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Although helpful, there is so much more available to planners than justFacebook Events. This becomes quite clear as more planners really understand the value of social media and realize that they are only bound by their imaginations when it comes to using it.
What we’re seeing is more integration of social media into their lives as a way to promote their services, plan and promote events, and bring the conversation full circle from the virtual world to real life.
We spoke with some movers and shakers in the event planning world and asked them what’s working for them now and what they think the future might hold.
Integrating Location
Geolocation platforms can go hand-in-hand with event planning. Sure, you want to know who showed up to your event, but there is so much more beyond the checkin. Meg Sinclair, a corporate communications manager atSyncapse in Toronto, spends a lot of time planning events and using social media to promote them. It’s not just about promoting the event, she says, but about making social media a part of the event itself, like when she partnered with Foursquare to create a badge that served as a pass to an after party.
Geolocation holds a number of opportunities, according to Emily Gannett, a digital strategist and co-founder ofIRL Productions and KlickableTV. She has integrated Foursquare into some of the events she’s planned, like the Ralph Lauren Big Pony Fragrance Dinner. She created a special venue on Foursquare for the event, and then offered tips to attendees, such as “don’t miss the photo booth,” or recommending they try a particular drink.
The possibilities with geolocation services like Foursquare are endless. Soon, we might see that when someone unlocks a badge at an event, a brand will sponsor the badge so that everyone wins a prize, says Gannett.
Being Creative and Holistic
For Gannett, the goal is to engage attendees in conversation before, during and after the event. It’s an innovative approach that integrates social media throughout the entire process.
Take Social Climbing, for example. The cleverly named rock climbing for charity event took place during Internet Week this past June. Gannett sent out promo videos of tech and media influencers Rachel Sklar, Soraya Darabi, Greg Galant, Richard Blakeley, and others green-screened into various rock climbing scenes from movies, as a way to get people talking about the event. At the event in Brooklyn, attendees could log their climb on Plus 3, “a mobile, GPS-enhanced social network that connects people with corporate sponsors and worthwhile causes.” Every climb translated into cash for the charity. Having the attendees check in and log each climb is more interactive and social, says Gannett.
Also during Internet Week, Gannett produced Crowdsourcing Cinderella, a cocktail party that was a precursor to the Webutante Ball (i.e., tech prom). To promote her event, she gathered a group of female web personalities and asked the Internet to “play fairy godmother” — crowdsourcing which Rent The Runway looks they should wear to the big dance. Photos were posted to Fashism, where the community could offer style advice, and a celeb stylist also weighed in on the choices.
It was a way to get people excited about the event and engage people who couldn’t attend Crowdsourcing Cinderella, or who weren’t quick enough to nab tickets to the Ball.
As for the future she says, “I think we are going to see smarter produced events — ones that capitalize on engaging in the room. I’m excited to see what is going to happen at concerts, with things like ‘text the next song we sing.’ Or sharing and interacting with those who aren’t at the concert with live-streaming. I think we are going to see a lot more integration.”
This holistic approach can also be seen in brpr’s Smirnoff Ice Nikki Beach concert event, where fans had the chance to win VIP entry and passes to an afterparty by participating in pop quizzes on Twitter and by checking in on Foursquare to mention Smirnoff Ice, or uploading videos to Smirnoff Ice’s YouTube Channel orFacebook Page.
A dedicated Smirnoff Foursquare user was created, and “Samir Noff” checked in to club venues around Miami to garner buzz for the upcoming concert. In less than three weeks, “Samir” gained more than 100 friends and was crowned Mayor of Nikki Beach.
For the event, a custom Foursquare “venue” was created for party-goers to check in. Guests even sported temporary tattoo Stickybits barcodes, which enabled guests to share the concert experience with other Smirnoff Ice drinkers who weren’t at the party.
Leveraging the Magic of Twitter
For many, Twitter is a way to read the news, network and keep up with friends and colleagues. But for event planners, Twitter is so much more. Their network on Twitter becomes a real resource when looking to find the perfect hotel, DJ, venue, cake master, etc. You name it, and someone on Twitter can probably help you find it.
Planning an event can sometimes take you anywhere, even if you are a small business owner like Stephanie Frazier Grimm, owner of Couture Parties in Newport, Rhode Island. Grimm plans everything from children’s birthday parties to weddings, and they aren’t always bound to America’s smallest state.
“I use Twitter to connect with friends in the industry. If I’m planning a destination wedding in California, I can reach out and find out who the best photographers are in the area.”
Likewise, Laura Parkinson also sees Twitter as a great help in both her current job planning internal conferences and events at Apple, and at her former job planning events for SXSW. She uses Twitter in some pretty creative ways and says she thinks it has the potential to be so much more than a micro-blogging site.
“You can use Twitter to take the temperature of an event, literally,” she says. “I actually had an instance where someone tweeted, using my hashtag, that the meeting room was ’super, super, cold. BRRRRR.’ So I tweeted back to him that I was sorry and had spoken to the facilities manager and the temperature was being adjusted. And he tweeted back, ‘wow, thank you!’”
Parkinson uses Twitter for organizational reasons, too. Conferences that she plans at Apple are often of a “very private and confidential” nature, so she uses Twitter lists to keep track of the people attending the conference to ensure they aren’t tweeting anything that violates their confidentiality agreement.
And it’s great for B2B, she says. “The Fairmont Hotel has a Twitter account, and they actually post specials, and I’ve been able get lower rates when the sales person on the phone has quoted me higher, because I’ll say, ‘I’m following you on Twitter, can you honor that price?’ And they say, ‘Yes, of course.’ ”
Twitter is a great untapped resource she says, and once people are more educated on how to leverage it, they’ll see the real value in using it.
And even if you aren’t planning huge events, you can still use Twitter to build your business and your reputation, says Mike Darlington, who plans all-ages events in Kitchener, Ontario.
“I use Twitter to build relationships with other companies. I was originally using Twitter very selfishly — I was only promoting my own events. But then I realized that by promoting other events in the city, by just giving shout outs to other companies, I was developing strong relationships with other businesses, which lead to them doing the same for me. And so my network has grown substantially from there.”
Twitter can be used to promote an event or keep things moving during an event. Jennifer Batchelor is the social media director at brpr Group in Miami, and has planned some amazing events that have integrated Twitter. Her firm threw a concert event with the musical stylings of R.K.M and Ken-Y for clients Smirnoff Ice and Univision Radio. Free passes were given to those who used Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and YouTube regularly.
At the event, there was a Twitter Jockey, who live-tweeted pics and comments at the event, and would also tweet at people as they checked in on Foursquare — keeping the conversation going between the attendees, but also those who didn’t have access to the event itself.
An Online Focus on Credentials
It’s not just about the event — it can be about the event planner as well. Event planning is a business and you have to show people why you’re the right one to plan their party. Keeping an updated website with photos andvideos of your work is a good start, and so is keeping a blog, but it’s better to interact with your audience. Grimm launched a feature on her blog called {ask the designer}, where she helps her readers with tips and tricks. “It makes me real,” she says, “I’m a mom and I do carpool, but I run a successful business, too.”
In the future, she plans on creating some DIY instructional videos that she’ll post on Vimeo — which she uses as a research tool to find bands and photographers. It’s a way to give back to the community and build a reputation as an expert.
Series supported by Gist
The Future of Social Media Series is supported by Gist. Gist keeps you better informed with less effort by giving you a full view of your professional network in one place bringing together information from across the web for all your contacts giving you the right information at the right moment to get a meeting, deliver an amazing pitch, or just find a better way to make a connection.
More Social Media Resources from Mashable:
-The Future of Social Media in Journalism
- How CEOs are Using Social Media for Real Results
- How Small Businesses Will Use Social Media in the Future
- How PR Pros Are Using Social Media for Real Results
- How Freelancers Might Use Social Media in the Future
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ronen
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