Guest Engagement at Events
06 December 2012
By Michael Aldridge, General Manager of Events
Social Media has taken the world by storm; governments have been over thrown and celebrities have taken to twitter to break up and make up. How though has Social Media changed Events? Merlin Events have showcased a couple of times a new process via a company called Excelerated Apps.
Now I will try and make the process as simple as possible for you below or you can watch our video online
· Guests are sent an email after they RSVP for the party asking them to download an app on to FB, Twitter or LinkedIn profile.
· When guests arrive at the party they are asked to register at a roving tablet and the tablet has an integrated RFI chip (same as an Oyster card reader). The guest is handed a card with a RFI reader once this is touched against the chip on the tablet this becomes their identity.
· Guests are then encouraged to touch readers located around the party. At our last event for the Brand Event Awards we had three check-in boxes. The first one checked them in with a welcome message and a brief description of the event on to their FB, Twitter or LinkedIn timeline. The second check-in uploaded a video of a quick time set up of the main event space at Madame Tussauds. During the evening we had a FB photographer taking pictures at the party and at 8.45pm they upload the images onto our FB company page. The third check-in was at the exit of the party and this uploaded a link to our pictures from the party.
What does all of this achieve? Well consider most people have 220 friends on FB and if like me you have a group of friends who work in similar industries or associated industries you can see the benefit of the above. Of course with Twitter and LinkedIn the same applies even more so with LinkedIn. To give you an idea here is the some of the key data, which was captured by Excelerated Apps:-
Total reach
FB 13,844 impressions
Twitter 16,751 impressions
LinkedIn 3,712 impressions
I am sure you agree the above highlights the power that Social Media engagement can have if applied correctly be a great benefit to your guest experience at events. How do you engage with event guests via Social Media?