Social media musts at trade shows
By now you’re likely aware of the many options of social media platforms out there. You have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more. These platforms have new features that are changing the social media landscape. These new changes can help you or hurt you if you aren't keeping up. Here are some things to consider at your next trade show to get your attendees involved.
- Ephemeral Content. Facebook, Instagram & Snapchat stories are all examples of ephemeral content – spontaneous social posts that only last for a period of time. We are used to creating well-thought-out posts to get engagement. But with stories it's the complete opposite. It's a great place to showcase your recent trade show moments with little thinking involved.
- Facebook Algorithms. Facebook made a major change to its news feed in early 2018, saying it would be showing users more posts from friends and family, and fewer from businesses and publishers. Going forward, trade show marketers will thus have to rely more on promoted posts, ads and influencers to reach their Facebook audiences.
- Chatbots for All Types of Businesses. Chatbots were first used for big companies and franchise businesses. But they are increasing their usage to almost everyone. Chatbots are computer programs designed to simulate talking to a customer service rep or sales rep. With more than 80% of customer inquiries or complaints ignored or poorly handled, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven chatbots can help busy exhibitors field questions and escalate hard leads to your sales team.
3 content marketing trends that continue to rule 2018
People are being bombarded by content by the minute. So how do you get to your audience and still make an impact and not just become another quick scroll post? Here are the three trends that can help you reach your audience better.
- Almost all the content you publish will be temporary content. Consumers simply can’t take in all this content. So they’ll look for ways to filter it. Try to have more personalized content and adjust as needed. Keep track of which posts do well and try to modify your content after those posts.
- The dominance of text-based content will continue to fade. We're not necessarily saying blogs are dead, but we are saying vloggers are becoming more prominent. It is the year of video, we should have expected this. If you’re only doing text-based content, it’s time to consider adding video content in your advertising, website, and social media. Video – live video in particular – is expected to be the treasure of 2018.
- Trust is the "secret sauce." Many people have mentioned this in our industry, but sales and marketing live and die by trust. Trust can take many forms, too. There’s the trust you build (or burn) by deciding to teach rather than sell in your content. Then there’s the inherent trust our audiences have for user-generated content, whether that content is a shared photo on social media, or an online review, or a word-of-mouth recommendation. Building trust is also something to consider. It definitely takes time and having case studies, testimonials, and white papers can help too.
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