Q&A: Jessica Levin
Putting your event on the social media map
By Jennifer Garrett
Following Jessica Levin on Twitter, it’s easy to see the association marketer, meeting planner and owner of 7 Degrees Communications consulting company wears a lot of hats, but it is also apparent she has fully taken hold of social media and its benefits in every role she takes on.
Meetings and social media go hand-in-hand, says Levin. “Events are largely to bring people together and share information. Social networking really helps people engage in relationships and provides access to share information much more easily than we’ve ever been able to do before.”
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, etc., can be overwhelming. We asked Levin to share some basic tips for those who are just getting started or feel they are already in over their heads.
Social media may seem daunting. How can an organization get started?
I would tell them to start with “What are you trying to accomplish?” That really drives what they are trying to do. So in terms of putting on an event, the “big four,” which are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs, all have a place, but it all has to do with what you are trying to do — if you are trying to increase engagement, promotion, etc. Social media is not one-size fits all.
What if engagement is your goal?
Ultimately, if you can afford it, implementing an event community that ties into your registration system is really a great way to tie a community together because they can know who is attending and can have message boards and can link to all the outside sites like Twitter and Facebook. It really is a pre-dialog about the event. Twitter is a great tool during an event. Having a Twitter hashtag [#] and following the conversation there really changes the whole dynamic of an event.
What are some meeting-specific social networking sites?
There are three big players in that market — Pathable, Social Collective and Crowdvine. There are some other products but I would say those are the main ones.
What if promotion is your goal?
You have to figure out where your attendees are. If you have a group on LinkedIn, that might be a platform you use. In terms of promotion, it is easy to use multiple platforms. Start a group on LinkedIn, incorporate blogs, YouTube, but put your emphasis and your time where you find that your attendees are.
If you’re using multiple channels, do you risk sounding redundant?
I prefer the word consistent to redundant. There is a lot of noise out there whether it is hard copies or social media, so while as a planner we may feel like we are saturating the market, the recipient may only see it once or twice. Social media clearly expands what you can do. Blogs are terrific; you can get a lot of different people blogging. You can have your speakers blogging whether you have them blogging for you on your site or on their site. Generally, when they are blogging on their site about your event, they have huge reach so they are helping promote your event as well as providing content and teasers for the attendees about what to expect.
What is a common mistake when implementing social media?
They try to do it and don’t realize that they need to plan and there is a time commitment involved. They throw up a bunch of sites and then there’s no one monitoring them.
When time commitment is a factor, what should planners focus on?
One of the best things you can do is get other people involved. Your attendees are going [to your event] because they want to meet other attendees. They are not really going because they want to interact with the staff — whether its an association or a company. So having what I call Social Media or Communication Ambassadors can be really helpful. With social media it’s important to spread the wealth, so you’re asking people to handle some of the updates and help spread the word.
Every group has leaders. It’s just a matter of identifying them and finding people who want to help.
What do you recommend for an audience that is not tech-saavy?
One of the things that I highly recommend for an audience that isn’t savvy but is interested (if they aren’t interested it’s going to be difficult) is to provide an education. This education has nothing to do with why they are coming to the conference, but you can teach them how to use some of the tools so their attendee experience is enhanced. Have webinars ahead of time, and maybe even a series of webinars, on using different platforms. If you have decided that you are going to implement an event community than you need to teach people how to use it. You need to have a session and allow people to ask questions and really be patient, speak in plain English and not text terms. The same thing if you are using Twitter or having a Twitter stream during an event. I do a 1-hour Twitter101 to really give people an overview and it helps them not only for the event but it teaches people a new skill.
