The Most Important Goal - #TopOfMind

Lately, we’ve all been concerned that one attribute has gone with frighteningly few mentions –ensure that your client’s brand is on their “Top of Mind”. How can we as marketers and meeting architects make sure that we effectively reach our potential audience not only to promote a meeting but to maintain continuity between events? More importantly, how can we take the best leverage today’s front line social media and other tools to increase results? What we all want is to get the word out or, in the online world – to transform “engagement” into “conversions.”

Having said that, where and how do we start? Advertising is all around us – and it consumes us. From billboards, TV, mobile devices and of course, social media, it’s increasingly difficult to grab the attention of your potential client, or in our industry, potential delegates. Our job is to constantly raise awareness for our brand – our meeting. And to do this with any measure of success, we need to make sure that we are always in our client’s top of the mind. The good news is that social media provides us with a viable solution.

Social media is omniscient. It’s all-seeing, all-being and it’s all around us, always. But to make it work effectively, there are surefire rules to follow to achieve a successful social media campaign. First, ensure that you work on ALL channels – and it must be a combination of different channels, each with its own unique objectives. Facebook is the most accessible, regarded as a ‘fun’ and user-friendly platform. LinkedIn is the professional network, while Twitter is king of the onsite, YouTube is essential for sharing videos, and if your product is particularly visual, Pinterest is an equally great option.

The Golden Rules

1. Make sure you Post/Tweet regularly – otherwise your channels will have a short lifespan and quickly… die. You’ll find that different audiences act and react differently. Some will post on their own and others will find it easier to ‘share’ and ‘like’ – therefore, YOU must provide interesting content! As for Tweets, remember to use ‘hashtags’ – common in Twitter but used in other social media too. Think of the hashtag as your email subject line – and they’re the fastest way to search topics on Twitter or Google. Don’t ever use more than two hashtags per tweet to highlight your main topic, as in “Just bought my tix to #EltonJohn! Who else is going?”
2. Check your engagement levels. You will always see ups and downs, so make sure that you KNOW WHAT YOUR AUDIENCE LIKES and adjust your content accordingly.
3. It’s all about the “Reach” – Social media is the ideal tool to reach out to potential clients and delegates. Reach is something you cannot achieve (or measure!) with traditional marketing tools but it’s become increasingly harder to do. Facebook, for example, continually changes their rules and as a result, your posts are seen by fewer viewers. Constantly check your reach levels to ensure maximum organic growth (who views your posts) to grow your network. Very basic, but don’t forget to promote your channels everywhere to be in your audiences’ top of mind!
4. Targeted advertising – If organic growth (unpaid) is not enough to increase your network, you can occasionally boost your readership with paid advertising. You must, however, be very accurate when defining a target audience. How do you this? Your content must be very relevant, inviting, interesting. Follow and recruit Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and bring as many people as possible into the conversation.
5. Monitor and control – a MUST! Be active and respond quickly to online discussions about your brand or meeting.

So what are you waiting for? By the time you’re finished reading this post, hundreds of thousands of social media campaigns were launched. Be on top of your campaigns to stay on top. Learn and understand your client and their prospective audience. Stay active and responsive online. And aim as high as you possibly can to be at your client’s… top of mind.