_____“NYC-Based Social Media-Integrated Event Planning SUPERhero, Queen of Details, SM/Events Obsessed Blogger & Speaker,” Liz King has managed to take over the meeting industry, and catch the eye of BizBash’s CEO, David Adler. As our social media consultant, Liz King has explained the significant role social media can play in the meeting industry, and has allowed Sentry to better navigate the ever-growing community of social networks. Aside from consulting, Liz King has also started her own company, Liz King Events. Liz has been kind enough to offer us some words on the how social media effects small event businesses. We hope you enjoy Liz King’s post.
_____Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube… There are so many social networks out there that small businesses are leveraging to generate new clients and revenue. But as a small business, our time is extremely limited. Within the events industry, we are occupied by logistics, creativity, and so much more. It is our job to run our event businesses for our clients. We need to satisfy them and, in fact, wow them. So often, our focus is on delivering for clients. When it comes to social media, most of us are flying by the seat of our pants. However, to be successful on social media, it’s imperative that you have a strategic process in place for your social media marketing efforts.
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Who is your target market?
Who are you talking to on social media? Where does your target market hang out? For many small business owners, they can tell you who their target market is. However, they often don’t know what social networks their target market uses. In this case, I highly suggest doing a survey to your current clients. Ask them a few basic questions. What social networks do you use? How often do you use them? HOW do you use them? These seem like very simple questions, but you may start to notice a trend. Through this research, you may find that most of your target market uses Facebook on a daily basis. However, they do not like to hear from brands. If this is the case, it’s important for you to consider. Is Facebook the best use of your time?
What are you trying to achieve?
What is the point of using social media? Are you trying to expand your brand? Are you trying to bring in new business? Are you simply trying to become more relevant? These are all very important questions to consider as you’re developing your social media strategy. You need to have a very clear idea of what your goals are for your social media campaigns. This will allow you to compare that to the behaviors of your target market, to create a strategy that will engage your clients.

Take a look at the tools.
Once you have a good idea of what you’re trying to achieve using social media, and you are familiar with the behaviors of your target market, it’s time to take a look at the tools to help you achieve your goals. I am a firm believer that not every events business needs to be on every social network. For some businesses, Facebook may be the best outlet for them. For others, Twitter is the key to bringing in new clients. This is the part that is difficult for me to dictate to you. You need to do this research and come up with a strategy that works for YOUR business. Every event business is as unique as the people running them. For this reason, there is no single marketing strategy, or social media strategy, that works for every company.

Dig In.
I can promise you that you will never find social media success if you don’t work. Social media got its name from the fact that it’s highly social. It’s all about relationships. And, as in every other part of your life, relationships take work. This is what a lot of small event businesses do not want to hear. As I mentioned, they’re very busy. They don’t feel they have the time to update social networks in addition to all the other work that they’re doing. If this is the way you feel, please don’t bother using social media. It’s not worth it. The only way that you will find success on social media is if you have a genuine interest in your target market, take the time to get to know them, and have patience to see the sales come in slowly over time.

If you can embrace these few principles, you really can find success using social media. In the events business, as in every other industry, our currency is relationships. We bring in business through word-of-mouth. If ever there was a better tool for word-of-mouth widely spread, social media is it. Take some time to think critically about what you’re trying to achieve with social media. This will help you be more successful in the long run. Good luck with your social media efforts!