After 28 years in New York, the Licensing International Expo (LE) convened for the first time in Las Vegas in June 2009, with 16,000 attendees and more than 400 exhibitors. To attract attention and as many attendees as possible to the show in its new location, organizers looked to social media, kicking off a promotional campaign with an iPod giveaway via Twitter, and encouraging the use of Twitter among attendees and exhibitors at every stage of the event.

To start building buzz for LE, Advanstar Communications, which produces the event, announced it would hold a drawing to give away 50 iPod Touches. The giveaway started 10 weeks prior to the show and LE awarded an iPod each weekday up until the show. Each of the show’s new followers on Twitter and Facebook was entered into the drawing, which was only publicized through the two social networks.

“We engineered the giveaway to create critical mass on Twitter and Facebook as quickly as possible,” says Eric Wahl, Group Marketing Director at Advanstar Communications. “It was designed to reach the people who follow us and their networks; everyone who referred to us or followed us was entered in the giveaway. It allowed us to build a really large list of potential attendees without purchasing a list.”

Within a few weeks, LE had amassed 700 new Twitter followers and 200 new Facebook fans, thanks to the giveaway. Winners of the iPod Touches had to come to the show to pick them up, so at least 50 attendees showed up as a direct result of the giveaway. While organizers believe the giveaway spurred interest that encouraged more new attendees, they didn’t have the ability last year to associate a registrant’s Twitter ID with his or her other identifying information. This year, LE registration forms will ask for attendees’ Twitter IDs and mobile phone numbers, to measure the effectiveness of both social media and mobile marketing.

While the iPhone giveaway kicked off LE’s social media marketing, it was just the beginning. Organizers quickly found Twitter to be more effective than Facebook for their shows, as networking via Facebook is often more friend-based, not necessarily profession-based like Twitter, Wahl says. As a result, it’s more difficult to reach similar professionals via Facebook than via Twitter, where people tend to follow other professionals in their own industry. So, LE organizers rolled the giveaway into a full Twitter campaign. First, they encouraged attendees and exhibitors to tweet live from the show, publishing Twitter tutorials on the show Web site and sending e-mails that explained how to create a Twitter account, follow LE (Twitter handle @LicensingExpo) and choose a Twitter client compatible with different mobile phones.

At the show, monitors posted around the facility displayed a real-time Twitter feed of any tweets that included the show’s hashtag. The show’s Web site also included the live Twitter feed so that those who couldn’t make it to the show still got a sense of what was going on, Wahl says.

On site, the Twitter monitors did more than show what attendees were thinking; they also helped drive traffic to specific areas. When organizers noticed that a number of attendees were leaving the show floor to go to the food court, they began tweeting about the food specials available from food vendors on the show floor. “A lot of people didn’t know there were concessions on the show floor because they were in an area that wasn’t highly trafficked,” Wahl says. “After we started tweeting about the food, lines very quickly started to form at concession stands. With Twitter, we were able to direct traffic, nearly in real time.”

Similarly, exhibitors in the know were able to drive traffic to their own booths. Prior to the show, LE organizers educated exhibitors about how to promote their products via Twitter. “The exhibitors who embraced it and understood it had a very good experience,” Wahl says. “Especially those with younger staff members, such as Boy Scouts of America, did a great job using Twitter to drive traffic and promote their booth.”

Because LE doesn’t own the data, Wahl says it isn’t easy to measure the effects of Twitter usage. But organizers are convinced that based on the number of Twitter referrals they received last year, the social media tool is the most costeffective way to get new registrants compared with direct marketing, telemarketing and list buying. This year, organizers are starting earlier, tweeting all LE news as well as posting it on Facebook throughout the year in an effort to drive traffic to the Web site and build interest in the show. So far, it’s working: Since show organizers began their efforts, year-over-year traffic to the LE Web site has increased 500 percent.

LE’s Strategy

GOAL: To use social media to quickly amass a group of targeted potential attendees, build interest in the show, and direct traffic both online and on-site.

STRATEGY: Stage an iPod giveaway promoted only via Twitter and Facebook, and use energy from the giveaway to launch a Twitter campaign throughout the meeting.

RESULTS: Through the iPod giveaway, Licensing International Expo quickly built a list of 700 new Twitter followers and 200 Facebook fans. The on-site Twitter campaign made the Licensing International Expo one of the top Twitter topics over the days of the show, redirected foot traffic to tweeted-about sections of the show and traffic to the expo’s Web site increased 500 percent year-over-year.

 

 

Here is an article about my iPod initiative to seed social media networks.