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Beyond Web 2.0 - Getting Prepared For The Next Step In Web Technologies

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While planning events, the mediums to communicate with the prospects and audience have grown massively. A few years ago, event planners could never have dreamt of having such upfront and direct communication with the attendees before the events even took place. Today, not only is it possible, it is a highly recommended approach for planning your events.

Planning and marketing an event is about building the entire experience for all stakeholders involved. The better you can build a story around the event - the more the excitement and anticipation. It’s fascinating to see how different social mediums can be leveraged to communicate these stories for the targeted audiences to spread. This involvement and communication with your customers is so important now, that it can make or break your events. And since we all want to leave that good after-taste in everyone’s mouth and earn our well-deserved bragging rights, I strongly recommend trying your hand at these social mediums to your advantage. They pay off for events and parties that I plan, every time!

You can only understand its true value if you put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Imagine yourself in a raving crowd on Superbowl or in a pub at a local party, or at a conference launching the coolest gadgets, or at a countdown on Time Square? When surrounded with people who share your interests, chances are that your excitement will amplify and become contagious.

Now imagine building an event with that kind of viral and contagious excitement even before it happens. Imagine the traffic it would generate to your local party, big conference, product launch, or whatever it is that you are planning. It has worked wonders for us, and I’m sure you can benefit a lot from it as well. It’s time for you to think about how to build the right kind of stories around your events and most importantly, how to effectively build a strong online community of fans.

Simon U Ford (SUF.EDBD)

Social Traffic - Event Marketing In A New Media Scape Join my JV partner program

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  • bobbicknell
    Technology is changing all the time and this was a great blog article sharing just how critical it is to plan ahead and build a story around it. That was a huge tip as the audience loves excitement and by building that anticipation on the web the event will be fun and the word spreads for the next one!

    Using social media to reach the audience allows the excitement ahead of time and their involvement adds so that they get excited and share the info with friends which is the best testimonial being direct from a friend!
  • racerx12345
    I'm using the "event" concept with my offline business of training individuals and groups with Pilates, and it adds such an element of fun. I can use the concept for an individual class, e.g., "Today we're going to do an entire mat workout using the Pilates Magic Circle," or to promote an event in the future, e.g., "I'm going to have a Pilates Challenge next month to see who can perform 36 mat exercises in 50 minutes." For me, this keeps things fresh, new and fun, and keeps the energy of the clients going, too!
  • The gift is the story. Stories are magical and connect us with our life experiences. In planning an event, for a specific group the story must find the common ground that hooks the emotions and memories of those who are reading it.The connection will begin at that point and accumulate from old memories to the present.

    Weddings and births are planned this way. It belongs to human history. Remembering this regardless of the medium the way that Simon does is just one of those keys.
  • I think that Web 3.0 will involve more than just direct communication, it will be truly targeted communication, not just based on a single dimensional profile, but on the multi-dimensional people that we all are. I might want to hear about a Jonas Brothers concert when I'm planning a trip with my 11 year old daughter, but when my best friend and I are traveling, we might be more inclined to go hear Yo-Yo Ma.
  • My wife is a psychologist and she too keeps reinforcing Simon's thinking: When you really communicate with people in a way that RESONATES for them, people DO LISTEN. I see this with Social Media - when we connect with others and find what we have in common we can market almost anything to them with ease. They in turn tell people that they resonate with and the viral factor kicks in. I love this concept and believe in its power
  • I totally support what Simon says about creating excitement through storytelling. OUr oldest way of connecting is through narrative - we tell our children stories to connect, we listen to our elders to connect. Even Barak Obama promised us a story and we Listened. He got it - the story was simple and clear and full of hype - he launched the hope for a new country. If one person can do that for a whole nation imagine what we can do for our campaigns - I have seen it work and buy completely into Simon's suggestion that we weave tales into our lives. Build the hype, create excitement around the simple, delight your target market with magic. This is what people want and it is what keeps them coming back. No where is this more true than in the world of social marketting.
  • contagious excitement = people wanting to be a part of it. Simple but genius!
  • bobbicknell
    Your last line in this blog post really says it all as we need to become storytellers with value and excitement and with people who have an interest in our niche. Building a strong online community of fans with excitement and anticipation changes the whole way of communicating versus the mediums of a few years ago.

    Social Media allows viral marketing about an event,testing,remarkable speed and lower budgets to reach more communities in targeted areas! Thanks Simon for this post and other great material in your book "Social Traffic" as it has helped me understand how to truly market an event by starting months ahead of time with excitement and info!
  • Reading this article reminds me of a good friend who spent several months building a major event in Staten Island (which I wrote about). The excitement before the successful event occurred was palpable. Because of this event, a major company swooped in and hired him for a high level position with an offer he couldn't refuse. The need and use of social media for event planning is truly growing by leaps and bounds.
  • My favorite part of Simon's article about going beyond where we are with Web 2.0 is about the storytelling aspect. Whether the "event" you are promoting is a concert, a new club opening, a sporting event, a book launch, a product launch or a new company announcement, engaging people in the story by using emotive terms (can you say keywords?) and language to get folks interested in being a part of it is all a part of the process.
  • David Loughnan
    Excellent. Quite amazing to learn where we have come from in such a short time but more where we are goiung in the next 'short' period of time. To say i am challendged is an understatement...but I'm up for it. Thanmk you Simon. David
  • Simon, you are a master at creating visuals. I can feel myself at times square or in the screaming crowd at a Super Bowl. Just creating the visual and the feeling together you can feel the powerful energy!

    Building the story around events .... new concept for me. Will need to focus and work on this. Thanks for the education.
  • Nice way of thinking, I just need to find time to do it!
  • I surely LOVE the way your mind works, Simon: Luv it, luv it, luv it (period!) As I was listening to my computer read this post, pictures began to form in my mind: I saw the crowd in Times Square; the absolute FANatics at the Super Bowl; celebrants at a Pub Party, and more... the images, literally, started streaming faster, and faster across my mind's eye. Then, a voice - quite and still said: That's what I meant by being (actually living) on both sides of the counter! What you're seeing is the participant's side; the audience; the market. At that point, another voice chimed in: Yes, and you, DeeJay, are on the provider's side. What i hear you saying, Simon was also what JW Woolworth said (only I hear you louder and clearer): You market (tell the story) from the OTHER side of the counter, else there'll be no resonance. No resonance means no growing excitement means no evangelism, and spiraling downward, we end up with no deal! Waaaah! BIG tears.

    Bottom line, what I'm hearing you say here, Simon is this: If your audience can't identify with what you're saying/doing, you will have no market; no business from that audience. Like the power tool shop with everything laid out on hot pink doilies selecting as their primary market old school, MALE, bikers who live on Harleys. There may be a story there, but odds are, the average Biker would probably take his business elsewhere, quick!

    Anyway, thank you Simon. Your ability to convey concepts is AMAZING!

    Peace and Love to You,
    DeeJay
  • halicea99
    I share Jonathans, feelings here, Although I am new to this arena, I need to get this down, it is the cornerstone to making it in the online and offline world, Getting your story and excitement out there. As Jonathan, tries to stay close to you, I'm staying close to Jon. Your blogs, your course, your book has helped me tremendously, in getting my scattered brain focus, that is the thing that really attracts me to your work, you are a teacher of social media, but you are also to me a great motivator and helper, on my dream to making an online living. I just wish I was a faster learner and a faster reader, so I can adsorb all this up, yes, a lot faster.

    Thank you Simon and the Social Traffic Team.
  • Simon, your part of the course about human behaviour is what this took me back to. It reminded me we have to earn our bragging rights and continue a high reputation continually to create the ultimate presence. This medium WEB 2.0 or 3.0 is just awesome, but you must use it wisely.
  • I have started putting some of this advice into action, and I have to say the results are amazing. I am far from a good story teller, but in my case my events are product launches. I do know what the problems are that my audience is trying to solve. So, in stead of telling a story, I am answering some of those questions (and thus giving them quality content) and then I tell them that they can get more questions answered by going to a page that I want them to visit. It creates great momentum and the prospect going to my site, is in a positive frame of mind, since I just answered some of their most pressing questions.
    This process really turns the sales function into a relationship building function, which is a blessing considering that I am the worlds worst sales person!
  • I'm afraid to admit that this is still my weakness.

    I'm still working on developing the story around my events. I've studied you Simon and I stay very close so I can pickup as much knowledge as possible. You're an amazing story teller and I want some of that magic to rub off on me.

    I've learned so much from your stories. Now I need to work on how I can add value to my network with great stories.
  • Build an event before it happens is far beyond an invite. I saw so many product launches and I remember when I went to a conference that I new our vendor sent 700 invites and there were only 50 chairs in the room. The event organizer is my friend and I asked why 700 invites and a small room. The answer was that 7% was the magic number they use to consider who really would attend the event. And there was no more than 45 attendees.
    Now, with this approach, we can connect the right enthusiastic people to the right event and I guess that almost %100 of them will be at the event. That's really great! New world, new medias, social media, engagement, prospect's point of view! Thanks Simon!
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