Get real. A hashtag like #MotoXBrasil2013 would last for two days, best case. Instead, we picked a short, generic, and evergreen hashtag: “MotoX.” The other 363 days of the year this hashtag represents whatever is happening with Moto X, but for two days it was the event in Brasil.
The big picture is that you want a hashtag that’s constantly in people’s faces, trending, and consistent, whether it refers to an event in Brazil, Mexico, or Peru, or new television commercials.
Tell everyone what the hashtag is
From the moment you start promoting an event, the hashtag should be in place. This means on your website, in advertising, and all electronic correspondence including your email signature.
Your program should mention it on the cover. The introductory slides should publicise it in sixty-point type. Every employee, speaker,vendor, and guest should know what it is.
Ask attendees to use the hashtag
It’s not enough to pick a hashtag and tell attendees what it is. You need to ask attendees to use it, too. The “voice of God” should mention it when he/she is making announcements. Your host should exhort people to use it. Toward the end of the Moto X tour, I began my keynote with a request that people tweet that they were at the event and use the hashtag #MotoX and I waited while they tweeted. You cannot pimp your hashtag too much.
Tell everyone what the hashtag is
From the moment you start promoting an event, the hashtag should be in place. This means on your website, in advertising, and all electronic correspondence including your email signature.
Your program should mention it on the cover. The introductory slides should publicise it in sixty-point type. Every employee, speaker,vendor, and guest should know what it is.
Ask attendees to use the hashtag
It’s not enough to pick a hashtag and tell attendees what it is. You need to ask attendees to use it, too. The “voice of God” should mention it when he/she is making announcements. Your host should exhort people to use it. Toward the end of the Moto X tour, I began my keynote with a request that people tweet that they were at the event and use the hashtag #MotoX and I waited while they tweeted. You cannot pimp your hashtag too much.
Broaden what socializing an event means
The audience for the hashtag is not only the people at the event. The audience is anyone in the world who’s interested in the product or company. Thus, a tweet such as “Not in Brasil? See this review of #MotoX to see what the excitement is all about:Motorola Moto X Review!” is appropriate. This kind of post with a high-value link is more likely to be retweeted and reshared.
Assign the socialising task to a person
There’s a lot going on at an event: audio-visual production, facilities, babysitting speakers, guest registration, food and beverage, and press coverage. If you truly want a socialised event, you need to assign someone at the event to do nothing but manage social media coverage. Expecting people to time slice at the event won’t work.
The audience for the hashtag is not only the people at the event. The audience is anyone in the world who’s interested in the product or company. Thus, a tweet such as “Not in Brasil? See this review of #MotoX to see what the excitement is all about:Motorola Moto X Review!” is appropriate. This kind of post with a high-value link is more likely to be retweeted and reshared.
Assign the socialising task to a person
There’s a lot going on at an event: audio-visual production, facilities, babysitting speakers, guest registration, food and beverage, and press coverage. If you truly want a socialised event, you need to assign someone at the event to do nothing but manage social media coverage. Expecting people to time slice at the event won’t work.
Done right, this person is the busiest person at your event. Before it, he or she will schedule promotional posts about the event. During it, she will live tweet what’s happening and take pictures and video of speakers and guests. During breaks, she will post these pictures and videos to Google+, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest as well as retweeting and resharing other people’s posts about the event.
After the event, she will post more pictures and videos and try to ensure people who are in these pictures and videos know that that they are so that they spread them, too. PR people from your agency cannot do this well if they are concerned with journalists and bloggers and taking care of the speakers and executives.
In the case of the Moto X launch, the founder of Pegitas, Peg Fitzpatrick ran the show for me. The social media success we achieved was simply not possible without her.
Livestream video coverage
Think of all the money that you’re spending to make the event happen. Why wouldn’t you broadcast live video coverage? Are you afraid that too many people will place orders? Get real. If you’re announcing a product in Bogota, you want a blogger in Moscow to write about it, too.
Think of all the money that you’re spending to make the event happen. Why wouldn’t you broadcast live video coverage? Are you afraid that too many people will place orders? Get real. If you’re announcing a product in Bogota, you want a blogger in Moscow to write about it, too.
Livestreaming is obvious for a product announcement, but what if people are paying to attend your event? The fear is that people decide not to attend because they can watch for free. You could charge people to watch the livestream if that makes you feel better, but I would make the case that these people would not have attended anyway.
Also, if watching your event is as good as attending it live, you’ve got a bigger problem. I encourage to think big: livestreaming an event encourages people to attend in person the next time.
Provide real-time updates
If you’re not livestreaming video, at least have your social-media person provide blow-by-blow updates. Outfits like The Verge provide outstanding live coverage of events such as Apple announcements, so learn from what they do. This isn’t as good as livestreaming, but it’s cheaper and easier.
If you’re not livestreaming video, at least have your social-media person provide blow-by-blow updates. Outfits like The Verge provide outstanding live coverage of events such as Apple announcements, so learn from what they do. This isn’t as good as livestreaming, but it’s cheaper and easier.
Display the tweet stream
There are services that display the tweets that contain a hashtag in real time. Displaying these tweets encourages more interaction and use of your hashtag. For some people this is like seeing their picture on the big display in Times Square -- they’ll find it irresistible. You can find many tools to do this by searching for “stream twitter hashtags” on Google.
There are services that display the tweets that contain a hashtag in real time. Displaying these tweets encourages more interaction and use of your hashtag. For some people this is like seeing their picture on the big display in Times Square -- they’ll find it irresistible. You can find many tools to do this by searching for “stream twitter hashtags” on Google.
There is a downside to this. First, tweets could get ugly if your speakers suck or your announcement isn’t impressive. Second, speakers must compete with the tweet stream for the attention of the audience. You can always turn off the feed if necessary.
Provide fast, free, and unprotected wireless access
If you want your event and hashtag to trend, you need to enable guests to post fast, free, and easily. Again, you’re spending a lot of money to get people to come to an event, you’re pounding the hashtag into them, and now you’re not going to make it easy to post by providing wireless access?
If you want your event and hashtag to trend, you need to enable guests to post fast, free, and easily. Again, you’re spending a lot of money to get people to come to an event, you’re pounding the hashtag into them, and now you’re not going to make it easy to post by providing wireless access?
What alternate marketing universe are you living in?
And don’t password protect the wireless network. Are you afraid that somebody is going to host his website for five hours using your network? You should remove all the speed bumps to promoting your event. The upside of open access to a wireless network is much more social media exposure. The downside is … I can’t think of any.
And don’t password protect the wireless network. Are you afraid that somebody is going to host his website for five hours using your network? You should remove all the speed bumps to promoting your event. The upside of open access to a wireless network is much more social media exposure. The downside is … I can’t think of any.
Provide a place to take pictures
After the initial Moto X events, I requested an area for taking photos. The area needed good lighting and a backdrop with “Moto X” printed all over it. Think of the pictures of celebrities at the Academy Awards -- they’re standing in front of a backdrop with the Academy Award graphics.
After the initial Moto X events, I requested an area for taking photos. The area needed good lighting and a backdrop with “Moto X” printed all over it. Think of the pictures of celebrities at the Academy Awards -- they’re standing in front of a backdrop with the Academy Award graphics.
I also learned that people will use this designated area to pose with their friends. They see the backdrop, and they think: “Let’s take a photo here to show we were at the event. Let’s pretend we’re Paris Hilton or David Beckham.” Roughly 100% of these photos get shared on social media -- hopefully, many with your hashtag. The bottom line is that every picture is a branding opportunity.
Power Tip: You can use a product such as Adobe Lightroom to watermark your photos with your logo. This means that no matter where the photo is taken, your logo will appear.
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