Trade Shows Success with Social Media and Lead Capture

Social Media and Trade Shows: Bridging the Gap

Many marketers (maybe most) are not taking advantage of what social media and inbound marketing have to offer for businesses participating in trade shows.

We want to ensure you are making good use of all the inbound marketing software and social tools at your disposal which can help you solidify the connection from real world presence to trackable lead. Plus, create buzz leading up to your event, maximize the traffic to your booth, and nurture the relationships you build as your prospects move from lead to sale.

An effective trade show contact to qualified lead journey begins long before the event and continues long after.


Before the Show

  1. Start preparing your social media campaign well in advance of the event (maybe months)
  2. Use social media to build buzz about yor attentance while inquiring what prospects and customers want to see at your booth.
  3. Create unique landing page with trackig URL for customers and prospects to convert on based on their interaction at the show.
  4. Find industry experts to do a guest blog leading up to the show to help support your credibility.
  5. Promote giveaways through your social media outlets (ie. the first 15 people to visit your booth each day receive a free X).
  6. Set quantifiable goals for leads generated, conversion rates, and sales attributed to those leads.

During the Show

  1. Use the live event to literally connect people who visit your booth to your lead capture page, and get a legal Opt-In (business card draws are not opt-ins, and therefor you may not legally email them after the show. You can call the though. Yeah, I know...) so you can build on your new relationship moving forward.
  2. Create a unique display worthy of being photographed next to – then offer to take a joint selfie – and ask them to tweet it with you.
  3. Follow through on a planned giveaway (keep in mind that prizes are much better at attracting low quality leads than prospective customers).
  4. Incorporate time-sensitive offers promoted through social media to drive traffic to your booth (10 minutes for a free X giveaway).
  5. Record your presentations so you can upload them later for those who were unable to attend.
  6. Inform visitors how to connect with you on your various social media platforms. (Twitter and LinkedIn are usually the easiest.)

After the Show

  1. Follow up, follow up, follow up!
  2. Use social media to keep the conversations between you and your customers and prospects going.
  3. Use your blog to answer any questions that arose during the show, in longer form.
  4. Upload and promote the videos you shot at your show (not the ones from the parties). Embed them in your posts.
  5. Personally thank people for attending!
  6. Study the successes/failures of your lead capture efforts using Google Analytics and HubSpot, and mark the offline event in these tools (wathch for associated activity).

A lot to digest? Ask us to help.

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