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1105 Government Information Group

Driving Attendance for a Government Trade Show with Social Media & Outreach

As Tuvel Communications continues to work with 1105 Government Information Group on building participation and interest in its annual GovSec Conference & Expo, the value of social media becomes increasingly clear. The 1105 Government Information Group is the leading provider of integrated information and media for the government information technology (IT) market. Flagship events include the Federal 100, GCN Awards, Government Leadership Summit, FOSE, GovSec & U.S. Law, Washington Technology Top 100, and a series of conferences focused on collaboration, networking and education.

Campaign

Tuvel Communications has developed three successful social media campaigns to date for GovSec since 2009. Tuvel undertook a variety of activities to promote and increase participation in these events. All of the GovSec events were held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.

“Because of the social media programs that Tuvel Communications implemented for FOSE, GovSec and U.S. Law, we were able to report an increased level of participation and attendance for our annual trade shows,” said Carmel McDonagh, vice president, 1105 Media Inc. “Through the continued use of social media, we will maintain and grow our show audiences beyond the physical events. We aspire to keep our audiences informed and aware of ongoing activities on a year-round basis, to include soliciting feedback as we develop content for the coming events. As the government moves toward transparency and openness initiatives, we are mirroring this strategy in the way we communicate with our attendee community, and we have now created the right framework to achieve this goal.”

— Carmel McDonagh: vice president, 1105 Media Inc.

Goals

In 2011, the 1105 Government Information Group wanted to build on the success of its 2009 and 2010 campaigns to increase traffic, buzz and excitement while producing an engaged, active audience for its GovSec 2011 show.

Strategy

For GovSec 2011, Tuvel employed a two-pronged pre-show strategy that included targeted outreach and social networking with the goal of directly engaging influencers in the government security space.

Tuvel conducted research to identify multipliers in specific audience segments and marketing channels whose networks (readers, members, etc.) would be interested in GovSec 2011 conference content. Research efforts also focused on a regional audience of those with a propensity to attend GovSec 2011. Audience segments included homeland security, cybersecurity and law enforcement.

As a way to spread the word as widely as possible within our target audiences, Tuvel developed marketing channels for outreach efforts through blogs, e-mail lists, newsletters and social networks such as LinkedIn.

Onsite elements of the campaign included social networking, live tweeting, press credentials for bloggers and promotions. The onsite strategy used social media as a facilitator, making connections and retweeting relevant content to supporters.

Tactics

Tuvel's research resulted in a targeted contact database for campaign execution, which enabled Tuvel to create customized and personalized messaging based on audience segment and marketing channel, referencing specific conference content that would be of interest to each contact and their networks. Messages went out each week at a steady pace and evenly over the life of the campaign.

As part of outreach efforts, Tuvel also contacted GovSec 2010 supporters and stakeholders, as well as GovSec 2011 speakers with blogs. An element new for 2011 was a Spread the Word page at the GovSec website that included sample blog posts, tweets, banners and logos, which made it easier for supporters to pass along information and enhanced the event brand.

As Tuvel built relationships with contacts that responded to outreach efforts, referrals to others that might be interested in spreading the word about GovSec 2011 became available. This year, we also solicited website content from supporters and built relationships with organizations and bloggers who spread the word via multiple marketing channels to larger audiences. This resulted in the creation of a Social Media Partners Program, which offered website and onsite exposure to those select organizations and supporters in exchange for promotion through their own channels.

Tuvel Communications also offered pre-show social networking support in outposts such as Twitter in order to enter the conversation and directly engage individual supporters and attendees, while increasing followers and creating excitement. Pre-show social media promotions were successful in spreading the word and included giveaways such as #govsectix. We drove traffic to and created excitement around GovSec content through a promotion for the National Geographic hit TV series Border Wars - the show's executive producer, Nick Stein, was speaking at GovSec. To spread the word about promotions and onsite activity, Tuvel also engaged GovSec Twitter followers with large numbers of followers for help, as well as past supporters and influencers.

The Tuvel team also live-tweeted from keynotes, the Expo floor and during conference sessions; posted photos to Twitter and Facebook; used social networking before specific sessions to drive traffic; and encouraged onsite bloggers to post session content.

Tuvel created a Meetup around Nick Stein's Border Wars keynote, scheduled for the last day of the event, when traffic is typically lighter, with the goal of driving traffic and generating excitement. The Meetup was promoted pre-show and onsite, and included Border Wars and National Geographic t-shirt and hat giveaways. Tuvel approached Gov 2.0 influencers and other stakeholders to spread the word.

Results

Onsite efforts of Tuvel's social media campaign for GovSec 2011 saw an overall increase in friends, fans and followers. Online and offline efforts worked well to develop relationships that then continued onsite. Promotions used both pre-show and onsite. Onsite efforts offered an opportunity to connect with current and past supporters.

The campaign achieved a total potential reach of 200,000+ people through social media channels, including blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn groups and other mentions. Tuvel created a GovSec database of relevant blogs, social networks, lists, websites, groups and individuals, all of which can be used to continue to enhance visibility of GovSec and its 2012 event, as well as its other programs and events.

The Social Media Partners program succeeded in creating an extra incentive for select bloggers and organizations to help spread the word. The Spread the Word page succeeded in helping supporters promote GovSec 2011 with ease. The credentialed bloggers program generated additional onsite and post-show coverage.

The campaign resulted in a 25% growth in Twitter followers over a three-week period. The campaign also re-energized relationships from previous (2009 and 2010) social media supporters.

Achieving Similar Success

For information on how you can put a Tuvel Communications program to work for your company, organization, product, service or event, just contact us.