One of the best ways to land new customers is by engaging them face to face. That is why the trade show is such an important part of business to business transactions. According to the Trade Show News Network, companies spent 39.2 percent of their B2B marketing budget on B2B exhibitions in 2011. If you have a good booth location, vibrant display, and a motivated team you are very likely to convert a handful of attendees as new clients. But with the advent of social media, you can attract even more visitors to your booth. In fact, you do not even have to limit yourself to just those who visit your booth. Social media, if used properly, can be a very powerful tool to increase your presence and impact at trade shows.

Preparation

Even before the trade show begins, you can maximize your potential by building anticipation on social media. Social CMO suggests enticing potential customers with a competition or special event that features great giveaways and promotions. Make your pre-show preparations work even better by encouraging your network to retweet, share or like your announcements to gain an even larger audience. Another great technique is to find articles and blogs about the trade show and comment on them. Many who attend shows will read up about the event beforehand. If you can get your name out there, you increase your visibility and the chance of more visitors to your booth at the show.

During the Show

Kuno Creative shows that social media can also generate excitement during the trade show. By giving live updates throughout the show, streaming live videos of presentations and conducting online video interviews with attendees, you can help increase your audience beyond just those who happen to be at your booth. It can both bring additional visitors to you at the show and increase awareness of your products and services to those not even at the show.

Use social media to conduct giveaways and contests. A great way to implement this is to use QR codes. You can display the codes on your booth signage and banner displays. If you have promoted the contest well on social media, people will know to stop by your booth to capture the code and then tweet, like or check in with the contents to be entered.

After the Show

Social media can also be used to extend the life of the trade show. You can award some of the prizes through your social channels after the show to keep your name out there and the connections alive. Social Media Today suggests to include your Twitter handle or Facebook page links in everything you give out during the show, from brochures to giveaways and tell visitors that you can offer them discounts if they reach out after they go home. Many of these follow up conversations can happen publically and help increase your brand awareness.

Social media can be a very powerful tool in your arsenal, if used properly, strategically and in coordination with other proven entities.

Author Bio 
Murray Lunn is a freelance writer specializing in content marketing for online businesses; his work includes business blogging, product development, and brand development.