The New Social Media Musts

How are planners weaving social media into the fabric of meetings, and how can you capitalize on its use for future meetings? Here are a few tips from expert planners:

• Understand which social media platforms your members are using and which posts inspire the most traffic. You don’t want to spend all your time crafting clever Facebook posts if your attendees are largely using
  Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Because all your social media efforts will link back to your website, keep your site fresh and plan the content that needs to be posted the day after the event.
• Involve your speakers in blog posts and social media campaigns both pre- and post-event.
• Use social media to gauge feedback on a particular session or event—both by soliciting messages or tweets and by cataloging unsolicited comments.
• Think about using social media in real time to allow audiences to participate in sessions both in the room and on the internet. For instance, session attendees can ask or answer a question on their smartphones, and the speaker can pull that information and address it in his or her talk.
• One trend that can’t be ignored: using social media platforms not only for promotional opportunities but as a tool to improve and enhance the meeting itself. Remember, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.

(Jason Howie/Flickr)