In the final part of this blog, Marcel Kay, talks about the benefit of blogging and why you may need more than just print advertising to drive traffic onto your stand at the exhibitions your company attends.
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Facebook these days is becoming more of a business tool. Especially as LinkedIn (the de facto digital business networking platform) has just removed it’s automatic links to Twitter and replaced them with links to Facebook. Facebook’s daily user count is now equivalent to the total number of people using the Internet eight years ago. So, if your business doesn’t have a Facebook page then it’s missing digital networking opportunities with your customers. Remember to engage with Facebook users in a more social fashion though. It won’t take the sort of writing you’d include in your annual report or even in your press releases. On the page should go your pictures and videos from the Trade Shows you’ve attended this year. Why not use that iPhone or iPad to shoot footage while at Electronica this year? There is no need for high-end video production with most social media channels.
If you are going to properly use Facebook and YouTube then make sure you email links to prospective and current clients and also embed the video on your website or blog and try and set up backlinks from other commentators and blogs out there that cover the industry and your competitors. This way it will get found by Google and by including the show name and great keywords in the video title you’ll also get anyone searching for the trade exhibition to find your company as well at the same time. The search engine optimisation (SEO) rankings on Google for your company will also improve this way.
At Pinnacle Marketing, we are content creation specialists for the technical industries like engineering and electronics. So, we blog about everything. You need to find out who are your industry wide bloggers or if there aren’t any then consider starting one. Improved Google website SEO rankings are no longer just about embedded keyword tagging on your website but more about the useful information the website provides the Internet community via keywords from your blog. If there’s no blog linked to your website then you’re not likely to be creating regular and useful content, so Google ranks you lower than a company that does blog. Over half of all websites are created with blogging software nowadays. Blogs are easier to set and are really low cost. The company’s blog can be the base site for all promotional activity at your exhibitions this year.
Just a few years back, trade magazine adverts were the main method for any company in a B2B industry to reach its audience at a trade exhibition. That was until inbound digital marketing became much more effective. The negative side of this was the magazines that lost advertising revenue also then reduced the number of journalists that they employed. However trade blogs are shooting up an enormous rate and their low cost means bloggers are taking the place of trade magazine writers in some industries with the difference being that blogging doesn’t need to be independent views, it can also be the views of your company. To find out whom your industry bloggers really are have a look at http://www.google.com/blogsearch.
By following a few of our tips, you’ll have a much better chance of securing media coverage for your exhibitions and maximising the ROI from the cost of your company attending and designing your stand. Media coverage, whether in print or online, will not just drive potential purchasing decisions for your products or service, but also raise your company’s profile, build brand recognition and credibility and promote you on a wider international scale than perhaps you have ever done previously. If your news does get published online, then you’ll also be improving your SEO efforts in the process.
If you want to find out more please contact me on [email protected] and I’ll tell you more about how we ‘mess with the normal’ when it comes to new digital B2B techniques for PR and Marketing.
