of your signage, branding, and even on attendee name badges!
3. Mirror Selfie Stations
Everyone will have to use the bathroom at some point. Bathrooms also tend to have exceptionally good lighting…perfect for taking selfies! Create removable stickers to brand the bathroom mirrors—especially full body ones—with your event hashtag, quote bubbles, or emojis.
4. Mobile + Social = Besties
Best friends do everything together! Make sure to take advantage of all the ways a mobile app can enable the social experience.
Prominently feature the event hashtag on your splash screen and banner ads. Use push notifications to remind attendees to share. Ensure all social icons are linked to your brand’s accounts as well as encourage speakers, attendees, and exhibitors to link their social accounts to their event app profiles.
5. Social Swag
Your event hashtag is almost as important as your brand’s logo when it comes to swag. Ensure it is on all swag items and consider giving out swag that encourages social behavior. Some ideas to consider: device chargers, “Tweet Me” / “Snap Me” stickers for name badges, selfie sticks, photo booth props, pens with a touch-screen stylus, or hashtag temporary tattoos.
6. Social Wall
Integrate the social content being generated by your attendees as part of your event design with Social Wall. This event technology displays the content on your event hashtag practically anywhere using a projection screen or TVs. Attendees sharing will get excited to see themselves on “the big screen” and attendees not participating will want to join in on the fun!
7. #GoodEats
Food and beverage are integral parts of your event planning process and people love to take photos of food! You can keep it simple by incorporating the event hashtag on napkins, glassware, or even on the food itself. Get more complex by hosting a “name this dish” contest or have attendees vote via a Twitter poll on what should be served at the after-party.
8. Create Social Currency
Challenge your attendees to think of tweets as dollars and Instagram photos as upgrade passes. Set up a Twitter activated vending machine that dispenses whenever an attendee tweets a specific hashtag and username. Create a photo challenge that can only be completed on Instagram and that, once completed, “unlocks” a pass upgrade for a VIP area.
9. Interactive Polling
Stop asking attendees to raise their hands! Instead, launch in-app polls to instantly receive attendee feedback or facilitate a Q&A during breakout sessions. Try embedding real-time in-app poll results into presentations to create a more social event experience.
10. #Help
Have a dedicated area where attendees can access social media and mobile experts for help with everything from setting up a Twitter account to posting to Facebook from their mobile device. Hold an #AMA (Ask Me Anything) in-person chat to answer questions for an audience that’s at various levels of social media savvy.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, you can’t just sit back and hope your next event goes viral all on its own. The good news is that you can control how much social media buzz you receive.
By setting these 10 actionable tips in motion, you can boost social media engagement, help your event hashtag go viral, and (most importantly) make sure your attendees have the time of their lives!
