Welcome back!

We hope you’ve done your homework and we hope that our top 5 event networking tips for the top 5 social media platforms have guided you in the right direction.If you followed our tips step-by-step, then you should have already created and updated a few profile pages for your brand across the board. Which is great! Because now your audience knows who you are, what you offer, and what you do, even before the networking event begins! And this is important because it is the first step in generating exposure and increasing visibility.

So now you’ve completed the first step let’s move on to the second step. And the second step is just simply, utilizing these 5 platforms during the event. This may sound a little more complex because now you’ll actually be preoccupied doing your sponsor thing, but it’s quite easy. You want to remember to stay active during the event, even if you’re a little busy, because this is the time when networkers are posting live feeds and updates on the event. So you want to make sure you’re in the loop, being mentioned and being recognized for being there.

So what can you do on social media platforms to generate buzz during the event?

Let’s start with,

1) Facebook:

How can you get the FB community to share and know more about you?

1. On your brand/products page, post “where you are” so that your followers can know about the current event you are sponsoring.
2. You can also check-in to Foursquare or Path and share your check-in to FB. This will allow you to post your location and photos in multiple places at one, increasing your give you visibility.
3. On your brand’s page, post and tag anyone you are with. This allows your followers to see who you have partnered up with and it can actually give you more potential followers and likes.
4. Post a photo on your brand’s page, so that anyone who likes your page can like your photos and can see your sponsorhip in real ime.
5. Post a video on your brand’s page so that anyone who likes your brand page can see you sponsoring and at work in real time.

Next we have,

2) Twitter:

What can you do on Twitter to gain visibility and let everyone know you are sponsoring the event?

1.  Compose a new tweet, using the event hashtag, so that your followers and anyone from the event knows to look out for you!
2. Check into your location using Foursquare or Path and share it to your Twitter. This will generate buzz for your across multiple media platforms.
3. Tweet a Twitpic of you in action (use the event hashtag) so that everyone can sponsoring in action.
4. You can also take a photo on Path and Foursquare, when you check in-to you location to share on Twitter.
5. Share a Vsnap. A Vsnap video allows you to record a short message and share them via social media. So you can greet the event networkers and show everyone what you are doing during the event!

Followed by,

3) LinkedIn:

1. List the event that you are sponsoring on your company profile page. 
2. Share an update and let the LinkedIn community know that the event is now taking place at your location. Incorporate the hashtag for more exposure. 
3. Share the link to your live blog (which we will discuss more later on).
4. There are always business cards being passed around at events, so to make life easier use CardMunch. Cardmunch let’s you take a photo of the business card so that you can instantly look up their LinkedIn profile and have them saved to your contacts.
5. Post a quick hello or status update on the event invitation page. Let the member going know that you are there and are ready to meet them.

And then,

4) Google+:

1.  Check-in to your location on your Google+ company page, and let everyone know that you are currently sponsoring an event. This will keep your Google+ community informed on you and your brand.
2. On your Google+ company page, make sure to post any photos of you participating and giving away your product. This can help you gain more visibility, likes and follows because people like to look at photos.
3. On your Google+ company page, share any videos of you live in action.
4. You can also post photos on the Google+ event page by using the party mode. The party mode allows you to contribute to one shared photo collection so that all member who are attending can stay connected.
5. The same goes for videos. Post them on the Google+ event page so that all member who are going can see you live in action giving away prizes and merchandise.

And finally,

5) Blogs:

What can you do during the event to help increase the views/traffic to your blogs.

1. Create a live blog so that you can record your sponsorship live in action. 
2. Take pictures! Take as many pictures as you can during the event so that you can later share these photos on your website, written blog, and other social media platforms. It will give you good exposure.
3. Take videos. Try to take videos of the event so that readers can get a visual sense of what your venue looks like. Visual presentations are always nice.
4. Stream photos of your products during the event onto your Tumblr blog, so that you can connect with your community and start to build a presence for your brand.
5. Gather any testimonials so that you can use these later on your blog to increase your credibility.

So this should hopefully keep you active and keep you communicating with other event members even as the event is going on! Which is great because you want as many people as possible responding and connecting with you and brand.

And it can all be done in real time experience. It’s a piece of cake, don’t you think? Try it out next time you’re sponsoring an event, and see how many people connect and interact with you!

So that’s that! But’s it’s not the final thing we’ll be discussing. Next week we’ll go over how you can use these same 5 platforms, but this time how to use them after the event is over! Think about it, what can you do to best utilize these platforms and gain even more exposure once you have left your event? How can you keep your brand fresh in people’s mind? Leave your comments and let us know what you think.

We also have more elaborate tips and resources, if you are interest, and you can get them by signing up for the upcoming Networking 2.0 Book or by subscribing to this blog!

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