Social Media in the Military

The growth in Social Media has been both an opportunity and a challenge for most event marketers and organizations. So imagine the challenge for the military!

IDGA (a division of IQPC) has launched their 4th annual Social Media for Defense event to address some of these issues. The event is an opportunity for government and military officials to discuss the enormous potential and threat of social media, as well as meet with some of the social media experts and technology providers who can help utilize this powerful communication channel in the best possible way.

The IDGA team put together this great video on the right, just click on the image above, enter your details and watch the video for a more detailed outline of the challenges faced by the military. It’s a fascinating look at how social media challenges can vary by industry.

eBook: Mastering The Basics of Social Media (from the team behind Click Egypt)

The IQPC team behind Click Egypt, the online and digital marketing summit have put together this great Introduction to the basics of Social Media success ebook.

It includes the basic steps to get started: Management buy in, resourcing, growing bigger ears, focus, engage, learn, measure and teamwork. As well as some great tips on the major social media networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Plus some links to some cool tools you can use to simplify, organise and monitor your social network presence (and they are all free!).

It also includes this great quote from Scott Cook at Intuit, “A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is – it is what consumers tell each other it is”. Which I think highlights how control of the messaging, if ever there was any, has really changed with social media and the depth of change that will be ultimately required within organizations if they really want to use social media in their communication mix.

You can see some of the amazing speakers (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Vodaphone, Sony, P&G, Kraft, Nestle, Expedia and more) and read more about the event at www.clicksummitegypt.com or follow @socialmarketME. If you are in Egypt and interested in Online Marketing and Social Media this is a great place to start!

Interpreting Some Fascinating Event Marketing Stats

Constant Contact and Hub Spot recently published an ebook on “Fascinating Event Marketing Stats”. I haven’t seen the actual results of the survey but their presentation made some interesting reading.

Here’s my interpretation of some of their key findings:

68% of B2B companies rate events as important. Clearly still a valued marketing channel for a lot of companies. Top 2 reasons for running events, in order, are education and lead generation. Showing again how important it is to deliver a quality audience to sponsors and a strong educational opportunity for delegates.

Educational events included classes, workshops, training, seminars, and conferences. Some what conspicuously missing in my opinion are webinars or online/distant learning, this is an ever growing option for many B2B companies trying to reach time (and cost) sensitive executives.

Non-Profits host more conferences than B2B and B2C companies combined. Combined with the fact (also in the report) that most companies don’t charge for events (59% of B2B’s never charge), it highlights the need for paid events to deliver a superior networking and educational experience.

The top five promotional channels are not surprising: Email, own website, word of mouth, mail and phone calls. The phone came in only 5% more than social media, yet almost 60% said they rely on social media, showing the growing importance of being part of the conversation and integrating social media into your communication mix. The top five also show how important a solid database remains to event marketers, but interesting that database didn’t rate a mention in the report.

47% still use direct mail – Which is very surprising given the news USPS looks to be in financial trouble and the falling response rates of direct mail. Either, a lot of event marketers are sticking with this tried and tested channel or they fear replacing it with newer online channels or those online channels still aren’t delivering a strong enough response.

Only 11% use blogging? This is staggering… but probably highlights a broader content or thought leadership challenge faced by most event marketers.

Perhaps most interestingly (but not surprisingly and somewhat repetitive) the top 5 challenges for event marketers:
1.    Getting people to respond to invites
2.    Getting people to pay attention to invites
3.    Minimizing no-shows
4.    Getting people to the event
5.    Confirming who’s attending

So the challenge for all event marketers is the same, getting qualified executives to attend your event. Making it happen is part art, part science and all marketing! A quality product, with great messaging delivered via a multi-channel marketing plan.