Building meeting buzz online
Associations are “primed for social media,” says Lynn Morton, social marketing
manager at R2integrated. “They understand what community is all about because
it’s ingrained in the very nature of associations.” But, she adds, associations aren’t
always great at using social media to build buzz around their meetings.
Click the buttons on this page to see how to use Twitter, email, and blogs to get
attendees excited.
Twitter
Email
Blogs
Email
Connecting Twitter to events involves more than hashtags;
associations should monitor what members are tweeting
before the conference to learn what they’re looking for-
ward to. You might help facilitate a tweetup if one is being
discussed, but if a sponsor is interested, keep its involve-
ment low key. “Attendees want to be with each other,”
says Maggie McGary, online community and social media
manager at the American Speech-Language-Hearing
Association. “They don’t want to hear from your sponsor.
Maybe [the sponsorship is] about signage and a thank you
… but they don’t want to hear a sales pitch. That’s not a
tweetup.”
Twitter also helps you identify what Morton calls “unex-
pected influencers,” people who aren’t highly engaged
with the association but who care about the organization
and eagerly sound off about it online. Encourage unex-
pected influencers to share their thoughts and ensure
they hear about events you’re promoting on your Twitter
feed. They may be able to encourage people on the fence to
attend.
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