Experiential Marketing 2.0

Linkedin is an amazing tool. Being “Linked In” means different things to different people. For some its an address book that gets updated when people move, for others its a trust-based network. Here are some quick ideas on how you can use Linkedin to support your event marketing efforts!

1. Create a group for your event: You can invite people to join your group, start discussions around the event or event-related topics, give important news updates to your audiences or promote your event to other groups.

2. Add the event to the Events application: This is an easy one. List your event so your audiences can find out about it.

3. Use the Slideshare, Google Presentation or Box.net applications to post relevant event presentations and other content: There is no better way to give your event a long tail and extend the return on investment than by sharing content after the event. Presentation sharing is an often overlooked channel for content distribution.

4. Use the Wordpress or BlogLink application to promote event blogs: If your event blogs are on Wordpress or TypepPad, this is a great way to integrate your thought leadership into your Linkedin presence ~ or to drive traffic to your event site. This will also help improve your event SEO results.

5. Use the Company Buzz application to promote the event: This is basically a Twitter Feed. This gives you another opportunity to link all of your social media content together and help your audience participate in everything that’s going on around your event.

6.  Use Huddle Workspaces to manage event logistics with your community: This simple but powerful tool allows you to coordinate just about everything with your teams.

7. Use Linkedin Polls to survey your audience: Linkedin polls are a really easy way to ask simple questions to your audiences, or start some interesting conversations to engage with your communities.

8. Use the TripIt application to coordinate travel schedules: This can be very useful for understanding what’s happening with your team, speakers, exhibitors, attendees, etc.

9. Purchase advertising tiles from Linkedin to promote the event: Linkedin advertising is highly targeted based on user profiles. This is a great way to get your event promoted to the specific audiences you want to reach.

10.  Use Advanced Search to identify attendees, speakers, exhibitors, analysts, press, media, partners, or other interested parties for events: Wow! Instead of audiences searching for relevant content, imagine having relevant content finding them! Search is an amazing tool that is often overlooked in the event marketing community as a way to drive audiences.

11. Use the Answers section to post and answer relevant questions around the event: Compelling questions can drive engagement and conversations between your brand and your audiences as well as build “community” around certain subject matter. This is a great way to participate in the conversation.  You can also search answers to find out who might be most interested in learning more about your event.

12. Use Status updates to promote the event: Another easy one. Post relevant information daily on what’s happening around the event.

13. Create “Linkedin Networking Sessions” at your events: Take Linkedin off line! Encourage attendees to meet face-to-face at the event and beyond. You can also invite other related Linkedin groups to participate in the live meet-ups.

Linkedin is so much more than a digital Rolodex. With the right integration into your event program, it can be a very powerful tool. I encourage you to experiment with all the functionality and find out what tools work best for you. If you discover something interesting, please share!