How to Use Social Media for Trade Shows

Social media has proven to be one of the most successful marketing tools to date. If you’re trying to gain interest in your brand, learn the latest tips on how to use social media at trade shows in 2022.

The Benefits of Utilizing Social Media at Trade Shows

Most of your customers use social media, where they view several advertisements and promotional campaigns each time they browse. Billions of users are on the most popular platforms, making social media and trade shows seamlessly work together to draw in potential customers.

With so many consumers relying on social media in their day-to-day lives, it’s a cost-effective way to promote your presence and brand at a trade show. The benefits of using a social media campaign to promote your trade show participation include:

• Providing event information: Attendees are more likely to go to the event if they can find relevant information about the exhibit, including basics like the location and times. Promote your table location on social media for visitors to easily find.
• Making advertising personal: Social media provides a lot of control over your content regardless of the platform. Choose the type of content you post and craft it to suit your brand voice and experience, all while educating trade show-goers about what you sell.
• Getting instant feedback: Users can comment on your posts with questions, observations or tips. Learn how to improve for future trade shows and see what visitors enjoyed about your presence at this year’s event.

The 6 Best Social Media Platforms to Promote Your Trade Show Exhibit

Below are some of the most popular social media platforms for trade show exhibit attendees:

1. Facebook

Facebook is a user-friendly platform with over 2.93 billion users globally. Post anything from text posts to videos, pictures and more. Create content about your booth, showing off what you’re selling to encourage visitors. Or, go live during the trade show to bring in users from home virtually and teach them about your brand, expanding your reach.

Encourage in-person trade show attendees to engage with your Facebook page by having a QR code that directs to your profile. They can then like or follow your page to keep in contact with your brand.

2. Instagram

This photo-sharing app allows you to showcase the location and features of your trade show booth. You can share live product demonstrations and short videos as IGTV, stories or reels to garner interest in your event. Location tagging and hashtags are also useful for word-of-mouth marketing. Potential tradeshow goers may explore tags to decide whether they’ll go, and seeing your business there may inspire them to visit.

3. Twitter

This platform allows you to share short messages and images. You can target users with their specific handles, addressing questions from trade show visitors, and use hashtags to spread awareness or track discussion topics. Creating your own Twitter hashtag can help you get noticed and collect more followers. See if the trade show has an established Twitter hashtag you can participate in, too.

4. YouTube

You can use this popular video sharing and live streaming platform to promote your event to a larger audience. Videos are generally easy to record and upload using your mobile device. You can broadcast your participation in the event on YouTube or make video announcements to upload to another social media platform.

To live stream on YouTube, you’ll need a verified account and over 1,000 subscribers to stream from mobile.

5. LinkedIn

This professional networking platform can help with the early stages of the event, especially if you need to find volunteer assistance quickly. Advertising on LinkedIn can be good for gathering interest with specific demographics, such as college students who are preparing to start their careers. You can also advertise post-show and start adding your booth visitors to your network.

6. TikTok

The short videos promoted on this sharing platform are an ideal format for advertising campaigns intended to reach a wider audience. For a trade show, you can easily create and promote videos to generate interest or showcase the best features of an event. TikTok is popular with younger generations, making it a good platform for targeting Generation Z.

Trade Show Social Media Post Examples

Using social media at trade shows is easy with the right technology, so be sure to have your mobile devices charged up and apps downloaded before you attend the event. You might also want to consider how the specifics of a post — including the length of your videos — depend upon the platforms you choose. Below are ideas for unique and exciting social media posts you can use to promote your trade show exhibit:

1. Social Media Giveaways

Encourage engagement with contests that involve liking, commenting and sharing a trade-show-themed post to win promotional prizes. A giveaway that promises a reward in exchange for sharing your content will produce more interest. Many platforms make it easy to host a raffle, which can offer a random prize to the winner. Or, you can handpick a random winner based on the giveaway requirements.

2. Follow and Hashtag Incentives

Incentivize booth visitors to engage with your business’s social media by offering branded prizes. Post about how guests who visit your booth and follow you on social media will receive a branded T-shirt. Or, encourage visitors to take a picture with your booth and post it under a particular hashtag in exchange for a handy drawstring bag with your logo on it.

3. Content Contests

Choose a social media platform and post that trade show visitors who upload a picture or video with your booth will be entered to win a contest. User-generated content helps draw more attention to your business, and, depending on the prizes, you can gain a lot of interest in your contest. Tech gifts like power banks or phone accessories may draw in more contest entrants, so post about your trade show presence and contest to bring in visitors, both in person and online.

You can decide how the user-uploaded content gets judged, whether you want to decide on the winners based on the most shares, likes or another feature.

How to Promote Your Trade Show Booth on Social Media

Most of your visitors will be carrying smartphones with quick access to the social media platforms that have become integral to our everyday lives. You will attract more attention if you know how to use social media effectively. Below are some strategies you can use to promote your business before, during and after a trade show:

1. Pick Your Platforms

Carefully choose the platform you’ll use for your trade show posts on carefully. Think about where most of your followers are, whether that be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or another platform. Meet them there when you post about your trade show booth to gain the most views and engagement. That’ll help you focus your efforts on a worthwhile account.

2. Post Before, During and After

You should post about your trade show presence throughout the event, but also leading up to it and in the following days:

• Before: Advertise that your business will be attending the trade show. Give followers information about when and where the event is, as well as your particular booth location.
• During: Engage with visitors and encourage more to come by posting during the event. Take videos for social media stories or post with updates about your booth giveaways or how much longer your booth will be there.
• After: Thank visitors for coming and the trade show organizer for hosting on social media. Address questions you were asked frequently throughout the day, and post or share pictures you took with any booth visitors.

3. Connect With Your Attendees

Encourage your visitors to follow you on social media. You can give out business cards with a QR code that will direct them to your account or page. Even if your visitors are just browsing products, they might be interested later on as they view your brand online.

4. Live Stream Your Participation

You can gain more interest for your trade show booth with a live stream. Live streams give you the opportunity to create an engaging experience for potential customers who were unable to attend the trade show directly. It allows them to interact with you despite being absent and could encourage them to seek out your brand elsewhere.

Create a Post-Worthy Trade Show Booth With ePromos

Encourage booth visitors and social media posts with branded products from ePromos — a leader in promotional marketing. From drinkware to tech, apparel and bags, we can help promote your trade show with products customers will love. Contact us to learn more about what we offer or to request our white glove service.