SAM FOXMAN ASKS… IS YOUR EVENT TWEET-WORTHY?

 

After arriving at a glamorous gala or hip soiree, my first priority is to grab a cocktail and mingle. However, I can’t help but notice that some of my party pals immediately begin snapping pictures and logging onto their Twitter and/or Facebook accounts to share what they are experiencing. I believe people do this mainly to show their association with an important group or an exclusive event. Attendance has become a status symbol…and why shouldn’t it be? If the event is cool, aren’t the attendees cool by association?

In the midst of producing one such cool event, I decided to take a break and log onto my Facebook account. It was absolutely remarkable… pictures, Tweets and posts describing the event in real time all over my news feed. I did not even know that some of my friends and colleagues were attending until I saw their posts! I came to realize at that moment that this particular event was instantly reaching far more people than just those in attendance. I was so relieved that the design was beautiful and that people were having a fabulous time.

But what if they weren’t having a fabulous time? What if the event was boring, or the client decided to skimp on décor, entertainment or lighting? I believe that event planners and organizations are now in the business of entertaining on two levels: the invited guests on one level, and on another, the social network of each guest who posts from the event.

Let’s look at the metrics. If you host an event with 300 people age 50 or younger, at least 8% will utilize social media during the event. Those 24 people will have at least 300 friends or followers in their social media networks. So in essence, you could be reaching 7,500 individuals (300 attendees + 7,200 virtual attendees) with photos and commentary on your event.

The magic really happens when you add a social media component to the event that encourages even more attendees to post on their online networks. Imagine if 30% of the 300 attendees utilized social media during an event – that’s 27,300 people enjoying photos and commentary as the event unfolds!

The stakes just got higher for event planners and organizations. Before you finalize your budget for the next meeting or soiree, ask yourself…will it be tweet-worthy?

Let me know what you think sfoxman@contemporaryevents.com.

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~ by contemporaryproductions on January 10, 2012.