March 2010
Rentals and Staging

In This Issue:

2010 MIC Educational Conference and Tradeshow
Are You Getting Your Return on Involvement (ROI)?
Social Networking in the Meeting Industry - Facebook
Become a Facebook Fan of the Denver Meeting and Events Industry
Denver Meeting and Events Industry - Upcoming Events
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Series: Social Networking in the Meeting Industry
Part #2: Facebook

A recent industry survey* found that 61 percent of meeting planners belong to Facebook. This is no surprise since the popular social networking site has 400 million users, and it is rapidly growing every day. Image Audiovisuals has compiled a few ways on how meeting planners can utilize Facebook to build and manage their businesses:

Facebook as a Networking Tool:

Social networking tools, including Facebook, offer a way for meeting planners, attendees, speakers, and exhibitors to find one another virtually.

• Facebook is a fantastic networking tool that makes it easy to build personal relationships with your colleagues and customers. You can use it to comment on photos of their kids, remember their birthdays, or to ask a question about their latest vacations.

• One great way to find potential customers and vendors is to join industry-specific groups and fan pages with members who are in your target audience.
  
  
• You can find potential customers by using Facebook's advanced search feature, which allows you to search for people, pages and groups with keywords.

• Unable to find someone’s contact information? You can always look someone up and send them a direct e-mail message through Facebook.

Facebook as a Marketing Tool:

Facebook is a great tool to generate excitement for your meeting! You can create a group or a fan page on Facebook that is specifically dedicated to your meeting or event.

• Once you have 25 fans or more, you can create a unique URL for your fan page (i.e. facebook.com/2010mpi conference).
  
  
• Constantly update your Facebook status with meeting updates to generate interest in it.
  
  
• Post photos and videos of previous meetings and/or photos of the destination city. After the meeting is over, post photos and videos to recap the event.
  
  
• Add links to your website or blog on Facebook to generate traffic for them.
  
  
• Use the Facebook Connect feature, which is a Facebook “button” on your event registration web page. This feature allows an attendee to pass along pertinent information and promotions to his or her friends. This tool has been known to increase meeting attendance.
  
  
• Consider using Facebook advertising, which is very targeted and can be done for a minimal expense (even as low as $30.00 per month).

Facebook as a Logistical Tool

• Create an event on Facebook that can easily be e-mailed to all of your friends or fans.
  

• Facebook's event interface makes it easy for meeting attendees to RSVP, and post things on the wall.
  
  
• Post meeting reminders and announcements on your wall or status update.
  
  

We want to hear from you!

What is the most valuable social networking tool for businesses?

How do you use Facebook as a meeting tool?

Please e-mail your responses to Dan Carrese at dcarrese@imageav.com, and we will include them in our April newsletter.

Social Medial Links:

Part #1: Twitter in the Meeting Industry
Become a Facebook fan of the Denver Meeting and Events Industry
Become a Facebook fan of Image Audiovisuals

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*Pre-conference survey of attendees by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI), which will host its annual HSMAI Affordable Meetings West conference on June 10-11, 2009 in San Jose, Calif.

Dan Carrese
Director of Sales
Rental and Staging
Image Audiovisuals, Inc.
2130 S. Dahlia Street
Denver, CO 80222
303-758-1818
dcarrese@imageav.com

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