In The Beginning
Now that many of us are getting to the point where we don't tweet every waking moment (meaning we actually apply social media to a purpose), some people are asking, "What's the return on my money/time/investment to be on social media outposts"?
That's certainly a fair question. First, that depends if you talk about eating oatmeal or depositing your check in the bank on your blog, Twitter or Facebook wall.
Is getting an ROI the unattainable Holy Grail with social media for events? Some event planners are looking for social media alone to increase attendance.
Recently I have taken the added position of Community Manager for Engage365, which is a knowledge community devoted to the purpose of helping people learn about the use of social media for/by/during/before/after events.
It didn't take long for someone in the community to ask the question, "Have any of you have used social media to market your conferences, events, and if you have data on it, is it increasing attendance?"
The Proof's in the Pudding
There aren't a lot of data points to answer this question. Many people 'hem and haw' when trying to answer it. It's difficult to see whether or not 2009 was made a little better or maybe just stemmed more bleeding because of marketing via Twitter, et. al. What I can tell you is that something IS happening.
At the 2009 ASAE Annual Meeting in Toronto, Bruce MacMillan, CEO of MPI (Meeting Professionals International) shared some compelling statistics in his session on Business Meetings of the Future.
Meet Different 2009 - Satisfaction Survey
2008 85.4%
2009 94.8%***
WEC 2009 - Satisfaction Survey
2008 84%
2009 92%***
***Mr. MacMillan reported an 8 % and 10% increase (respectively) in attendee satisfaction at both of their main events. He attributed a large part of the improvement “directly to the engagement on the social network site”.
Which Social Networking Site?
MPI used a conference community site to bring together the handouts and social networking, giving attendees one place to discuss the conference topics, and download the speaker materials, and most importantly, get to know one another prior to the event, not to mention stay in touch after.
Attendees, speakers, exhibitors and sponsors all networked on the site a month before, on site, and a month after the conference. Typically MPI's conferences are 3-4 days long. Now the conference experience for the attendees was months long!
Yeah But...
Now, this isn’t data that shows direct increased attendance. That’s tough to do in a year like 2009. However, it’s not too much of a stretch to say if an attendee had a better time than they did the year before, he/she will talk about it and come back next year.
Try It, You'll Like It
How do you increase attendance using social media? One way is to ask your attendees to spread the word through their social media profiles. By simply asking your members, attendees, speakers to talk about your event on their social media outlets and to their friends and followers, you are reaching far beyond your database.
As the old saying goes, "It's a numbers game". The more people who are exposed to your message, the more people will embrace it. Some will say "no" but some will say "yes".
If you want to know more about how to grow attendance with only social media, I encourage you to read SocialFish's Case Studies Page and Living Case Study of Buzz2009.
Many people tell me increasing attendance is the most important thing when planning their event. However, don't forget about who's already coming to your event. Don't think of social media as a tool to only increase attendance. Consider using social media tools to enhance the experience before during and after the event.
What if:
- A speaker can reach more people, get better exposure, and collaborate with attendees, would you encourage the use of the tools that would foster this?
- A conference organizer could engage with the registered attendees, the public and other conference participants?
- An exhibitor had an opportunity to connect with attendees before the conference, set up appointments and meet the right people vs. leaving it to chance
- An attendee could walk into the event's opening reception and recognize several faces and not feel intimidated to talk to anyone?
They can if you apply certain social media to your attendee's experience.
The application of social media to your events is "worth it" because it can not only extend your marketing reach. Even if, worst case scenario, using social media tools doesn't increase your attendance by one person, (highly unlikely) it gives the conference participants a better experience. (See MPI example above)
Now that's a return on one's investment!
P.S. Still think it's all a bunch of hooey? Here’s another great video about the impact of social media marketing from the folks at Socialnomics.
P.S.S Want more Information on measuring Social Media and ROI?
