Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Twitter is great for supporting live events. As more and more of us trade nationally and in a global marketplace, so attending all ‘must go to’ live events becomes less and less possible and effective – when 100% of your potential leads were based in the UK, an event at the Birmingham NEC would reach many of them, but when 10%, 25%, 50% or 90% of them are based in the EU, North America and South East Asia, that event in Birmingham becomes a much less attractive marketing proposition.

Twitter solves this problem by allowing your potential customers to attend the event virtually. It also means you can take part in events that are always train trip away – very handy for a Nottingham-based company like us.

By doing this you not only vastly extend the reach of your event, you also enhance the experience of all those who are able to attend, and you can exponentially grow the number of people who follow your future tweets.

So, how do you do it?  Begin by establishing a suitable hashtag for your event. Make sure no one else is using it for something unrelated to the event. You can also set up a site which contains all the tweets carrying your new hashtag, as well as a space for people to upload text, photos and videos of the event.

You have now created a virtual space for your event. Encourage people to start using it by integrating the hashtag into your existing marketing: add it to your email marketing campaigns, your existing Twitter conversations, and your sign-up process for the event itself. You can monitor how many people are noticing it and beginning to use it by dedicating a column to it using a tool such as Tweetdeck.

Running this sort of social media mash-up is a fairly straightforward process, but it’s one that can produce impressive results.  We helped to run a social media mash-up for our client Infogroup/UK back in 2010 at Technology for Marketing & Advertising (TFM&A), in Earls Court, London.

The website recorded more than 2,000 hits during the event, 75% of which were from new visitors to the Infogroup/UK website, with the average visit lasting an impressive 17 minutes. So, not only did this campaign convey Infogroup/UK’s immediate messages to this audience – many of whom were not at the event itself – it also provided a long-term boost to Infogroup/UK’s social media following with Twitter follower numbers rising by 20%.

It is a vivid example of just what can be achieved through more advanced use of Twitter, and is just one of many ways in which social media is changing marketing. As Carly Ferguson, former Infogroup/UK Marketing Executive, and now Marketing Manager at B2B Marketing, concludes: “I’d always been enthusiastic about using Twitter and other social media, but the work we did at TFM&A really opened my eyes to the possibilities.”

To join the hashtag revolution, and start leveraging the power of social media for your next event, either give us at Nellie PR a call, or start yourself by following these five top tips:

1.    Establish the hashtag sooner rather than later and make sure no one else is using it for something unrelated to the event.
2.    Integrate the hashtag into email marketing campaigns, through Twitter and within invitations and sign up confirmation emails.
3.    Monitor the success of your hashtag by dedicating a column to it using a tool such as Tweetdeck.
4.    Give attendees content to aid their blog posts about the event by capturing as much on film as possible and promoting it via YouTube, Flickr or Vimeo.
5.    Finally, monitor increase of followers on any of your social media platforms, as well as traffic to your website from new visitors, to get a view of the success of your social media campaign.

Want to know more?  Contact Nellie PR.

Bryony Thomas came on-board as a Nellie PR client late last year and we kicked off her PR campaign with a very early win – an invitation to join other industry leaders on the platform at the B2B Marketing Annual Conference.

The audience of senior marketers and business owners heard her advice on how to get the finance team to love marketing.  Here’s what delegates had to say about her presentation: “Bryony Rocks”, “brill presentation”, “Bryony Thomas is owning the panel”, “presentation of day on reporting to board. Inspired practical love it.”  Click on the link for more speaker testimonials for Bryony Thomas.

We’ve since secured coverage for Bryony in the likes of The Guardian, Business Zone, Smallbusiness.co.uk, Retail Bulletin and B2B Marketing Magazine where she’s now a resident B2B Marketing Magazine blogger and trainer delivering workshops, including this one in May: social media training, as well as additional speaking slots too.

This is all fantastic early success for our work with Bryony. We first hooked up on Twitter through a mutual contact, and Nellie PR began working for two of Clear Thought Consulting’s clients.  Bryony was so impressed at the results we achieved for them that she hired us to build her own profile as a compelling and expert ‘practical’ marketing speaker.

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Does your business have between five and 249 employees?  Based in the East Midlands?  If so, you could be eligible for a grant of up to £1,000 towards the cost of training and coaching in public relations, copywriting or social media strategy.

The funding is available for the development of senior leaders and managers through the Leaders First initiative.  Businesses, public sector and charitable organisations are all eligible to apply for funding in a wide range of areas.  As B2B PR specialists, Nellie PR has already delivered:

• Social media strategy training
• Public relations mentoring and coaching
• Training in B2B copywriting.

Contact Nellie PR to find out more about how apply for grant funding towards training and coaching in public relations, copywriting or social media strategy.