The most effective social channels for promoting events Before Facebook 77% During Twitter 73% After the event Facebook 55% LinkedIn. Facebook. Twitter. In 2000, such names did not exist. First came LinkedIn in 2003, followed by Facebook in 2004 and Twitter in 2006. Today, these and other social networks are of fundamental importance in people's professional and personal lives. The usage statistics speak for themselves: 347 million people are registered on LinkedIn; 500 million tweets are published every day; and there are 1.39 billion active Facebook users. The breadth of these systems has created the expectation that the Internet is a two-way conversation. But this concept of openly communicating with consumers and clients—online, with the world watching—has been difficult for some brands and companies to embrace because they fear losing control of their message.“People and companies that were able to focus on the customer were the early winners in social media. Now that... the marketing department controls the presence of brands on social networks, those brands that have not been able to use this opportunity as a channel for two-way communication are not doing so well.", says Elizabeth Glau, account manager at the International Society for Technology in Education. Over the years, brands and planners have come to view social media as a way to gather resources that can be used to tailor events to audience needs, and attendees have come to expect that tailoring.“With the availability of social tools and social media, events are increasingly driven by feedback and comments on social media.”, says event technology consultant Corbin Ball.“People become not visitors, but participants. Instead of a top-down approach, a bottom-up approach works.”Perhaps the most profound impact of social media is that it allows an event to extend beyond its physical venue as people share comments, content and photos with others around the world in real time.“We expand our brand's influence every time people take our message outward.”“says Lee Kight, director of major galas for the American Cancer Society. Sakchin Bessette, co-founder and creative director of new tools at entertainment studio Moment Factory, agrees. "People's expectations for the way they interact at an event or exhibition have changed. The way they videotape the event, what they remember about it, and the way they share it. The potential for people to connect with a brand, or for a brand to connect with people, is very different now.”, he says. The ability to share on social networks has fueled the concept of FOMO – “fear of missing out”. Savvy planners have figured out how to capitalize on this fear to increase attendance at future events by providing photo booths and competitions, and tying them to posts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms.“When an event begins to live outside its physical venue, when we see exactly what is happening as events unfold, then we can increase our audience reach.”, says Winslow Porter, creative technologist at experiential agency MKG.Intro: The Evolution of Event Technology Chapter 2: Working in a Mobile Environment Chapter 3: Changes in Planning Chapter 4: Connecting Digital and Real-Life Stories Chapter 5: Cracking the Code Original article on the electronic version of BizBash
