One of the takeaways for me at MeetDifferent last week (aside from the major focus on the economy and the need to demonstrate the value of meetings and events more than ever) was the extent that social networking tools are being used by meeting professionals. I've been on Facebook for two years now, but have yet to try LinkedIn (soon), and had no interest in Twitter. However, a fantastic session on Generation Y (born in 1979-1995) reminded me how important it is to at the very least understand some of these tools, regardless of whether or not you use them in your own life (and it's not just Gen Y who are tweets!)
I was reading through some of the blogs on mpiweb.org today, and came across a link to the following post Twitter for Meeting Planners: How to Make It Work for You.
Here's an excerpt:
"To really evaluate how (or whether) you can use Twitter to your advantage, first think of it for what it is at its core: a tool for communication. How important is communication in the meetings industry? You need to communicate with your attendees leading up to a program. You communicate with your attendees at the program. Your attendees communicate with one another at the program. Communication is key.
Then, the question becomes, is your communication system working effectively, or is there room for improvement? If so, then we come to the critical question: Is Twitter a viable means of communication for my audience?"
MeetDifferent had it's own Twitter feed MD09 which was a flurry of activity, especially during the Opening General Session on Sunday. While many attendees were busy PDAing during the proceedings, they're weren't all just checking mail or Facebook; in fact, many of them were communicating with each other about the speakers and topics being discussed at that very moment. How might this new way of attendee communication change the way you plan and/or market your events?
On the topic of event marketing, Joan Eisenstodt (an advocate of social networking since the early days of the internet), cautions meeting professionals that because of all the additional electronic "noise", we have to work even harder to make our electronic communications stand out...which may mean taking some risks. Keep in mind that older members of your organization may not be as ready to adapt to online communities. The real challenge will be to balance cutting edge technology with more traditional educational and networking approaches.
Joan offers to following three tips to harness Web 2.0 tools to creater greater awareness of and involvement in your meetings:
- Learn how to use some of the easier tools (i.e. wikis, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn) and begin integrating them into your communications.
- Look how companies and associations have marketed their meetings using YouTube, and consider contacting the planner and asking them what worked/didn't work before experimenting with it yourself.
- Keep at it!
Joan concludes by reminds us that "people need encouragement to use social networking and your audience probably already knows more than you think. Get them involved in developing and spreading the word electronically and your will build a stronger community and a greater following for your meetings".
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