Event producers generally understand the potential of
social media to help drive interaction and marketing
at events. Yet, best practices for the platform are still
emerging. The American Society of Association Executives
(ASAE) began emphasizing social media in its show
marketing to help drive a continuum of engagement before
during and after the event. Most interesting is how the
association has recognized specific utilities for each of the
popular platforms—Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

In July, in the third of a series of EXPO Webinars entitled
“Social Networking for Events: Building Engagement”, ASAE
vice president of knowledge initiatives Peter Hutchins
described how the association leverages social media to
increase interaction at its Annual Meeting and Exposition.

Before ASAE began using social media in earnest, the association first observed how its membership used each platform and then gradually increased its involvement and influence. “First is you see how the community is using the tools and what their norms are,” says Hutchins. “Then you participate with them and engage with them on an ongoing basis. Then you take it to the ultimate, which for us is the ability to influence.”

That influence, says Hutchins, translates into mobilizing the membership to write to Congress, comment on an article, and, yes, show up at an event.

Interestingly, the association has learned to leverage the social media sites in particular ways—again paying close attention to how their community uses each.

Twitter

Exhibitors and sponsors are kept abreast of the association’s use of Twitter in very concise terms. ASAE’s social media tactics are spelled out in exhibitor brochures and marketing materials and the sales kit for the reps. The team is continually looking for ways to help exhibitors promote developments at the show—presentations on the show floor or in the curriculum itself—on Twitter.

Prior to the show, the association uses Twitter to promote conference agenda developments, lesser-known speakers, special sessions or themes and any program changes.

On-site, Twitter transitions into more of a logistical conversation. “Where’s the wifi? When the coffee gets dropped. Who the award winners are. This is also where we’re getting feedback on how we can fix this experience—the room’s too cold or the mic cut out. If we can do this on-site and get people off of the little things and put the focus back on the content, we see that play out in the post-show evaluations in a very positive way,” says Hutchins.

Post-show, Hutchins says the conversation shifts again to the buzz-worthy items. The team talks up next year’s event and summarizes the highlights of the current show.

Facebook

Hutchins says Facebook works best with pre- and post-show tactics. In both instances, Facebook is utilized as a tool for face-to-face meet-ups. “Connecting on the social front is really where Facebook fits in the social sphere,” says Hutchins. “We see our role as a way to help those connections happen. Facebook definitely helps ASAE connect with the broader community.”

Pre-show, members tend to use Facebook to facilitate onsite meet-ups. Post-show, attendees reach out to colleagues they met at the event to continue their conversations.

The one challenge so far for ASAE is dedicating a page to the show itself. Currently, ASAE uses its Facebook page for general membership use, and weaves in messaging as the show approaches. There is no specific Facebook identity for the show. This is due to how Facebook treats event pages—friends and fans can reply with the yes, no and maybe buttons. These replies then have to be matched up with the association’s in-house membership list to determine who’s registered and who’s not. “Maybes” present another logistical challenge in that they’re an obvious marketing target, but again create a bandwidth problem in the list-matching process. Hutchins simply doesn’t have the staff to handle this process. Additionally, he thinks creating these event-based pages could introduce confusion into the registration process. “When they register in Facebook with a ‘yes,’ sometimes they believe they have registered [to the show] when actually they haven’t.”

LinkedIn

According to Hutchins, LinkedIn has evolved into a core source for identifying industry groups that have formed through the association’s page. “It’s definitely a community where we see our discussions most active,” he says. “Prior to an event we go through and identify the discussion with the highest number of people participating and the highest volume of conversation going on. Then we try to arrange a place on-site for that group to meet up.”

At the show, these meet-ups take place in specially designated lounges or at special tables during lunches. “We’re using LinkedIn as a way to support, based on the volume of conversation already happening, members who have already connected around a topic,” says Hutchins.