Rather than rely on typical attendee marketing avenues such as direct mail and advertising, Reed Exhibition’s Pop Culture Group sticks to strictly nontraditional marketing initiatives, choosing to send its messages solely through social networks, blogs and YouTube videos. To be sure, this nontraditional approach won’t work for all shows, but the Pop Culture Group’s shows — including its largest, New York Comic Con — are enthusiast events, and the audience for those shows may be more likely to actively seek out information and engagement on the Internet.

While traditional marketing likely isn’t going anywhere anytime soon for most shows, smart organizers are incorporating nontraditional strategies as an inexpensive way to supplement traditional marketing efforts and drive buzz and attendance around their shows. Why is it such an effective tool? “The beauty of nontraditional marketing is that you have the ability to move quickly and cheaply, and you can do highly creative things,” says Lance Fensterman, Group Vice President for Reed and head of the company’s pop culture portfolio.

EXPO chatted with Fensterman to get the scoop on the marketing efforts that have garnered the most buzz for his events. Here, his thoughts, and how you can translate these efforts to your shows.

YOUTUBE
Making and posting videos has become easier than ever with the popularity of inexpensive, easy-to-use handheld cameras (like the Flip camera) and the inclusion of video cameras on high-end mobile phones. If you know your attendees are taking videos, why not make it part of your event?

For the New York Anime Festival, Fensterman’s team created a contest for area consumers attending the shows. The competition was a dance contest involving several notable landmarks and other NYC-specific targets. When competitors videotaped themselves dancing in front of certain landmarks or targets, they were awarded a varying number of points. (Examples: dance in front of the Statue of Liberty=5 points; dance in front of a New York policeman=10 points; dance in front of a mounted New York policeman=15 points). Videos were posted to a channel on YouTube and at the show, and winners were given prizes based on the points accumulated. The cost? Almost nothing, outside of the prizes. Competitors created their own videos and posted them to the show’s YouTube channel.

Another YouTube tactic? Reed tapped a popular YouTube video creator “It’s Just Some Random Guy” to create videos and promotions for New York Comic Con. His regular videos, which parody the “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” commercials for Apple, explore the rivalry between comic competitors Marvel and D.C. (both publishers have camps of rabid fans). Already a hit with the target demographic for Comic Con, he was a natural fit to create videos for the show. (Go to YouTube and search “Just Some Random Guy” to see examples of his work.) “The videos are hilarious, they’re cool, they’re exactly our spirit and they have a massive amount of views,” Fensterman says. The tactic has been so successful that they’ve partnered with Random Guy for seven videos over the course of two years. The videos are posted on the show’s blog and on the organization’s YouTube channel for fans and potential attendees to check out. And the success speaks for itself: Fensterman estimates that the videos have garnered between 1.5 million and 2 million views.

How can these techniques translate to your show? Think about recreating the video contest concept on the show floor; have attendees videotape themselves doing something fun or wacky at varying points on the floor — or with certain exhibitors — and receive points for each activity. Screen the videos at the end and award prizes to the top winners. The tactic will engage attendees in a new way, and drive traffic to more exhibitors.

SOCIAL NETWORKING
The Pop Culture Group’s largest show — New York Comic Con — has an entire “interact” section on its show site devoted to linking potential attendees to other Web sites and online destinations where they can chat about the show. There are links to internal resources, including a blog and a newsletter, and to external social networking sites, including MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Despite all the moving pieces, Fensterman says that the social networking component of the show was not the result of some intricate, step-by-step strategy. Instead, the organization has used what Fensterman calls “the spaghetti approach,” which basically means jumping into social media and throwing different efforts at the wall to see what sticks. “You never know what you’re going to do that’s going to work really well and start a groundswell in the community,” Fensterman says.

Twitter users can follow the main Comic Con account (@NY_Comic_Con) to get news about new speakers and sessions as they’re added to the show; users can also follow a number of other Twitter users who work in the Pop Culture Group to get their thoughts on the show and other things they may be working on or interested in. The Facebook fan page offers a spot to post news and photos from the shows, and gives Facebook users a place to weigh in and ask questions about upcoming and previous events. Once the organization identifies a medium that its audience connects with, it employs a “layer” approach, Fensterman says. For example, after using Twitter to communicate with show attendees for a couple of years, the organization created a Twitter scavenger hunt around a Chicago event as a way to get local attendees energized. A team hid and buried tickets to the show in and around certain landmarks, and tweeted hints on Twitter to the scavengers. “The challenge is always to find something new and fun,” Fensterman says. “The scavenger hunt was a new layer.”

As for ROI, the company doesn’t track how social marketing translates into new registrations, for example. However, they track success of initiatives by marks including comments, followers (Twitter), retweets (Twitter) and friends (Facebook). Even if the strategies didn’t result in a large spike in attendance, Fensterman says that the company would still engage in active nontraditional marketing. “It’s all about the brand now,” he says.

What can this strategy mean for your show? While consumer shows certainly don’t have the market on social media, not every show will need — or find it necessary — to have an active presence in every space. The great thing about social media is that it’s inexpensive to just create an account and test the waters; if your show is just getting started with social media, give Fensterman’s “spaghetti approach” a shot and see what sticks with your attendees and exhibitors.

BLOGS
Fensterman considers the Pop Culture Group’s blog, which he contributes to, the central source for news and announcements regarding the show. (Check it out at mediumatlarge.net.) Announcements about new speakers or panelists for the show often debut there before being disseminated on other social networks or sites. To keep things just a bit irreverent, the site spices things up (and leverages a popular Internet phenomenon) on the weekends with “Caturday,” a weekly post featuring a picture or a video of a cute kitty.

“The blog arches across all the shows; we write in daily, we use it as kind of the epicenter of what we do,” Fensterman says. “That’s where all of our announcements get leaked first, including insider scoop. We want to drive people to that blog because it’s an easy and flexible place to post information.”

To keep everything integrated, the blog links to all the event sites, other industry blogs, and showcases Twitter streams from the accounts of upcoming events.

Blogs are becoming popular components to many show sites, but they’re not for everyone. A successful blog requires active posting — whether it’s one person posting a few times a week or two or three people spreading out the work. Fensterman cautions that anyone starting or posting on a blog needs to be prepared for what comes with it. “You’re exposing yourself,” Fensterman says. “When you ask for interaction, you’re going to get it, and people don’t interact solely the way you want them to.” So be prepared to handle hostile comments and questions about the show, without ignoring or deleting them. Blogs are all about starting a conversation, and readers and commenters can be sensitive if they feel their voice isn’t being heard.

OTHER BUZZ-WORTHY TACTICS
Downloadable voicemail. The Pop Culture Group sent New York Comic Con attendees into a tizzy when it offered a downloadable voicemail greeting starring comics legend Stan Lee. “To this community, that man is a demigod,” Fensterman says. “But every industry has its niche and people love that extra layer of interaction.” Maybe your industry doesn’t have a Stan Lee-level personality to get attendees buzzing, but think about what thought leaders or keynote speakers you’re planning on wowing attendees with at the show. A downloadable message or recorded invite might go a long way to connecting with potential attendees.

Podcast. The Pop Culture Group also does a weekly podcast for hard-core fans. Some weeks just include the Reed crew chatting about pop culture, while other weeks offer special guests and speakers from events. The podcast helps keep the buzz from events going all year long. And while creating a weekly podcast might be beyond the internal resources of most show organizers, a quarterly podcast could be easily produced and a great way to show exhibitors and attendees that industry topics are top of mind at your show year-round.

WANT TO GO NONTRADITIONAL? KEEP THESE THINGS IN MIND.
TIME COMMITMENT. Yes, the best part of social media is that it’s an inexpensive way to connect with your core audiences. But once you find the best avenue to keep a conversation going with attendees and exhibitors, be careful not to slack off. An active presence requires someone (or several people) checking in regularly, keeping the activity going and answering questions. The Pop Culture Group at Reed doesn’t have a designated community coordinator, so everyone who works on the shows pitches in here and there to keep it going.

DON’T DELEGATE TO MARKETING. The best show Twitter accounts and Facebook pages have a natural feel to them; attendees and exhibitors who are chatting you up there probably don’t want to be marketed to. Instead, consider having someone who’s involved in programming and education step up to handle some of the social media conversation. “’You’re not going to believe the person we got or the panel we got’ is going to be so much more compelling than ‘early bird pricing ends in three weeks,’” Fensterman says.

TOO MUCH, NOT ENOUGH OR JUST RIGHT? With everyone talking Twitter and Facebook nonstop, it’s easy to think that the only thing to do is create a year-round, active presence on those sites and others. But such an intense approach may not be necessary — and it may not even be what your audience wants. Ask yourself — or better yet — your audience, what they’re looking for. And then, “find the tools that they want to communicate with, and match them up to those tools,” Fensterman advises.