Tuvel Communications Blog

Continue reading "What We're Reading, July 30th" »

Technorati Tags: location-based marketing cause marketing associations social media marketing PR Facebook geo-location ASAE

July 16, 2010

What We're Reading, July 16th

Happy Friday! It's been a busy and exciting week here at Tuvel - wrapping up projects, kicking off new campaigns, seeing great results from current ones. It's always so exciting to see the fruits of our labor! Tuvel was also featured in two articles this week - from Convene Magazine and the Omnipress Blog - which are part of our weekly recommended reading list today (but don't just read them because we're featured - they are truly interesting and insightful reads)!

• Online Event Communities...A Social Media Marketing Opportunity for Exhibitors and Sponsors from The Conference Handouts (Omnipress Blog)
• Will location-based applications like Foursquare find a place in the meetings industry? from Convene Magazine
• 6 Social Media Metrics You Should Be Tracking from Mike Brown for Social Media Today
• The Boston Globe Takes Readers on Mobile Scavenger Huntfrom Mashable

Finally, we leave you this week with a fond farewell...from Old Spice Guy:

Continue reading "What We're Reading, July 16th" »

Technorati Tags: social media metrics event marketing community building Foursquare Old Spice Guy

July 14, 2010

2 Event-Friendly Location-Based Apps that Go Beyond “Checking In”

Location-based services are the newest trend in social networking, and as such the big players in the space (Foursquare and Gowalla) are getting all sorts of attention and scrutiny. While many users of such services love broadcasting their whereabouts to their online friends and earning badges and titles of distinction in the process (Player Please badge, anyone?), others are a bit wary of them and their usefulness – and are especially concerned with potential privacy issues.

Businesses, on the other hand, are starting to find value of their own in using location-based services as a marketing tool. Even event marketers are starting to experiment with location-based social networking to promote a conference, specific exhibitor, or special sessions – something we did for this year's NAB Show.

The only problem is when it comes to events and conferences, services like Foursquare and Gowalla aren't quite ready for prime time. While the concept of checking in to an event or exhibitor booth in order to drive traffic and generate interest is definitely cool, the functionality is not conducive to a conference setting due to two big issues:

• A venue page is built based on a single address – where several different events may take place over time.


• Lack of interactivity and ability for attendees to do what they would be naturally inclined to do at a conference – network with each other.

SCVNGR

Location-based gaming app SCVNGR looks like it's really going places (and racking up some points at those places, too). The Google-backed start-up combines the concept of "checking in" to venues with the fun and interactivity of an old-fashioned scavenger hunt. Players discover cool new places, find fun new things to do, share their activity with friends and can even earn virtual (and sometimes real-world) rewards. Upon visiting and checking in to a venue, users of the app are required to complete a "challenge", which could range from taking a photo to something more complex. Users can rack up points for completing challenges, which could be used to win prizes.

What impressed me most about SCVNGR is the applications in a conference setting are endless and benefit not only attendees, but also exhibitors. Conferences can create custom "treks" consisting of 20-35 locations, taking people on a certain path around the conference or expo. Imagine offering this to exhibitors as a value-add to drive traffic to their booths while interacting in a fun and engaging way with attendees/prospective customers, or even using this as a way to promote certain sessions or guide people through conference tracks. You might even create a social media hub at your event with a digital "leader board" displaying attendee names and their scores, along with photos that have been taken or other media created in the process.

It's free to create places and challenges at those places, however the creation of treks (what will link all those places and challenges together into a complete, branded experience) is only available to enterprise clients of SCVNGR. With the creation of custom treks come features like the leader board, an activity screen, analytics, game design and turnkey support.

Double Dutch

Double Dutch is really touting itself as the location-based app for events, and for good reason. It's a white-label app that is custom-built for an event – which does away with the inherent issue I mentioned above with checking in to a conference (or specific location at a conference) with Foursquare or Gowalla. This means individual booths and sessions can be built into the app for attendees to check in to within the confines of the event venue itself, and they have the option of broadcasting their conference whereabouts to only other attendees.

Double Dutch can also be used by attendees to interact with each other and at different sessions. For instance, they can use it to rate speakers and even submit questions to them via RSS. A gaming element can also be built into the app and used in much the same way as Scvngr, incentivizing attendees with custom-branded stickers for completing tasks like checking in at exhibitor booths and sessions, taking photos and even rating speakers. For those of you in exhibitor sales and marketing, these stickers can be sold to exhibitors as a way to market their presence.

Double Dutch clients can also create leader boards and have access to an analytics dashboard to monitor activity, speaker feedback and how people are engaging with the app. They can also use the Double Dutch API to connect Facebook, Twitter and blogs to the app – allowing attendees to post their whereabouts and reviews to those places if they choose. The fact that it combines the gaming element with additional ways for attendees to interact with each other and with exhibitors and speakers makes this a valuable tool for event marketers.

Double Dutch is currently available on iPhone only at the moment, but should be available across all platforms soon.

The Verdict?

I think both of these apps have massive value to offer for event marketers and organizers – both from an attendee and exhibitor standpoint. There are costs involved in working with both Scvngr and Double Dutch, but I also think the potential for generating ROI on either one is huge, not to mention the opportunity to engage attendees directly with fun games, event networking and built-in feedback loops.

Have you used either of these apps for an event? Tell us about your experience!

Continue reading "2 Event-Friendly Location-Based Apps that Go Beyond “Checking In”" »

Technorati Tags: location-based apps event marketing geolocation social media SCVNGR Double Dutch

June 27, 2010

VIDEO: Tuvel's Mitch Arnowitz on the Digital Media Conference's Social Media Marketing Panel

Tuvel Communication's managing director Mitch Arnowitz recently participated in the Social Media Marketing panel at the Digital Media Conference, which took place on June 25th in Tyson's Corner, VA. The panel was moderated by Elizabeth Shea, President and CEO of SpeakerBox Communications, and the panel members were:

• Mitch Arnowitz, Managing Director, Tuvel Communications LLC


• Hooman Radfar, CEO & Co-founder, Clearspring


• Matt Goddard, CEO, R2integrated


• Neal Sinno, VP Business Dev., Arkadium

Some of the topics covered: Social media marketing is growing as brands and marketers embrace the social web as one of the most effective ways to create buzz, attention and loyal followers. What are some examples of successful social media marketing campaigns? What are some of the pitfalls and practices to avoid? What is the future for social media marketing?

Continue reading "VIDEO: Tuvel's Mitch Arnowitz on the Digital Media Conference's Social Media Marketing Panel" »

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June 11, 2010

What We're Reading, June 11th

Here's this week's rundown of some of the more interesting social media, online marketing and digital media articles, blog posts and other media we'd like to share with you:

• 13 Ways LinkedIn Supports Event Marketing from: Engage 365


• Is this Foursquare or Bore-square? from: {grow} Blog


• Facebook Launched Revamped Analytics Tools from: All Facebook


• 9 Tools and Trends to Help Planners Do a Better Job Right Now from: BizBash Toronto


• Upward-Facing Associations: Part 2 from: SmartBlog Insights


• Very funny video from the folks at PitchEngine, entitled "A Fond Farewell":

Continue reading "What We're Reading, June 11th" »

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May 21, 2010

7 Not-to-Miss Twitter Chats for Association, Non-Profit, Event and B2B Marketers

We here at Tuvel LOVE Twitter chats! We host and moderate Twitter chats for clients (like the NAB Show and Share Our Strength) to help generate interest in a cause or event - resulting in donations, registrations, and overall awareness. We also participate in quite a few Twitter chats, and I'd like to share a few where you might find @TuvelComms, Mitch (@mitcharno) and me (@KariRippetoe) joining the conversation.

In case you're not sure what a Twitter chat is, here are some tips for participating in a Twitter chat. Also, here's a pretty comprehensive list of other Twitter chats covering a wide variety of topics and interests.

The following are chats that focus on marketing and communications, particularly for B2B, event, non-profit and association marketers. I hope to see you at one (or more) of these chats sometime (and be sure to say that Tuvel sent you!).

• #engage365: Hosted by the Engage 365, the online community for using social media for events, this chat takes place every Friday at 1pm ET.


• #assnchat: This chat takes place every Tuesday at 2pm ET and focuses on hot topics in the association world.









• #npchat: Non-profit profs share ideas for mobilizing supporters, generating awareness, and increasing donations every Wednesday at 3pm ET.


• #b2bchat: Participants talk about B2B marketing topics of all kinds, from social to search to email and everything in between. Takes place every Thursday evening at 8pm ET.


• #imcchat: Looking for ideas on creating integrated marcomm strategies? Join the the Integrated Marketing Communications Chat every Wednesday evening at 8pm ET.


• #eventprofs: Chat for event professionals about event marketing strategies - online and offline. It takes place on different days and times, so check out this schedule for the next one.


• #archat: This is a chat for marketers and business profs from all walks of life focusing on "influencer relations" - Analyst Relations (AR), Public Relations (PR), Investor Relations (IR). Takes place every Monday at 1pm ET.

Continue reading "7 Not-to-Miss Twitter Chats for Association, Non-Profit, Event and B2B Marketers" »

Technorati Tags: Twitter marketing event marketing association marketing B2B marketing social media tweetchat Twitter chats #assnchat #engage365 #b2bchat #imcchat #eventprofs #archat

May 19, 2010

HOW TO: Use Foursquare for a Conference (or an Exhibit Booth)

Tuvel Communications is the online PR firm for the NAB Show, and in addition to being the "voice" behind the show's social media outposts (Twitter, Facebook pages, LinkedIn group), we also devised and implemented creative pre-show and on-site social media promotions to engage attendees, drive registrations and generate excitement.

This year Foursquare became a major player in the social media game, and although we did not implement a full-scale location-based program, we did monitor how people were using Foursquare at the show, plus we came up with a last minute on-site contest that utilized the geo-location social network. What we learned was quite interesting and makes all of us here at Tuvel very excited about the possibilities Foursquare presents for the event marketing and conference business(s).

What did we do?

• We created a Foursquare page for the NAB Show using the address of the Las Vegas Convention Center, where it takes place every year. Here's how to do this:




1. Log in to Foursquare, or create an account if you don’t have one already. If you don’t have a smartphone, that’s OK – you can still create an account without it.


2. Set your location to the city where the event is taking place.


3. Click on Add Things at the top of the page.


4. Click on Add a New Venue.




• We came up with a last-minute contest to drive traffic to a particular session (namely, a session called "In Conversation With: Stan Lee", moderated by comedian and G4 Channel personality Chris Hardwick). We wanted attendees to check in to the session for a chance to win a copy of "The Amazing Spider-Man" comic book, autographed by creator Stan Lee himself. So, we created a Foursquare page by following the steps above and including all the pertinent details for the session (session name, event name, room number) in the Name field. We then promoted the contest the morning of the session via Twitter, Facebook and a post on the official NAB Show Blog.

I mentioned earlier that throughout the show, we were monitoring how attendees were using Foursquare on-site. We found that in addition to people checking in through the show page we created, others were creating their own NAB Show pages on Foursquare and checking in through those. We also found that some exhibitors had created Foursquare pages for their own booths, using the same method outlined above (they used their company names and booth numbers in the Name fields).

I recently talked about our use of Foursquare in a discussion on the Engage 365 Community, and a great comment was made by John Barber that "the more event Foursquare pages that are added by your method, the longer becomes the flat list of places that all come up at the venue's main geo-location." This is a great point, and I would certainly not say our implementation method was in any way foolproof. This, however, is more attributable to the limits of the tool itself. When it comes to Foursquare's use at conferences, it's definitely not ready for prime time (although I hope to see that change soon).

As for our Stan Lee session contest, we garnered a grand total of 15 check-ins. Considering that it was a last-minute guerilla marketing tactic with literally a morning's worth of marketing to promote it and where we were basically experimenting with Foursquare's use at an individual conference session, I would say it worked pretty well.

Have you ever seen Foursquare used (or used it yourself) for event marketing? What were the results and how did you gauge them?

Continue reading "HOW TO: Use Foursquare for a Conference (or an Exhibit Booth)" »

Technorati Tags: Foursquare social media NAB Show geo-location location-based social networks event marketing

May 10, 2010

11 Lessons Learned: Social Media & Event Marketing

Here at Tuvel Communications, we have executed conference and expo social media programs for clients like the NAB Show and 1105 Government Information Group. We've learned several lessons along the way, and I thought it would be useful to get these thoughts down on digital paper to share with you so can be better prepared when it comes to social media marketing at events.

• Start early. It takes time to build a relationship. You don't want the first communication from your event to be about passing a promo code along! We always try to keep in mind the old Internet adage to give and then take. We typically like to begin outreach efforts 6 months prior to an event.
• Create excitement! Content doesn't create excitement, people do. We were recently charged with driving attendees to an expo. People love to win, so we created Twitter raffles and contests. People got really excited about winning a conference ticket. We also ran a recent Facebook promotion where 'likes' (aka: fans) were asked to post photos from past shows. People got excited about posting and seeing each others photos (especially the ones from shows 15 or more years ago).
• Don't underestimate the power of face-to-face. This is really a lesson learned from Netpreneur/Coffee & DoughNets days. Developing an online relationship can be cemented by a face-to-face meeting. Nothing beats the interaction we see at client events. Strong online community building and networking done prior to the show complement offline meetings. Even better is if attendees are located in the same market as the event and you can bring them together before and after the show.
• Feedback and buzz are huge! Our company is metrics focused. Whether it's 'ROI', attendee increases or exhibitor traffic, we look to the numbers to partially determine our success. Other program metrics include size of the communities and how well they're engaged, profile traction, website analytics, and promo code tracking.

  Having said all of that, don't underestimate the importance of feedback from conference organizers, attendees and exhibitors. It's easy to feel excitement in the air when you hear comments like "you guys are doing something different this year" or "there really is a lot of activity, I notice it."

• Think through, take a deep breath and consider implications before acting. We recently identified a potential conflict when an attendee at a client event set up a blog that was inadvertently being mistaken for the 'official' show blog. We took a very deliberate 'honey vs. vinegar' approach of not reacting in a negative or aggressive fashion. Instead, we began building a relationship that eventually led to shared traffic. It would have been fool-hardy on our part to do anything else.
• Don't be afraid to try new things (or, you never know unless you try). At a recent client event, show organizers were nice enough to offer us a vacant booth, which we turned into a Social Media Suite. We got some perplexed expressions and strange questions for sure. Traffic was light, so on day two of the conference, we made a CVS run, dressed up the booth and held a Tweetup. We produced a Twitter chat for another client, unsure if anyone would even show up for the party. We ended up doubling registrations as a result of the hour-long chat.
• Beware of technology (or, the best laid plans...). We had a great on-site social media plan for a recent event, only to find out that lack of stable wifi prohibited us from uploading any photos, tweeting or posting. On another occasion, we were all set up for a Twitter chat only to have chat tools slow down to a screeching halt. Moral of the story: don't be surprised when inevitabilities of technology happen.
• Be patient. It takes time to get traction. We 're big on momentum and were dismayed when a couple of recent promotions didn't get off to a quick start. It took time for the word to spread and traffic to build up. But, we soldiered on and both promotions ended up going well. Thankfully, we didn't pull the plug before they took off.
• Always follow best practices. This goes without saying, but I figure it's worth repeating. Following best practices in terms of transparency and communication isn't only the right thing to do-- it's just good business.
• Its not just the numbers, it's who they are and where they're doing it that also count. We'd trade larger groups of passive readers for a handful of passionate supporters any day.
• Ask for referrals. We execute word-of-mouse campaigns. As soon as someone posts or passes our message along, we ask for referrals - bloggers, moderators, social networkers and list owners in their network. These folks might be interested in our communication and nothing beats an introduction!

Continue reading "11 Lessons Learned: Social Media & Event Marketing" »

Technorati Tags: event marketing social media marketing social media for conferences outreach word-of-mouth marketing

November 20, 2007

Holiday Parties

There are a few parties coming up over the next couple of weeks and links follow. If you know of others, please post them to comments.

TCM's Third Annual Holiday Networking Celebration: Dec 4
(disclaimer: a client of ours)

the one party: Dec 5

The Technoliday Party: Dec 6

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November 14, 2007

Lunch 2.0 D.C.

Pointers follow for today's Lunch 2.0 D.C. 'Using Social Networking Tools' meeting for those that have an interest... istrategylabs streamed it for those that couldn't make it, the link is also below.

New Politics Institute hosted the lunch and it featured Chris Kelly of Facebook, John Hlinko of Grassroots, Cheryl Contee of Fleishman-Hillard, and
Ben Rattray of Change.org.

"Come to a lunch event where the New Politics Institute explores how to do politics in this new social networking environment."

Lunch 2.0 D.C. group

Today's event

Today's event streamed

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November 08, 2007

New New Internet Conf Webcasts

Last week's New New Internet: Web 2.0 for Business Conference. ExecutiveBiz has put a complete Webcast up of all the presentations.
.

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July 05, 2006

Digital Media Conference

Here is a picture from the recent Digital Media Conf. of me, Raj Khera of MailerMailer and Adam Lehman of Post Ventures.

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June 29, 2006

Digital Media Conference

The Digital Media Conference was held in Washington, DC June 23rd. You can find out more about it here. Threaded through one of the day's earlier panels was the notion that consumers are now in control and interested in their own content. Models are being turned upside down and businesses realize that it's no longer a broadcast but 2-way world. It was all very Web 2.0.

There was a panel on online advertising and Gary Arlen has written a piece on the conference's Net Neutrality panel.

Sidebar: advocacy groups continue to set the standard for getting the word out with campaigns like this.

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June 07, 2006

June 13: 2nd Tuesdays Dot Com Networking

Another Washington, DC networking event:

Hello Cabalists,

Continue reading "June 13: 2nd Tuesdays Dot Com Networking" »

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May 11, 2006

May 18: BrainJams Blogger Dinner in Washington, DC

More on next week's Beyond Blogging event. I think that the event is about to close but there is a dinner for bloggers on Thursday, the 18th.

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May 09, 2006

2nd Tuesdays Dot Com Networking - Tonight

This comes from Hank Deardon, of iiid Technologies.

Hello Cabalists,

Who: You and dozens of other New Media Professionals

What: Second Tuesdays New Media Cocktails and Networking

When: Tuesday, May 9th - Tonight 5:30PM - 8:30PM
Appetizers, door prizes, drink specials and other goodies.

Where: The Z-Lounge
The Sports Club/LA at The Ritz Carlton
1170 22nd Street NW (at the intersection of 22nd and M Streets NW)
Washington, D.C. 20037

202-974-6600
Use Dupont, Foggy Bottom, or Farragut North Metro locations
Validated parking in the Ritz garage: $2 for the first three hours - BRING YOUR TICKET INTO THE CLUB FOR VALIDATION

This just in - There's a multi-day event at the Ritz going on, so if you choose to self park in the Ritz garage get there early and tell the people that you are a guest of the SCLA.
Fee: $15 at the door, includes first beverage and other goodies

Continue reading "2nd Tuesdays Dot Com Networking - Tonight" »

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May 01, 2006

Beyond Blogging 2006: The Future of Communications

Fleishman Hillard is putting on a May 19th blogging panel discussion. Panel features several good people including Shel Holtz, Todd Tweedy and Pete Blackshaw. They even have an event blog. Register here.

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March 14, 2006

DC 2.0

DC 2.0: The Web 2.0 Community in the Nation's Capital

saw it on Blogdigger

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November 28, 2005

Wikipedi founder Jimmy Wales set to speak in Washington, DC 12.1

Speaking of interesting events and Wikipedia:

NPower Greater DC - Events Calendar

(saw it on N-TEN Groups 501 Tech Club list)

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August 16, 2005

August 20 meeting: RSS Feeds and Blogs for Business

I just received word of the Washington, DC CPCUG Entrepreneurs and Consultants SIG August 20th Meeting. Bob Bailey, of Message Builders,  is the featured speaker and the topic is RSS Feeds and Blogs for Business.

To register Contact Karen at the CPCUG Office, 301-762-9372.

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August 08, 2005

Aug 22-25. 2005: adaptive path washington, d.c. user experience week

adaptive path, the Ajax folks, are coming to Washington, DC later this month to talk about  user experiences, Web 2.0 and social software. The line-up looks great. Wonder if they'll raffle a ticket or 2 for some of the start-ups in town (hint-hint).

More information and sign-up here. (hat tip: Venturepreneur)
 

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August 04, 2005

ExecutiveBiz Event Series Webcast

Here is the webcast from this week's Washington, DC marketing meeting; Are you one in a million? Or just one of the millions? This event is part of the ExecutiveBiz Event Series- free registration req'd to view the webcast.

I haven't finished the webcast yet but it must be good because it includes heavyweights such as Mary MacPherson and Kristi Hedges talking about marketing to a packed house in hot, sticky August!

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June 22, 2005

WOMMA Word of Mouth Metrics Conference

It looks like WOMMA is doing everything right to promote it's upcoming Word of Mouth Metrics Conference.

This organization has offered reader discounts to bloggers for passing the word along. They may have also offered discounts to newsletter publishers...

It seems like they limited seating and can now safely say "only 60 seats left". Anyway, the conference material will be used by those of us being pressed for word of mouth ROI and metrics.

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May 26, 2005

PRSA: Latest in Online PR

PRSA- Latest in Online PR (for info and registration)

A panel of seasoned online PR veterans will be on hand to help you navigate the world of blogs, RSS, search engine optimization, online pressrooms and much more. They will also examine the qualities of websites that are effective from a strategic PR perspective.
 

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January 27, 2005

Feb. 17, 2005 Blogging & RSS Workshop in Washington DC

Feb. 17, 2005 Blogging & RSS Workshop in Washington DC

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December 12, 2004

AMA Business Blogging Conference starts December 17th

The American Marketing Association shortly kicks off it's Business Blogging Conference series. Good friend Toby Bloomberg, of Bloomberg Marketing is involved. Dana VanDen Heuvel has more to say about it here.

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December 07, 2004

Spirit of America

I just got a note from a good friend about Washington, DC Spirit of America events this week. SOA is showcasing their Friends of Democracy project and English-language Web site Iraq the Model

Event details follow:

Washington, DC - Thursday, December 9, 5.30 - 7.30
Cosmos Club
2121 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 387-7783
RSVP: <spiritofamerica@email.spiritofamerica.net>

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