JEFF ARNOLD- Social Media & Search Engine Optimization Expert

For more than 25 years Jeff Arnold has been in leadership roles from start-ups to Fortune 500 firms. Having led several companies through periods of tremendous growth and spearheading several start-ups, he is well versed in crisis and change management and managing aggressive business development initiatives.

Although he has a proven record across all major corporate functions, Mr. Arnold currently focuses his diverse base of knowledge to the field of Internet and Mobile Marketing, where, through his consulting firm, he is helping small to mid-sized companies successfully navigate the marketing options available in an ever-changing Web 2.0 world.

Hill & Partners asked Jeff Arnold to share a bit of his expertise on social marketing as it relates to the exhibiting world

1.) How can exhibitors best utilize social marketing to increase booth traffic?

With social marketing, you want to encourage engagement at the front end and then continue that engagement for a time period before the show. Use that engagement with an end goal of getting the user to show up at the booth.

One great example would be to run a contest or pseudo-scavenger hunt whereby you start about two months prior to the show and post information stating that you will be giving away “X” prize (something significant) for anyone who collects all of the clues to your game/pieces to your puzzle.  Post the clues between week one and  eight leading up to the show on Facebook, Twitter or the company blog (so the user has to monitor all three), then periodically post those items to your sites.  This will cause the users to have to scour all of your social sites, reading all of the information that you have posted over a two-month period.

Let them know that the winner will be announced on Facebook sometime in the month following the show.  You can incorporate this into your e-mail marketing. Even someone who gets the information four weeks into the campaign can go back to find the existing clues – and read the content.  Then, during and after the show you post relevant content. At the end of the month following the show, post the winner.

2.) How can exhibitors best utilize social marketing before, during, and post-show?

Once inside the show, companies should be promoting everything that they do via their social sites.  Twitter is probably the best for this because the messages are short and easy to send out.  Use Twitter to get people talking about your product.  Everybody who uses our hashtag #companyname will have a chance to win X.  Or, everybody who is following your hashtag will get a chance for exclusive entry to a special party, etc.

Instagram is also good, if you are using it on a regular basis and have a follower base, to show what you are doing at the show.  Let people know what you are doing, what activities are going on, what show activities are happening, etc.  If you have any high profile clients, see if you can post their photo visiting your booth and post to all media. 

3.) What do you think is a little known fact about social marketing that you think marketers should be taking advantage of?

From a marketing standpoint, I’m a huge fan of using a blog.  I think that it is underutilized in the business world.  Most people think that to have a blog they must be a ‘blogger’ or a ‘writer’ and write tons and tons of content.  The reality is – you can post and re-post things that are fairly short and, if your blog is configured properly, still have a big impact on the search engines.

One secret that I do for one of my clients, is that I blog over and over about the upcoming trade show that they are attending.  By doing those posts, I end up getting them the top 1, 2, 3, 4, and sometimes 5 spots (all of them, not just one of them) in Google for the main search terms used for the trade show.  That way, any attendee of the show (their core target clients), see the client’s name every time they search for information on the show.  It has worked great and they increased their new business by 50% in the first year using that technique. 

4.) By now, most marketers have taken advantage of the basic social media platforms: (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn). Do you think being a part of just these three is enough?

Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are the three big players that most people think of when they think of social media.  However, you can’t overlook the power of video (YouTube and Vimeo), and Pinterest.  Pinterest is the hottest social media site right now.  It has a user base of about 85% women and they spend a lot of time on there.  It is basically a photo sharing site, with Facebook ‘like’ and ‘share’ features.  You post something to your digital ‘pinboard’ and others can then ‘like’ it or ‘repin’ or share it.  It is a great way to get involved with your user base if you have a product that is more visual in nature.

5.) What would you say to marketers who are hesitant to get involved in these platforms?

Start now!  Get a high school or college intern to help you if you are afraid of the technology.

These are free tools to help promote your business.  Start with Twitter – it’s the easiest.  Just post some content about who you are, what your company is about, etc.  Follow some folks with a common interest.  Then get your Facebook account up and running, then tie it to Twitter so that all Facebook posts feed to Twitter.  Post relevant, non-salesy content, to gain readership and followers.  Once you have a following, periodically you can drop in some sales-related content.

Contact Jeff Arnold

See More from Jeff at www.DynamicMarketingPartners.com

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Disclaimer: Hill & Partners is dedicated to providing value for your business. The opinions, views and expertise contributed to this blog are credited to the “Ask the Expert” blog authors and do not represent the views of Hill & Partners, Inc.