Social Media Agent

Written by Thomas Trumble
Posted in Event Social Agent, Marketing, Social Network on November 17th, 2009

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.

Using Social Media To Extend An Event

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.

Social Media Does Not Always Deliver the Audiences We Hope For

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.

Have A Representative At The Event to Facilitate Social Media Activity

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.

The Representative Interacts with Indiviuals and Small Groups

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.

Through Sopcial Media Facilitation Audience Expands and Extends

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.

Event Social Agent

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.