Use Social Media to Promote Your Exhibition and Stand

There are many reasons why you may have chosen to exhibit at a Business to Business (B2B) exhibition, such as Business South. These include raising your profile, making sales, launching a new product or new service as well as giving you an opportunity to network.

In today’s business environment social media networking is a vital additional component in any marketing mix.

Tell People Where You Are and What the Exhibition is About

Once you have decided to take a stand at an exhibition you will want to encourage your clients, suppliers and potential clients to stop by your stand and meet you in person. Instead of trying to meet in their offices or at your premises by enticing them to visit you at an exhibition, they can spend time with you but also benefit from seminars or networking events that the exhibition organisers are running. Adding value to their time and helping them look more favourably upon your company.

Social media, or #SoMe as Twitter people may refer to it, is free but does take time. However, using different social media platforms to raise the profile of the exhibition as well as letting people know you will be exhibiting is essential if you want to get the best value for money out of any exhibition you are involved with.

Make Social Media Part of Your Marketing Mix

Any marketing mix should include multiple strands, including social media, which will help promote footfall to your stand and traffic to your website, if you use it well to promote any prize draw you may be offering, for example.

Social media is becoming a vital part of business. It cannot be overlooked by any company in any field. Social media has become an integral part of marketing for every company to build clients, build trust among consumers and to stay on top of negative and positive comments related to a particular brand. It is also invaluable in promoting awareness about events, which includes exhibitions and seminars.

Interesting Social Media Facts from 2011 reports:

· 69% of Fortune 500 companies now have a Twitter or Facebook account (up from 35% in 2009).

· Social networking now accounts for nearly a quarter (23%) of all time spent online. 88% of British people use social networking sites.

· Web-based email usage dropped 59% among 12-17 year olds (this has the potential impact to affect the way the next generation communicates with each other especially as much of the world’s population is under the age of 30).

· 78% of internet users conduct research online. There was more data in 2009 than in the previous 5,000 years.

· In 2011 in Britain, Ofcom reported that over a quarter of adults and nearly half of all teens own a smartphone with 37% of adults and 60% of teens highly addicted to them. Smartphones are affecting social behaviour.

Social Media Keeps Your Profile at the forefront of Peoples’ Minds:

· It informs

· It allows networking with more people

· It enables you to sell products, services and events

· It encourages people to use you for repeat business as your profile acts as a constant reminder

It is vitally important to make time for an online profile. When your online reputation and customer service matters to you, you need to be on top of what people are saying about your business which means you need to be online.

Social Media Works When Used Properly

Social Media when conducted properly will bring you additional business by creating new opportunities, attracting potential employees and starting conversations with prospective clients. The ideal use of Social Media when exhibiting is to raise awareness of what your company is about and then invite people to visit you at your stand to meet you in person. This takes the pressure off the client, or prospective client, but also enables you to move away from the digital world to make face to face contact. The two methods of communicating are very complimentary.

Start Using Social Media at Business South

If you are unsure about how to use social media Business South have organised a free Social Media Class at their exhibition on Thursday 23^rd February (2.00 to 2.45 p.m.) The session will look at Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook and possibly other platforms such as Google+ if the audience are interested.

If you already use Twitter please follow #BizSouth for updates.

For more information about the author of this blog, Nicky Hirst (who will be the panellist answering Twitter related questions) please visit www.splicemarketing.co.uk

Free Splice Web Clinic Being Offered to Local Businesses

It’s not every day that an industry leader in their field offers advice for free to local businesses, with absolutely no catch or obligation attached. However, local Hampshire based internet marketing company, Splice Marketing, is offering businesses just such an opportunity.

During the Business South 2012 exhibition Splice Marketing, will be providing the Splice Web Clinic, a new show feature. They will be giving people FREE advice about websites which those attending the session will be able to take away with them. This information will help business to improve their conversion rates and maximise their online presence.

Ray Vernon, Managing Director of Splice Marketing said,

“The team from Splice Marketing believe passionately in supporting the local community and are looking forward to meeting people at this event to discuss their business and the challenges they currently face with both their businesses and their websites. If people are unable to attend the exhibition we will still be happy to chat to them about the role of websites for business”.

Splice Marketing specialises in high quality web design and e-marketing services in Hampshire and also has clients elsewhere in the UK and internationally. Information about their services is available at www.splicemarketing.co.uk

Those interested in attending the free Splice Web Clinic are requested to book in advance to avoid disappointment but also to allow the Splice Marketing team to look at the website and provide a more in depth analysis than would be possible without prior booking i.e a look at keywords, loading times, graphics.

Business South 2012 is a Business2Business show giving businesses in the Southern region the opportunity to exhibit their products and services to business men and woman in the South. It will be held on Wednesday 22^nd February to Thursday 23^rd February 2012 at the Rose Bowl, Botley Road, West End, Southampton (from 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.) both days. For more information and to register to attend please visit www.business2businessshows.com/business-south

Nicky Hirst from Splice Marketing together with James Potter (aka The LinkedIn Man), Mark Edmunds (from Shooting Business) and James Coleman will also be hosting a,

Social Media Master Class on Thursday 23^rd February at Business South from 2.00 to 2.45 p.m.

This is also a free event and will cover Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook, as well as Google+ if sufficient interest in this latest social media platform.