Online Social Networking for Event and Meeting Planners

There is no blueprint to glean around the fact that the current world of “marketing” is in the hands of social networkers. It is all about Face Book, Twitter, MySpace and myriad other online social networking sites when it comes to the efficiency and trendiness of getting the word out about just about everything. For meeting and event planners, it is important to figure out how to use online social networking professionally to connect with attendees, exhibitors, advertisers and presenters.

Connecting with individuals using the internet can be so easy and so confusing. For those people who understanding events and meetings, the internet can be the most valuable intention of not only marketing an event or meeting, but coordinating, organizing and hammering out the details. It can also provide an added bonus for advertisers and exhibitors if you have a successful social networking plan.

One of the things to navigate for event planners is how to separate personal social networking and professional social networking. Sometimes the line can become blurred– especially since we are using the same web sites and opportunities to promote our meetings and events that individuals are using for socializing. It cannot be ignored, however, and since so many other events, conferences and workshops are using these resources, that is where the competition is.

Consider creating a unique “life” for the event-this may mean a page of its own on the major social networking sites. This provides a place where people can join up, gather information, connect with others and where you can fragment links and connections with vendors, exhibitors and sponsors. This can add great value to the marketing efforts of any size event.

Maintain in mind that you cannot control everything that is said or done on these social networking sites but you can moderate them. Constant vigilant moderating will help you to connect and nurture those connections, as well as send a consistent marketing message and quiet allow for some of the organic connecting that makes social networking so popular and effective.

Encourage others to connect to your event’s information and to spread the word. This also means creating an environment AT the event or meeting where people can post comments and reports from the activities. This can be one of the most exciting aspects of online social networking-the “in real time” exposure that can be created by those who are attending the event.

Constant posts and updates will also generate excitement and interest. It is not enough just to create a page or post and let it lie. Continue to post, comment, characterize and describe in order to make the most of the medium.