Archives

Why the cheesy image? Because viral marketing works. Even when you’re cheesy. See: Rebecca Black

Our goal is to give you every tool possible to maximize your event.

Your goal is to bring attendees to you, or your clients’, events.

Unfortunately, traditional marketing isn’t always effective. The sad fact of the matter is that people aren’t always going to listen to you, and regardless of how amazing your event is, its final amazingness is at the mercy of attendance. We live in a society overly-saturated with a cacophony of media and advertising messages, sounds we have collectively become proficient at tuning out.

Thanks to the internet, though, there’s another route to marketing that’s incredibly powerful: Word of Mouth Marketing. The internet has opened the door for unique or valuable ideas, goods, and, yes, even events to spread virally. For proof of the power of the internet one need look no further than Rebecca Black, whose song “Friday” (often dubbed “the worst song of all time”) was viewed over 160 million times on YouTube.

In order to help you get your event spreading virally, Zerista has created the social invite module for its ZeristaPRO platform. This functionality will empower your attendees to invite their colleagues and friends to events that they themselves are attending. We’re all more likely to trust and attend an event that our peers are attending, and it’s been proven that attendees are far more likely to finish the registration process if a friend invited them. In the end, this means more of a buzz and more awesomeness at your event – no headache necessary.

Features of the ZeristaPRO Social Invite Module:

1.) Send invitation email to contacts from your Gmail, Yahoo, and Windows Live address book

2.) Send invitation email to contacts uploaded from a CSV file

3.) Send invitation email to manually specified contacts.

4.) Post public invitation message on Facebook (as a post on wall) and Twitter (post as a status update)

Social media has radically shifted the paradigm in which making connections occurs, a change with huge ramifications for the event industry.

According to comscore, the self-touted global source of digital market intelligence, as of February 2011 one out of every eight minutes online was spent on Facebook. Yes, the obsession with social networking partially stems from our curiosity to know whose gotten married/pregnant/incarcerated since high school, but in reality a only a small portion of our time spent on sites like Facebook is consumed by such creeping (“Facebook stalking,” if you will). What it really symbolizes is the fact that people are, at their core, social creatures. We want information, we want to sell our products and services, but, more than anything, we want to connect with one another.

Networking

Pre-social media, one would arrive at an event with a limited amount of time to meet, mingle, spark a conversation, and – hopefully – develop a couple of meaningful connections. Today those are balls that can be rolling in the days, weeks, and months preceding the event itself. With social media technology, attendees and exhibitors are enabled to participate in group discussions, share ideas, spark conversations, and request meetings long before anyone boards a plane or leaves their office. Rather than relying on the serendipitous nature of meet and mingle events, one can search through a database of every attendee, speaker, and event session in order to filter out the most promising networking opportunities available based on their specific interests and event goals.

In the end, not only does social media technology allow individuals to begin making connections way back in the planning stage of an event, but this foresight allows them to plan for the event itself so that, when it arrives, they are able to allocate their time and energy during those few days most effectively (and then continue the conversation in the days, weeks, and months to follow).

Simplicity

Let’s be honest: navigating through an event can be an absolute nightmare.

Schedule changes are inevitable. Keeping track of exhibitor brochures and business cards, along with a 3” thick stacks of session schedules, itineraries, brochures, and maps, can quickly become a discombobulated, confusing, and downright miserable ordeal. Exhibition halls are huge. People are everywhere, business needs to happen, and there is never enough time in the day.

With the help of mobile technology, events become manageable again. When things are manageable, you’re free to get the most out of them, and maybe even (gasp!) enjoy them a bit.

The Moral

A great event is energized, productive, progressive, and dynamic. Without the right tools, however, any event can quickly become an overwhelming, chaotic mess that fails to reach it’s maximum potential.

Companies and individuals that utilize event technology prevent the little administrative inconveniences that unnecessarily complicate an event while simultaneously giving themselves an edge before, during, and after the event itself.

If there’s one business concept that we absolutely can’t imagine anyone arguing with, it’s the idea that – today more than ever – networking is at the heart of career development.

Now, if someone wanted to argue anyways, they should know that the Harvard Business Review is on our side –  it recently reported that 95% of executives consider face-to-face meetings essential for long-term business relationships.

As Ivan R. Misner, New York Times bestselling author of networking guide The 29% Solution explains, the difference between companies that are good versus companies that are great “are in the little things that are done exceptionally well. Great networkers move their business forward, but they don’t do it alone. Great networkers have a plan, work to expand their network, go the extra mile, know how to get the most value for their time, communicate their messages effectively, become the experts, capture their best stories, and do what others don’t.”

It’s this idea that makes us believe that social media tools and technology will increasingly begin to separate good businesses from great businesses.

Companies and individuals that utilize event technology like ZeristaPRO, with it’s unique matchmaking feature & social networking tools, give themselves an edge before, during, and after events. Not only does social media technology allow these “great” networkers to begin making connections & expanding their networks way back in the planning stage of an event, but this foresight helps them plan for the event itself so that, when it arrives, they are able to allocate their time and energy during those few days most effectively.

Let’s look at it this way: in the days before social media technology, you would arrive at an event with a certain amount of time to meet, mingle, spark a conversation, and hopefully develop a couple of meaningful connections. Today, those are all balls that can be rolling in the months beforehand. With social media tools you can be a participate in group discussions, share your ideas, spark conversations, and request meetings long before you ever board a plane or leave your office. Rather than relying on the serendipidous nature of meet and mingle events, you can search through a database of every attendee, speaker, and event session in order to filter out the most promising networking opportunities available to you based on your specific interests and event goals.

This concept has been incredibly successful in the world of dating, where online dating has become an overwhelming phenomenon. According to a recent survey by Match.com, in 2010 20% of committed relationships (1 in 5) and 17% of newlyweds met on an online dating site. These statistics don’t even take into account the millions of people who have connected through common interest groups and forums, friends on social networking accounts like Facebook or Twitter, or by following a blog or website.

ZeristaPRO borrows the “matchmaking” concept utilized by online dating sites like Match.com or eHarmony, and brings it into the professional arena. Event sites built on the ZeristaPRO platform have a “recommend” button that will “match” you with attendees, event sessions, and sponsors that might be of particular interest to you, both streamlining and personalizing the social networking processes.

In a world like dating – which is tied to so many deeply rooted emotional strings – online dating is thriving for one reason: because it works. It works because filtering through a large pond based on mutual interests, and then being allowed to converse via email, gchat, etc. versus the time and energy involved in going on a Friday night date, is a much more effective ways to find yourself a compatible partner. If this process is successful in something as emotionally loaded and high-commitment as dating, then imagine just how effective it can be in a much more practical, less-intense arena like business networking.

And here is where our argument comes full circle: if a face-to-face meeting is essential for business success, and there are more people attending a conference or event then you could possibly meet in a day (or even a week) period, then why on earth would you risk squandering that time shuffling through small-talk with the wrong people? It’s awareness of these little decisions that take a company from good to great. Here at Zerista, we would argue that the great companies in our future are the ones who, today, see how powerful social networking technology is, and recognize that if it can pair people well enough that they can spend the rest of their lives together, it certainly should be able to help you select the connections that will be most valuable for you to spend that precious face-to-face time nurturing at an event.

Featured image is property of Rolling Stone magazine online, SXSW 2011.

Comscore has some great market info for us.  Google’s Android platform made the big jump in market share last year coming at the expense of Blackberry.  It looks to be more of a two horse race and our guess is that both will end up winning the lion’s share of the market.  The good news for ZeristaPRO customers is that not only do we support iPhone and Android native platforms with downloadable apps, but also support every other browser capable phone on the planet.  So, whether you love downloadable apps (32.3% of you did last year) or love to use your phone’s browser (34.5% of you do), ZeristaPRO has you covered.

Smartphone Platform Market Share

Mobile Content Usage

How are events using social media?  What levels of adoption should events expect?  What are the common strategies and best practices?

To answer these questions, we recently conducted extensive event industry research.

We gathered data from more than 600 event professionals and hundreds of events – both large and small.  Thanks to all of those who shared their experience and insights!

Here are the top 8 key insights from the research:

1.  Social Media has gone mainstream – 80% of events utilize some form of social media.

2. Social Media is not just for tech geeks.  All types of industries and market segments – from association and medical to communications and industrial machinery events – are figuring out how to best use social media for their events.

3. Social Media Strategy is all over the map – common strategies range from Community Building to Marketing to Experimentation to No Strategy.

4. Facebook and Twitter are the leading public platforms – 54% of events utilize both Facebook and Twitter.  Despite it’s business-orientation, LinkedIn surprisingly trails  the more consumer-focused alternatives.

5. Mobile is key – Event attendees show higher mobile adoption than the general population

6.  It’s easy to get started – Most common posting frequency is 2-3 times per week or weekly for public social media.

7.  Most common content areas – Event, industry and exhibitor/sponsor news as well as registration-related posts.

8. Most significant needs – 70%+ events want better attendee/exhibitor search/browse tools; 50%+ want advance meeting scheduling tools.   If we do say so ourselves, this is where ZeristaPRO comes in.

Additional data and insights are available here:

Click here to download the detailed report on Event Social Media Adoption and Strategies.

Your thoughts?  Are you surprised by any of the findings?  Is there something that you would like to know more about?

Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures, modified by Jennifer Gargotto