5 Must-Follow Marketing Event Trends for 2012

The success of an event is in the details, and incorporating small elements can make a big impact. If part of your 2012 marketing strategy includes gathering your clients and prospects together for an event, there are a few trends that can help your business and your attendees get the most out of your time together.

1. Seminars Are So 2011

Business marketing is becoming more intimate and engaging than ever before. Many businesses are choosing not to include speakers and keep the events less formal, encouraging deeper conversation among attendees. You will be seeing more and more roundtable discussions, rather than structured business seminars. Any type of event can be made more interactive. For example, if you participate in trade shows, make sure the booth has things for people to engage in, like scavenger hunts, quizzes and contests.

You also will see more experiential marketing, such as adventure trips like rafting, racecar driving, and even skydiving. This kind of experiential marketing can work for any company. For example, an IT company recently took both clients and staff hiking and rafting on the rapids. By taking everyone so far out of their environment, the clients and staff members strengthened their relationships.

If you do decide on a seminar because you have important information to share with the community, make sure to have a series. This gets people coming back and developing relationships with others in a lasting way.

Another trend you will see more of is webinars. It’s hard to get attendees out of the office and a webinar offers an easy way for people to learn at their desks. Instead of the traditional webinar format, try hosting one on a social networking site like Google+. You can have up to 10 people on the webinar and each person can share experiences and have side conversations via instant message, creating a more interactive, virtual roundtable type event.

2. Maximize Online Registration Tools

There are several online tools for streamlining registration and promotion of events. Eventbrite.com allows your guests to register, and if you require a fee, guests can pay directly through PayPal. Eventbrite will provide you with a guest list and you will have the opportunity to print out name badges directly from the program. What I particularly like about Eventbrite is that it links to social networking sites so attendees can easily share information about the event with their communities.

3. Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy for Each Event

Many businesses are choosing to open dedicated Facebook event pages, LinkedIn groups, and Twitter pages. Some are even making YouTube videos to entice potential registration. Other trends include using event-specific social networking sites like Plancast.com or Lanyrd.com to tell the registrant’s friends about the event. They work similar to Facebook—whoever follows you will see what events you are attending on their feed. I use these sites to check out people I know and admire to find out about events that might be worth attending.

In addition, businesses are using social analytics to get to know who is coming to their event and what their interests are. Check out your attendees’ Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social networking site feeds and find out who they are, their ages, and other demographics so that when you are at the event, you can target prospects more accurately.

Another way more businesses will be promoting events is by offering attendees specials on Foursquare, Gowalla or any other geo-location sites. For example, you may offer your registrants premium swag for “checking in.”

4. Speaking of Swag

Swag has been popular for a long time, but for 2012, make sure it is something useful. Don’t just give away pens, t-shirts, or messenger bags. Instead, give something that integrates with their existing technology or smartphone, like a phone case, a zip drive, or a new app.

5. Create an App

Small businesses are using applications to market an event and keep event attendees engaged. Work with a developer to develop an app that makes sense for your event. In addition to enhancing the attendees’ experience, the app should also serve as a way for your business to send pre-event and post-event updates. Make sure that you hire a developer at least one to three months prior to the event. The prices for development vary widely, so make sure to shop around. Once the app is completed, send the link to your registrants so that they can start using it immediately.

One of the best apps I used had a map, listed all the sponsors with links to their websites, and included a Twitter feed with hashtags for those who wanted to Tweet during the conference. The app also provided a list of all of the attendees and their contact information. There was a schedule of the activities along with a QR code, which went directly to the organizer’s web site for more information about the group.