Relationships with family, friends, and co-workers can thrive when they are nurtured with time, care, and attention. That same kind of intentional approach can transform social media connections into lasting relationships with convention attendees, vendors, sponsors, and venues.
A low-stress introduction
A consistent, active social media presence can be the first step to a lasting relationship. “Social media is often the easiest place in our culture right now [to start a relationship]. It is very accessible. It is an easy place for people to engage initially. They might find you and it is very non-confrontational to leave a comment or like a photo,” says McKenzi Taylor, owner of wedding businesses Cactus Collective Weddings and Electric Sugar Elopements, and photography business Taylored Photo.
Taylor’s wedding businesses almost exclusively serve couples nationwide who want destination weddings. Social media can be a comfortable, approachable resource for others to learn more about a company, vendor, or event. “It is really a great place for your peers, suppliers, or vendors to find you and build a relationship to work with you,” Taylor says. “Especially vendors I have noticed will reach out and want to work with us.”
What types of social media reach your audience?
Facebook remains a viable social media presence even as it is facing competition from Instagram, X (the former Twitter), YouTube, and TikTok, among others. Increasingly, Facebook is a starting point where people seek information about a company, product, person, or event. “Facebook users are referring to Facebook in the same way we used Wikipedia,” says Cyndee Harrison, principal at Synaptic, a marketing and public relations agency in Fort Worth and other locations. “Facebook is very searchable. People will discover a brand and go to Facebook to find out more about it. It is really important that the content there demonstrates it is a brand that is ‘with it.’ Even the youngest, hippest, coolest [consumers] tend to Facebook (for research).”
Beyond Facebook, Harrison recommends convention planners and all businesses use the social media channels that best align with their audience. “Media loves Twitter, or X. Influencers love it. Politicians love it. They love the speed of the conversation there,” Harrison explains.
“For events focusing on thought leadership and professional development, Twitter and LinkedIn are excellent for their networking and content-sharing capabilities,” says Marshal Davis, president and owner of Ascendly Marketing and Website Design, a marketing agency with multiple locations throughout Texas. “For more visually oriented events, such as festivals or cultural gatherings, Instagram and Pinterest are ideal for their visual appeal and storytelling potential. The key is to align the platform with the event’s theme and audience preferences for maximum impact and engagement,” Davis says.
Ashley Smith, owner of Social Jargon, a boutique social media agency with clients nationwide, says LinkedIn and X tend to appeal to corporate industries, such as science, research, and technology—companies whose content is not necessarily likely to have the type of visual appeal that works well on Instagram or Pinterest. Weddings, parties, arts, and entertainment that are highly visual are well suited to Instagram. Taylor says her businesses’ Instagram accounts are where vendors and couples often find her.
On LinkedIn, which Taylor uses for her B2B-oriented photography company, she developed a strategy when she wants to connecting with someone and invite them to follow her. She sends a photo and a short video, introducing her company’s services for businesses and entrepreneurs. According to Taylor, this more personalized approach has led many people to connect with her business.
LinkedIn is the social media channel Michelle Nicole McNabb advises planners to devote more time and effort toward. McNabb is the owner, founder, and external director of events for Emenee Marketing ’n Events. She is based in Baltimore, Md., but works with clients across the nation. McNabb says Instagram has been “hit or miss, depending on the industry,” but believes its visual nature makes it a good channel for engaging conference attendees, vendors, sponsors, and exhibitors. “Throughout [an event], I love seeing pictures and behind-the-scenes [activities] and tagging exhibitors and sponsors,” McNabb says. “YouTube is great for repurposing content, [such as videos of] sessions or interviews.” Facebook can be useful for B2B messaging, she adds. “I see Facebook more for the paid-ad route to promote [the event],” McNabb says. “It is more for promoted sessions and sponsored posts.”
Tools of engagement
A content calendar is an essential part of a social media strategy, as well as tools that invite people to have conversations and get to know you, your event, and each other. Identifying which social media channels your audience is using is a vital part of planning a content calendar, McNabb says. “Where are we [the event planner] showing up, and is that where our audience is, and what do they need from us?” she says. “What does the organizer’s marketing plan look like before, during, and after [the event]?”
Planners may find that they use a different type of social media at an event than they do otherwise. “If you are polling your attendees ahead of time, you may want to keep that in mind,” Harrison says. “Ask them, ‘How will you be engaging on social media while attending the ABC show?’”
Ahead of an event or conference, Smith notes, planners could encourage people to tag someone on social media who they know should come to the event. During the event, invite attendees to take and share group photos, and ask attendees to post about what was most meaningful or helpful to them at the event. “Really, it is about making the content more about the attendees and less about the actual event,” Smith says. “You need to explain the who, what, why, when of your event; but it is also about using that particular platform to communicate. It is giving them behind-the-scenes content…It is also bringing in the speaker, addressing and thanking sponsors, and highlighting everything that can or will happen at the event.”
Davis recommends developing a year-round content calendar that includes regular updates, throwback posts, and teasers for upcoming events. “Hosting virtual mini-events, like webinars or live Q&A sessions, keeps the audience engaged and anticipating future events. Utilizing polls and chat rooms on such platforms as Facebook and LinkedIn can foster a community feeling, keeping the conversation going,” he says.
Especially in the weeks leading up to a conference or event, LinkedIn is the place where McNabb encourages planners to post photos of guest speakers and event organizers, along with a map showing vendors’ locations. Those kinds of posts help familiarize attendees with who they will see at the event. “Get a headshot of team members. [As someone attending an event], I want to see on LinkedIn who I am looking to meet and where are they on the show floor,” McNabb says. “If you have a session or speaking engagement where you are shaking hands and meeting people, tag [a guest speaker or event organizer].”
McNabb also suggests exhibitors and sponsors tailor vendors’ area maps by highlighting their specific location and using such messaging as, “Come meet us at booth 1.” This could help attendees find exactly the exhibitors they want to meet, she says.
Hashtags remain a favorite tool of Smith’s for inviting guest speakers, exhibitors, and attendees to engage, especially on LinkedIn and Instagram. Hashtags are used less frequently on Facebook, she says. Creating a branded hashtag ahead of a conference or event and sharing it widely on social media gives conference attendees a way to find others who will be at the event and start networking online. Then, they can follow up with in-person introductions during the conference.
Following a hashtag means people can quickly find information you and others are posting online about your event. A hashtag is also an opportunity to spark more online engagement. For example, Smith says, convention planners could let attendees know that if they post on Instagram using the event hashtag, they will be entered into a drawing for free tickets to next year’s conference. “It goes into an overall strategy; with that hashtag, as the coordinator or as the event planner, you can direct people to your most popular social media platform, and people will be using it on their [favorite] platform. It is worth them knowing that hashtag,” Smith says. “It is one of those components that gets overlooked, but it is a way to keep the conversation going and to see what attendees are saying and posting about the event.”
A tourism conference that Smith attended incorporated public posts using their hashtag into a slideshow to further drive social media use during the event. “It just blew up,” Smith recalls. “People were sharing photos of their posts on the big-screen slideshow,” Smith says. “They were on the big screen, so everyone is seeing their content. That is another way to use hashtags as part of the convention.”
Davis recommends real-time activities during events, which can create a dynamic conversation with attendees, enhance their experience, and offer opportunities to connect and network.
Practical help and connections
Facebook and LinkedIn groups can foster community and connection year-round. Davis believes private Facebook groups for event attendees can help build community under the banner of a convention or conference. The groups serve as a resource for interacting with others in their industry. “To engage people with a company, organization, or even vendors, you can invite them into a private group. That builds a relationship with attendees, and vendors feel like they’re getting a little bit more out of your event, even though the event planner is the one providing value,” he says.
Davis also suggests joint webinars with vendors. Webinars are a good opportunity to connect vendors with those registered for upcoming events; after events, webinars continue to provide valuable information to attendees and keep relationships going.
Private event groups on social media can serve as “matchmaking opportunities,” as Harrison explains, that foster online and in-person networking. “I feel that all of us need to do a better job of actually stewarding people who attend trade shows,” she says, noting that Synaptic has had success helping people find Facebook groups for trade shows. It could be as simple as a moderator asking the group if anyone is attending from a certain city. “Typically, folks will connect themselves.”
Meeting online first could lead to networking in person at the show and potentially fostering new business relationships. While starting a Facebook group is free, it requires planning and strategy to get it running well ahead of your event, so people can be invited, join, and begin to communicate in the group. Planners can use the group to continue reaching out to its members throughout the year.
The groups, whether on Facebook or LinkedIn, become useful communities. Groups for professional associations and convention planners, for example, can foster relationships by providing a safe, open space where group members can share their experiences at events and shows, McNabb says. She particularly likes LinkedIn events, which can be inclusive and informal. “If the event organizer could have a consistent LinkedIn event, you could invite sponsors, attendees, and speakers before your event and throughout the year, almost like a podcast,” she says. “A LinkedIn event is more informal. People can come and go…It feels more authentic and casual, in terms of conversation.”
Taylor serves on the board of the Wedding International Professional Association. She says Facebook or LinkedIn groups, or hosting such events as webinars, offer organizations, vendors, and businesses the opportunity to build relationships simply by helping others
in your industry.
“I think being a good steward and mentor to rising folks in our spaces is really impactful,” she says. “It is not competition. You can be a great mentor, and often in return they will refer other people and businesses to you.”
McNabb says planners of conventions, conferences, and other events benefit from a year-round social media presence to avoid the “roller coaster” of blasting out information for a few weeks or months ahead of an event—followed by a cold outreach months later, when it is time for the next event. “That is where visibility, engagement, and co-collaboration comes in. See how you can engage with sponsors and attendees,” she says.
To remain consistent throughout the year, as soon as a conference, convention, or event is over, start marketing for the next one, Davis says. “You take one event and you’ve got to find 1,000 different angles to [promote] it. What that allows you to do is draw out talking about it for a while. If [an attendee or sponsor] is thinking about an event and people are coming from all over, you’ve got to build up to it. That affects vendors, too. They see a buzz around it.”
Year-round reminders
Harrison suggests conference and event planners set up media stations, where attendees could film a short video about what they found most meaningful or something that they learned and want to implement as part of their own event planning. Convention and event planners could repurpose the videos throughout the year, tagging conference attendees with a shout-out. The shared videos also serve as a refresher after events, Harrison says. “You leave a trade show, and your brain is overloaded with big ideas. Social media is a great way to encourage attendees to hold themselves accountable.”
Smith suggests having a dedicated team that could interview attendees, and those interviews could be used as “throwback posts” throughout the year. Attendees’ video comments also provide planners with insight into what went well—or perhaps, what didn’t—during the event.
Social media posts that share people’s positive feedback are fun and remind attendees of great information they heard at your conference or event, Harrison says. Social media posts, videos, webinars, and other tactics could also inspire attendees to return for your next conference or convention—and perhaps attract new attendees.
