Live and breathe conferences, events and entertainment? Then you know. Our jobs are a vicious but satisfying cycle of engaging clients, actively producing an unforgettable show, and evaluating our successes (and pitfalls) afterwards.
We not only crave, but are also measured according to the levels of buzz and attention we attract with outside-the-box thinking. Hashtag shares dictate the success and virality of each event we produce. And since we can’t all just come up with (misspelled) hashtags that go viral in an hour, we need to rely on a variety of surprising solutions that earn our events hashtag royalty status. #HOW?
Create an Experience Worth Hashtagging About
Conferences and events are no longer just about educating, but about entertaining. Just as people don’t read anymore, they don’t really stand still anymore either. Their fingers, eyes, noses, mouths, basically all their senses need to be actively engaged and in motion at your booth/table or event location, wherever that may be. For example, flyers once used to call attention? Today, not so much. Candy at your table? Great, but kind of old school. Serving drinks? Awesome, but what’s their cool factor?
Here are three relatively new start-ups that can help you add on layers of interest to the experience you are offering and pump up the hashtag shares following your events.
1. Screemo
Clients hire us to put on a good show, but they also want strong results. Screemo provides you with the creative tools for your clients to host a game on-site and interact with customers in a fun, unique manner, while still producing concrete data metrics to determine the success of each event. Event-goers are able to engage using their smartphone which is then connected and projected to a screen at your events. Each game can be built according to the unique offering and brand style of your client.
2. TagBoard
Once you’ve got the lights pointing in your direction, and give visitors to your event something to hashtag about, incorporate customer buzz into the show. Buzz always attracts more buzz. Tagboard collects relevant hashtags from those tagging either about your event and/or your client’s brand and displays them within seconds on one collective board. If you have one screen dedicated to your guests social posts at the event, they will already feel part of your client’s community.
3. Ripples
You’ve now got visitors’ hands moving and eyes watching. What about another surprise to get their emotions racing and mouths watering? Ripples is an experience that uses frothed beverages as a new medium for creating and serving unique personalized content, including messages, photos, or designs. This means your client’s branding, or greetings for visitors, or even selfies (Selfieccino), are all able to be instantly uploaded at your event using what’s called a Ripple Maker, which prints or “ripples” this content right on top of any frothed beverage you are serving, including cappuccinos, Nitro Cold Brews, hot chocolates, or even frothed alcoholic beverages. Your client’s social media channels will be buzzing with hashtag love.
