Getting the most from Twitter at LIVE events - with Zoe Cairns from ZC Media

This guest blog comes from social media expert, presenter and trainer Zoe Cairns from ZC Media

• Are you exhibiting this year? 
• Are you attending one of the main business shows in your region? 
• Would you like to engage with the attendees and other exhibitors before meeting them?

You can build and establish a rapport, know-like and trust to accelerate your business relationship with them before attending the event!

This is how……

Pre Event

#Hashtag

Find out what the event hashtag is. The event organiser should display this on their website.

Once discovered you can then go onto twitter and type this hashtag into the search bar. This will then bring up all the tweets and media for this hashtag.

Have a browse through what has already been tweeted, check out the conversation and pictures being shared. Start to engage back with this audience as these are the people and organisations that will be at the event.

If you are using Tweetdeck, Hootsuite or Sendible you can add this hashtag stream to your dashboard and whenever there is a new post with this hashtag you will be notified and kept up to date with the conversation.

Check the event website for exhibitors and find them on twitter

A great way to get your brand in front of other exhibitors to raise brand awareness is to start following them on twitter and engaging with them.

Visit the event’s website and check out who will be exhibiting. You can either then find their twitter link on their website or via the twitter search by typing in their company name.

Once you have found their twitter account follow them and add them to a twitter list called the event name i.e.: KentB2B.

When you follow someone on twitter they are notified that you have followed them. They will then hopefully reciprocate and follow you back.  Again this is great for building brand awareness but also the start of building a business relationship with someone before attending the event.

Engage

Once you have created your twitter list and added the people tweeting with that particular hashtag to the twitter list too, you can then start engaging with these people before the event.

Check your twitter list on a regular basis as to what the contributors are saying, sharing and posting. Engage with them; comment on their posts, share their content if valuable and contribute to their conversation. This will start to build a rapport with those people.

Please note: Don’t stalk them ;-)

Remember to include the hashtag in your tweets and replies. This then means your tweets and replies are included in the conversation stream too.

Tweet about the event

Put together 8-10 tweets about your presence at the event either as an attendee or an exhibitor. Make other people aware that you will be there and start to build that rapport with them before attending.

Let people know what stand you will be on or alternatively tell people you will be visiting the event and who would like a coffee with you?

At the Event

Schedule

If you are exhibiting it is hard to be able to manage your stand and try to tweet throughout the day too. You don’t want to look rude by being on your phone all day!

My suggestion is that you schedule 4-5 tweets throughout the day to post that mentions you, your company and stand and where people can find you.

Be inviting.

Don’t spam with constant selling messages. Give them a good fun reason to come and meet with you.

Use tools such as Hootsuite, Buffer and Sendible to schedule these messages. Remember though you need to be engaging as well. In your comfort breaks and lunch check out the hashtag stream of conversation on the event and engage with the attendees and other exhibitors. Share pictures of your stand, competitions you are running, pictures of your team! Be engaging.

Check your notifications

Make sure someone is checking your twitter notifications whilst at the event. It could be that someone has noticed

your tweet in the conversation stream and is engaging back. It might be that they are wondering what stand you are on, or that they have just met you!

If they have just met you and tweeted mentioning your twitter handle, make sure you re share with all of your followers and with the conversation hashtag stream to show other people. This will increase the reach of your message and brand to the wider audience.

At the Ashford Kent B2B over 1200 tweets were send with over 1.3 million impressions with 800 unique people seeing the tweets. If your message was sent out with the relevant hashtag for the event this would be great brand awareness and exposure for your business!

Engage

Try to engage with as many people as you can who are engaging on the hashtag stream of conversation.  This will get your brand seen by as many of the people contributing to the conversation and also start to build the rapport with those people and companies too.

Post Event

Continue to Engage

Many people after an event will stop engaging and following the people they have engaged with.

I believe this is the most important time to engage with them.

You have spent the last few weeks online and at the event building a rapport, know-like and trust.

Now maintain that relationship with that company to develop into a great referrer, contact or client.

Happy tweeting and engaging!

Zoe

5 top tips to make your speed networking session a success

5 top tips to make your speed networking session a success

Most businesses would agree — referrals and face-to-face contact are the best ways to build and nurture business relationships — however, contrary to this many businesses spend many thousands of pounds placing advertising and sending marketing via email or though the post. 

Why you should get involved with speed networking?

If meeting someone is the best way to judge whether you can do business with them why don’t more businesses get involved with networking? Well, for many people it seems to be a little bit of nerves that can keep them away from meetings — so, if a breakfast or lunch seems too daunting how about the best and quickest form of networking — speed networking?

Speed networking is not a new concept, however, in a time when we seem to be spending more and more of our working day communicating online and through email it makes a refreshing and interesting change to your business development strategy. Arguably, speed networking will give you access to more people in one hour than you might normally meet in a month. It’s quite normal to feel a little apprehensive but do a little prep work beforehand those nerves should be calmed.

As ever preparation is key

1. Make sure you have a great opener for each of your pitches — just 10 seconds will do, covering an introduction, what your business is about or what you are looking for.  

2. Try to think about the different types of people and businesses you are going to meet and how you could change your intro to meet their needs — you’ll have far more success if you can slightly tailor your pitch to each person. 

3. Be practical — remember your business cards and a pen to make notes (on the back of each card is a good idea) and remember people’s names!

4. Not everyone is going to seem suitable for you or perhaps be interested in your product or service right now, but, remember to “think outside the box” — the product or service may not be suitable today but what about next month or in year’s time when you have diversified or grown? Consider whether a contact could become a mentor or a partner or a franchisee? The people who gain the most from these sessions are those that are the most open minded. 

5. Although it may seem counter intuitive, do your best to help the people that you meet — try to offer solutions to them and their challenges. You’d be surprised at how this “pay it forward” mentality has helped many businesses — perhaps not immediately but at some point. You’ll impress your new contact and you never know they may well recommend or use you in the future. 

Networking for success

Many of the most successful entrepreneurs are those that have spent their time networking — building trustworthy, reliable contacts across their industry, in support services and a wide variety of geographical locations. Meeting people and developing positive relationships is surely the key to a successful business?

So, hopefully now you should feel a little more prepared for a speed networking session? Well you can book your slot here for the East Kent B2B 11th September. And let us know how you get on ……

5 reasons to consider event sponsorship

As marketing budgets begin to increase once more many organisations will begin reviewing their spend in terms of both finance and the channels that they use. Whilst the march of social media and online marketing continues apace many marketers are starting to look at some alternative means in order to get their brand out there and recognised. With the growing noise across many channels, an alternative strategy may be the way to be seen and heard by more of your audience. So, along with a return to the more traditional areas of print marketing, the arena of event sponsorship should also be considered as a great way to build your audience and grow exposure. 

Choosing the right event and what you sponsor is absolutely key to your sponsorship success. Consider should the event align itself with your business? Is it attracting the right audience for you? Could it open a new market for you? These are all questions that you need to be pretty sure of the answers before going ahead. One thing is for sure though many business directors agree that exhibitions offer a great way to meet new clients,  so surely extending that to sponsoring makes sense? And do you know what? Sponsorship needn’t cost the earth - it’s not always about sponsoring the whole event, or the event guide - there are generally lots of other smaller opportunities for business to get involved with. Take a look at five reasons why your company should look at event sponsorship.

1. Build credibility with a targeted  audience

Events like B2B exhibitions and conferences are a great way to get to meet your clients, develop relationships with new ones and build authority within your sector. Alongside taking a stand having your company branding elsewhere at the event will help to build recognition of your product or service. Sponsorship will enable you to stand out from the crowd to an audience that has been created for you. What does this mean? Well, a carefully managed exhibition or conference will have heaps of delegates that are ideally placed to be receptive to your product or service - thats’ the job of the event organiser. For them to make the event successful they need to have the right delegates meeting the right exhibitors … and sponsors! Be sure to do your homework and find out exactly who the target market is.

2. Remember the people that aren’t actually there

Now this may sound bizarre but when you are speaking with delegates, contacts or other exhibitors always remember that they most probably have a book full of other people with similar interests or who are in a similar sector, so, remember the people that aren’t at the exhibition and make an excellent impression on those that are. This still holds true for sponsorship - sponsor the event bag or some promotional items and the chances are they will be seen by far more than just the person who attend - gaining you and your business further exposure. 

3. Increase your media exposure

As part of the organisers role the event will undoubtably be well advertised both on and offline - as a sponsor you gain access to this. For businesses that look at becoming a headline or major sponsor the opportunities to spread your reach can be huge. Advertising tends to come as standard on all the events marketing including web sites, email marketing, advertising, but be clever and you can get more involved - creating social media campaigns or other content that align you to the event and build your exposure.  

4. Big or small 

Whatever the size of your business, there is likely to be a sponsorship  opportunity for you. Larger firms may be interested in becoming a headline sponsor - like Caxtons for the Kent B2B’s. Not only does it give them great coverage across the county - which is their main target market - it also goes to show that they are genuinely interested in the local area and businesses within it. However, if you don’t have the resources for headline sponsorship what can you do? One of the best ideas is to pick up the phone and call the event to see what the other options are - there are usually opportunities to sponsor event bags, perhaps the coffee cups (what a great way to get your brand noticed as people stand, chat and network!) or, even get involved with a workshop or sponsor a networking session. 

5. Make more contacts

For some events, becoming a significant sponsor can also open up the events contacts lists for your business. If you have chosen well this list could be one of the premium benefits to your firm - offering you access to a list of delegates that potentially are interested in you.

Making sponsorship opportunities work is a two fold deal - firstly, you need to ensure that the event you are looking at is in the right sector and that the organisers are targeting your potential clients. Then it’s down to you - negotiate well and you could come out with a package that’s worth far more than the money you pay for it. 

Interested in finding out more about sponsorship of our events? Call Carole on 01732 758530.

Dame Kelly Holmes to open West Kent B2B 

Exciting news for the West Kent B2B event as Dame Kelly Holmes has been confirmed to open proceedings on the 30th April at the River Centre in Tonbridge. As a double Olympic Champion Dame Kelly has been an inspiration to many people both on and off the athletics track. Although now retired from the world of track and field, Dame Kelly is still determined to push herself physically and mentally, recently taking part in a Duathlon, an event which combines the disciplines of running and cycling. Aside from sports Dame Kelly is venturing into the world of food, drink and retail by starting her own Cafe in Hildenborough and developing a chain of frozen yoghurts and juice bars. Alongside this, her charity, the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust helps "Get lives on track" through the mentoring from world class sports stars. She recently hosted an event at the River Centre that celebrated the success of the Trust with young people from Kent.

Offering opportunities to all types and sizes of business

With the West Kent B2B event entitled “Leading the Way” Dame Kelly Holmes is the perfect choice –an exemplary sports star intent on developing young lives across the county and beyond. 

Offering industry leading speakers and advice

West Kent B2B is so much more than an exhibition; it is an event that plans to offer advice, information and share knowledge. It is an event where you can give your contacts list a boost by meeting a range of diverse, interesting businesses through speed networking. Or, gain insight through attending the keynote speaker sessions given by industry leaders and find out how to apply their lessons to your business, increasing your sales and profitability. Speakers booked for this year’s event include marketing expert Barnaby Wynter, dynamic entrepreneur Daniel Priestley, media guru Stuart Smith and social media expert Katie King. Tailored specifically for the West Kent market this event also offers insightful workshops and will bring together local and county wide firms, connecting businesses and offering advice for all sizes and types of business. 

West Kent B2B is backed by the West Kent Partnership, the economic partnership for the council areas of Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells and sponsored by Caxtons, one of the leading Chartered Surveyors in the South East.  There will also be the opportunity to hear about “Escalate”, an interest free loan available across West Kent, Maidstone and East Sussex. The event is run by the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, Chief Executive, Jo James commented, “These B2B events are really high quality, engaging and informative. They offer businesses not only the opportunity to meet and network with a huge range of local and Kent wide firms, but also the chance to gain invaluable insight from leading business speakers – a must in the diary of any local business.”

A great day for businesses locally, regionally and nationally, find out more and book your FREE place now - not only will you get £100 FREE advertising but a FREE welcome coffee as well.

Why small businesses should be blogging

If you aren’t changing your web site, on a regular basis, then what have you really got? An online brochure is the answer that many professionals would give you. So, how to keep your web site content fresh should be top of any small businesses marketing agenda. With fresh content comes (hopefully) fresh traffic. Your web site can be jam packed with information about your product or service, have loads of testimonials and recommendations but nothing can develop engagement as quickly as a high quality blog.

Blogs will .....

Blogs offer not only a great way of engaging with your clients but also a brilliant way to increase your authority with them - showing them exactly how much knowledge you have, not only about your product or service, but, also your target market - them! 

Blogs enable people to make immediate contact with you by commenting - offering the perfect opportunity for you to then engage with them in the future, perhaps even making a time for a phone call or a meeting.

Blogs are well loved by the search engines too - Google likes web sites that are updated and many industry experts see them as a one of the most natural ways to build SEO.

Blogs offer your prospective clients more opportunities to find you, as the search engines will be able to pick up on the words within your blog and display them in the search results on those certain words.

What your blog should look like ...

So the reasons why small businesses should have blogging at the top of the “to do” list seems clear - but how to go about it? There are now lots of great, easy to use options for creating blogs - Google and WordPress are two of the favourites. But, bear in mind that ideally you should have your blog hosted within your web site, so that the site also benefits for the traffic your blogs creates. 

Then it pays to do some planning - one of the most important factors is that your blogs are consistent. You are aiming to build a following of people who look out for, or even search out your blogs - don’t leave them hanging. Try to blog two or three times a week - but, at the very least make sure its once. The content needs to be top quality as well - offer useful tips, great insight, share your knowledge, add pictures, links, video clips. 

Developing your social media strategy as a small business owner can seem daunting - so many channels, where to start right? Well, blogging could help you here - creating great content and sharing it across the social media channels can help you to build your networks, whilst directing traffic back to your web site too. A win, win. 

Want to find out more about why blogging is so important? Come along to the FREE workshop at the West Kent B2B on the 30th April at The River Centre, Tonbridge. To book your FREE delegate space that gains you entry to this workshop (and others) plus access to talks by expert key note speakers including Daniel Priestley, Stuart Smith, Katie King and speed networking sessions click here

30 April - The River Centre, Tonbridge