Unlike what you were probably taught in school atoms don’t actually look like a miniature solar system with the nucleus surrounded by electrons in perfect little elliptical orbits. The electrons actually form a cloud around the nucleus where the electrons “could” be at any time. In other words those electrons are not in a standard orbit, they do what they like.

In marketing, the core brand message has supporting media and touch points orbiting around it. It’s nice to think of these opportunities for engagement to be orbiting in tidy paths for customers to interact with in exactly the way that we planned, but of course it doesn’t really work that way. Consumers do what they want, how they want, when they want. They want online and offline media. They want it at this very moment and in the future when they’ll have time, they want to lean back with it and make it their own or share it with friends. Clearly then, prescribed interactions on demarcated paths are going to lose large sets of your intended audience.

Lately I’ve used the image of an electron cloud to describe the marketing tactics needed to allow customers and brands to interact most fully. It requires content and opportunities for engagement across multiple channels often duplicated so that customers’ interaction is customized to their unique use case. Allowing customers then to engage on their own terms increases opportunities and relevancy.

Only a subset of your customers will run into a roadshow event or have the time to stop and check it out. But a social media presence can help more customers become aware of it so it becomes a destination. A microsite makes the event findable by the curious, but time strapped. Social media again can be harnessed to spread the event beyond the location and moment so that while it is experienced by fee it is then shared with many. This also provides new opportunities for brand interaction by monitoring these channels and directly engaging the brand advocates via these channels, thanking them, answering questions and generally welcoming them into the experience brand. It’s the Event Social Agent facilitation that I’ve written about before.

So how are you marketing? Are your touch points on specific paths where you hope people will run into them? Or are they a cloud where your customers and brand advocates can find them wherever they are and can use them in the way that best suits their needs?

The Electron Cloud of Marketing is a post from: Trumblog

I wrote previously about the preproduction work that has to be done by the event social agent before the event or conference in order to be set the stage and be prepared for the big day or few days when they’ll be actively engaged with attendees.

Arm For Bear

The event social agent needs the right tools to do her job.  A laptop with wireless access is crucial.  She also needs a camera, a good one for shots of the presenters and audience.  Be ready to shoot video and edit it on the fly.  This is where practice before the event pays off so that the event social agent can spend more time creating media than getting it online.

Promote Your Hashtag

You should already have your hashtag on your website and print materials.  When the event is taking place let people know the event’s hashtag right at the beginning by projecting it before the event begins, then show it in between speakers and finally anytime you don’t know what else to say.  Get your attendees all talking on the same channel.

Take Advantage of the Rock Stars

Presenters are the rock stars at your conference and the audience wants more.  Make sure that presenters know the hashtag and that they understand they are expected to support the social media component of the event.  Talk about your expectations and ideas, but remember that authenticity is key so don’t force anything or be too pushy.  On the other hand if you have a paid spokesperson attending then you do have room to be direct about your expectations for frequency, content and brand mentions in status updates.  Your presenters don’t Twitter?  No worries, get quotes from them and post those to the event account.

Tweet it

Doesn’t have to be 50 tweets in 2 hours, but tweets that promote the event, build a little attention, give updates on the schedule and generally facilitate and support the conversation that the attendees and presenters are happening.  If there are questions tweeted about the event (“@Mumbler is a low talker.  The back of the room can’t hear half of what his talk on The Purpose of Widgets #hashtag”) respond and help to resolve the situation (“@CantHear Volume has been raised and seems better. Let me know if it’s still too low”).  This shows that you are listening and that you care that the attendees have a good experience.  Think of the role as host and master of ceremonies.  Before each speaker tweet their Twitter handle so that everyone knows it and includes it in their tweets about the presentation.  After the presentation tweet where the slides are posted.

Make Media

Take pictures of the event, the presentations, the attendees, the experiences, the conversations, the signs, the food, the giveaways, everything and anything.  Shoot some video and edit it together on the fly.  Post it all online and build your social media footprint so that when someone searches for the event the scope of your presence pushes you to the top of the results.  The pictures and video don’t have to be perfect, good is sufficient.  Consider the blogger who wants images to support their post about the amazing opening performance, unbelievable turnout, rapt attention, buzzworthy stunt, etc. ensure that there are picture of those moments for them to include.  Be sure to make the images creative commons licensed.  You want to encourage usage, but protect the images from misuse and get attribution.

Mingle

Remember that this is a physical event that you want to expand through social media and social networks.  Therefore this requires that you be social at the event itself.  Meet the attendees (the presenters should already know you).  Walk around the event and say hello.  See a Twitterer that you recognize? Let them know that you do.  Take their picture and let them know where it will be posted.  Hand out cards with your Twitter handle for the event, the event’s hashtag, and all of the events social network and media accounts. Solicit sharing and encourage attendees to interact with the media online.  Remember: if you post a picture on Facebook and no one tags it does it exist?

Post that Media

Get those pictures that are taken at the event posted to Flickr and Facebook live at the event and then Twitter that they are there.  If there is a picture of a blogger or twittered send them a direct message about it.  The same goes for video.  Post it to YouTube right away.  It’s best to get media online immediately so that whenever someone searches for info he or she finds something. If that stuff is online after the consumer searches that opportunity is lost. However don’t let technical issues stop media production.  This should be all checked in advance., but when disaster strikes don’t spend all of your time troubleshooting the issue.  Accept the situation, go back to twittering and taking pictures and let people know that photos will be online later.  Be honest about when the media will be posted and then hit that deadline.

Monitor

As I said earlier, the role of the event social agent is the master of ceremonies.  Listen to your guests and guide them into the conversation.  Monitor Twitter and if someone is twittering about the event, but with a misspelled brand name or location, maybe with the wrong hash tag you need to be listening well enough to find them and interact with them too so that they are part of the conversation as well.  Retweet good comments that aren’t being picked up or to get the conversation rolling.  Favorite the best and most complimentary tweets. Know when pictures or video are posted online by attendees and request that they be added to the group pool.  Twitter their location so that the whole community knows about them.  Keep in mind that you are facilitating the community’s involvement, not overly publicizing the event or conference and use that tone of voice with your communication.

I’ve mentioned Twitter, Flickr and YouTube a lot in this post, but you can substitute Facebook, Picasa, Vimeo, etc.  The key is to be active in the networks where your audience is.  Keep in mind though that you probably don’t want to put all of your eggs in one basket, especially if it’s a walled garden like Facebook.  Distributing your media widely and making it easily accessible without requiring registration or friending will spread your message further.

Next up – Event Social Agent: Extending The Experience

Previously – Event Social Agent: Live At The Conference

Event Social Agent: Live At The Conference is a post from: Trumblog

You cannot expecting an event social agent to hit the ground running on the day of the conference.  Preproduction for the event social agent is just as important as for the rest of the event crew. There is plenty of work that needs to be done in advance so that he has the tools that are needed to do the job and prepared for the last minute emergencies that will inevitably happen.

Set up social network and social media accounts

The brand probably has a Facebook page, but you may need an event page.  Same goes for MySpace.  Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Slideshare; accounts for all these networks are needed for the event too.  Using a consistent name for these accounts will be help attendees find them. Post promotional materials, logos, etc. right away so that natural buzz for the event can be supported with your own media.  Get started with status updates promoting the event and connecting with attendees.  Set up a Twitter list of attendees and presenters for easy following.  Post your hashtag everywhere.

Produce the event website

Every event from the biggest conference to the smallest PR event needs a website.  It isn’t as if most don’t, but the problem is that it’s often done wrong.  For conferences the websites are often focused on registration and aren’t built for longevity to support the need of social networking to extend the experience and therefore don’t answer key questions to facilitate social engagement.

• What is the hashtag?
• Where is the Tweet stream?
• What are the presenters Twitter handles?
• How do I connect with other attendees?
• What is the Flickr pool?
• What is the event’s YouTube channel?
• Can I access presentations on Slideshare?
• How do bloggers access media to promote the event and turn this viral?

Can you answer those questions with your conference’s website?

For smaller events the issue is different.  In these cases the website often focuses on the campaign with little mention of the event itself.  That can be an issue for attendees who’s awareness of the campaign is based on the event and somehow don’t catch the brand or campaign name or slogan.

A quick example. I’m a marathoner working in the Boston Back Bay and on my way out of Park Street Station I see an event about runners. I’m a busy guy. I don’t have time to stop or grab a flier. But I see the shoe brand name and understand that their shoes have something to do with the marathon. Later I search online for info about the event “Boston Common BrandName Runner”.  The search turns up locations to buy the shoe, but I already knew where the running stores are and I run in a different shoe anyway.  Search complete.  But what was missed was the chance to deliver the specific brand message from the event and sway me to your brand.  Opportunity missed.

ID Your Materials

Include your social media links to all of your materials.  The event brochures, schedules, etc all should have your social network and media account names and the hash tag on them.  Make sure that the PowerPoint template includes the hashtag and that presenters know that they are expected to include their handle at the beginning AND at the end of their presentations.  Make the social media information easy to find and prepare for it rather than leaving it as an afterthought that you have to overcome at the event causing  more legwork for presenters and the social media agent.

Research

The social media agent needs to know the topic.  He is a facilitator, a mingler, a member of the community.  Doing that without an understanding of the topic and audience the social media agent is sure to fail.  The social part here is key and in an online minute those attendees will sniff out that they are being sold rather than engaged with.  Make sure that the social media agent knows their stuff:

• Who is the audience and what is their reason for being there?  Know the topic, this is critical for making connections.
• Who are the big names, headlining presenters? Be able to pick them out of a crowd.
• What is the event schedule? Checking a printout for details is fine, but you must know the general arc of the conference.
• Know the hashtag, twitter handles, and social media accounts so you can pass them along.

Connect with Trust Agents

Identify the connectors for your vertical who will be attending your conference and show them some love.  Give them time with presenters.  Send them materials in advance.  Once these relationships are established and trust earned you can spend your days at the conference talking about the topic at hand rather than determining who’s best at spreading the word and spending time to make connections when there are so many other things that you need to be working on.  For smaller events identify social media mavens who would be interested in your event and invite them specifically.  Drive some awareness. Provide some authenticity. Give them a reason to attend and a friendly face when they do.

Get Business Cards

Hopefully your Twitter handle, website url, Flickr account name, Facebook page name, email address, YouTube channel, Slideshare account name, and all of the other accounts are all consistently named, easy to remember and posted online. But for old school attendees a business card with social media links can be handy for passing out when you speak with them.  This can be especially useful at a PR event that people are just passing through and as a way to deliver this information if it was missed in the conference schedules and other print materials.

Check Out Your Gear

Do not use your laptop or camera for the first time on the day of the event. That is a rookie move that WILL bite you.  Make sure that you can log in to all of the social networks and that you have them bookmarked.  Take some pictures, download them to the laptop and upload them to Flickr.  Check your internet access and know where the dead spots and best connection can be found.  Know who to go to with questions, issues that are passed on via social media and when the wireless internet goes down, which it surely will at some point.  Charge all of your batteries.  Have spares and know where you can change up if that fails.  Be prepared.

Not all of these tasks actually require the involvement of your event social agent.  The website for example.  No need for the event social agent to be involved in this,  but she will need it and if produced with the social media agent in mind will make her job easier and the success of the project higher.  Same goes for the research, which can be compiled and handed off. But the event social agent does need time to study it and prepare for the days of the conference.  However it is critical that the social media agent be prepared with the technology and to speak knowledgeably and connect with the attendees.  The day of the event is not the time to get up to speed.  Leaving it all up to them will mean that she will be too concerned about how to do her job to do it right and miss  engaging with the attendees and promoting social media connections.

Next up – Event Social Agent: Live at the Conference

Event Social Agent: Advance Work is a post from: Trumblog

A colleague told me the other day that his client doesn’t want to use social media because once their content is “out there” then they have no control of how it is used or disseminated.  Of course what is interesting is that the client assumes that their content isn’t already “out there.”  Just because the company didn’t tweet something doesn’t mean that it isn’t being twittered about.  Companies don’t own their news, citizen journalists are blogging about what goes on at conferences, user-groups and meetings all the time.

You know the old saying that you shouldn’t do anything you’d be ashamed to see on the 6 o’clock news?  Well rather than worrying about things turning up on the TV news that fewer and few people watch, assume that anything you do may be and probably will be twittered. The word is out there and you can keep your head in the sand or you can listen and engage.  I support the latter.  Acknowledgment this new sphere of engagement that people are involved with and take advantage of it to extend your event and support and activate the awareness that it generates.

Last week  I presented the concept of an event social agent, a representative at conferences and events who does just that.  The purpose of this role is to facilitate community on social networks by engaging attendees, aggregating content online and promoting the use of social networks.  The goal of that effort is to expand an event’s impact beyond the physical audience who attends and extended long past the time that it takes place.  These are all effects that enhance the brand, distribute your message and build interest in the next conference.

In my previous post I sketched out the concept and impact, but it’s clearly more complicated than my 6 slides.  What is the real scope of the work?  How much effort will this take?   I’ll go into detail about these questions in the next few days with posts on what the event social agent does before the conference, on the days of the event, and once it is done.  I’ll discuss the tools that are needed and the time that it takes.  I’ll give you some examples of how the event social agent interacts with the audience and what a day in the life of an event social agent is like for the pre, post and live phases of an event.

If you are interested read on.

Event Social Agent: Advance Work
Event Social Agent: Live At The Conference
Event Social Agent: Extending The Experience

Event Social Agent In Action is a post from: Trumblog

At our 1 Jack virtual meeting yesterday on the future of conferences I presented the following concept for a Event Social Agent who would attend every event and conference that we produce.  The following is a simplistic description of the position as naturally  pre and post event work should be included as well as development of a website, outreach, measurement, etc.

My presentation was originally one slide with animated elements so I’ve posted a series of screen shots and commentary to deliver the concept.

At conferences we use social media and networks such as blogs, Twitter Facebook, Flickr and YouTube to extend the event to a larger audience and continue the conversation after the physical event has ended.

However, because the audience attending the event isn’t encouraged to engage with social networks about the event the results can be less than were anticipated.

This can be addressed by having a dedicated representative at the conference whose role it is to facilitate engagement with social networks and development of social media.  The agent is armed with a laptop, camera and wireless internet access at the event so that they can post media and be involved with the online conversation live from the event.

Rather than speaking with the crowd as a whole this representative will engage individuals and small groups, letting them know the event’s hashtag, pointing attendees to media that the representative has posted online and promoting that attendees twitter about the event.

At the same time the representative will be aggregating content and media from the conference that is posted across a variety of websites, addressing conference issues that are mentioned online, including the Twitter feed in question and answer sessions, making connections and in general facilitating the conversation at the event.  This activity at the event will lay the foundation for the community to expand beyond the physical location and time of the event, thereby ensuring that the extended audience that was anticipated will develop.

I call that role an Event Social Agent and recommend that this position be included for every conference and event, small, medium or large in order to reach the goals of our clients and partners.

Let me know what you think of this idea and if you have seen it used successfully (or not) already at conference and events.

Social Media Agent is a post from: Trumblog