My name is Jessica, and I am an addict…to my Blackberry. My friends make fun of me for being on my phone so often but my mobile device has been my most trusted and needed partner throughout this past year; helping me reply and send out hundreds of emails , answer phone calls, market my events on the go, and hold meetings while multitasking, while I am doing things like riding the bus or sitting between classes. I can’t imagine being an event planner sans smart phone in the world of information technology. The advantage of utilizing all that our phone, and the Internet, has to offer is an opportunity we can ill afford to pass up. With millions of people connected on Facebook and Twitter alone, social media marketing has become a vital part of every planner’s event marketing technique.
Doing some research over the weekend related to a secret (shhhhhh!) event that Sarah, our Interactive Media Coordinator, and I have been working on a concept for I ran across some great tips from Mashable, an “American news website and Internet news blog founded by Pete Cashmore” in 2005 (definition courtesy of Wikipedia). Find the full article here for some great ideas on how to best use social media throughout your event planning and event marketing process!
I loved most of Mashable’s tips — for instance I was not aware that Facebook Pages will post updates to the walls of people who “Like” the page, exposing the page to anyone who can view that user’s wall, while a Facebook Group does not notify members in same fashion. However, I do disagree with the article’s author on one important point — they do advocate using Skype, G-chat or Tokbox to replace meeting face-to-face with committee or group members.
While I think these tools can be extremely beneficial in aiding your committee’s communication outside of meetings, I do not advocate fully replacing good ole fashioned brainstorming sessions or in-person meetings with social media shortcuts. Some of the best event ideas I’ve ever implemented were born from bouncing ideas off another person, goofing around, and collaborative work! Check out this video
BuckeyeThon 2011 Glow Stick Dancers
of glowstick dancers — the idea for which came from one of my past committee members joking around about cool viral videos — an idea which we decided to turn into reality to surprise our audience with great success!
I’m looking forward on how Buckeye Interactive’s secret collaborative social media event will turn out as well- it will become a fantastic example of how creative insight and technological innovation can in turn inspire interesting events!
