Pitfalls to avoid when using social media for your next event

While social media tools offer a plethora of ways to improve and enhance your communication with people and the interactive possibilities of your event, the nascent state of this technology means there is still a lot to learn about how to use it best.

Before you take to your next event with QR codes, shareable content and location-based promos, take a look over these all-too common social media marketing pitfalls to be aware of.

Hashtag takeover

A popular way to use Twitter’s hashtag feature is to publish a live stream on your website of all tweets containing a particular hashtag. By using a Twitter widget, you can set this to update automatically (thus making it a ‘live’ stream), without any effort to maintain it.

The issue with this low-maintenance tool arises when people overlook the potential havoc pranksters can play with it. Having any tweet containing a particular hashtag published on your website without moderation has proven to be a risky business in the past. For some reason it also seems to be a hard lesson to learn, as it has been repeated many times over.

The UK Conservative party had a spectacular fail with an unmoderated Twitter hashtag feed published online, which was quickly hijacked. Tweets poking fun at the Conservative party, links to porn and automatic redirection to the Labour party’s home page were among the offending tweets which led to the feed being taken down within two hours of launch.

Dutch airline KLM made the same mistake, publishing uncensored tweets containing the promo hashtag, #klmsurprise, on its website. The feed was soon filled with complaints about the company and tweets mocking its misguided attempt to use social media marketing.

When telecommunications company Vodafone learnt the same lesson, it became clear that using an automatic profanity filter is not enough to prevent a hijack. Tweets complaining about Vodafone’s tax dodging activities filled the company’s home page until the widget was taken down.

What you can do

Social media is unlike traditional marketing or communication models; it works as a dialogue. People can talk back, so you need to plan new strategies as carefully as you can to anticipate every possible issue you can think of. Of course you can’t prevent all these issues, but you can be prepared for them.

If you decide to use a Twitter widget or something similar, ensure you have the time and manpower to continually monitor the activity before you start the campaign.

And most importantly, revisit your original ideas, examine your results and re-evaluate before trying again.

Sharing without censorship

If you encourage attendees to use social media tools and mobile technology at your event (and even if you don’t), you run a risk in letting people share content online that is related to your brand. The double-edged sword of social media is that the masses are in control. In this case, it can be a bad thing when photos, videos or comments about your brand, products or event are published online without your knowledge or consent – that is, those that may have a negative effect on your company’s image.

Allowing attendees to tag themselves in photos on your Facebook or Flickr account, or encouraging comments on your YouTube videos or Twitter mentions is a great way to engage with your customers and develop relationships with them before and after your event. This kind of user-created content is what social media and web 2.0 tools are all about. Preventing inappropriate sharing, spam or derogatory comments is something you need to prepare for though.

What you can do

Like the Twitter hashtag issue, moderation is essential for encouraging the ‘right’ kind of sharing online. A preventative measure however, is to create clear guidelines for your customers who want to be part of your online community. Making these guidelines simple and easily available will make it clear to your audience what kinds of content are appropriate for sharing.

Disruption to your event

Guidelines can also be helpful in attempting to prevent disturbances to other attendees by those using social media during your event. We’re all used to the standard request to turn off our mobile phones, but we also know most people will simply switch off the sound instead. Social media use during your event could include disruptions in many forms: noises, camera clicks and flashes, lights from mobile device screens, lack of attention by those absorbed in what they are sharing rather than the event itself, and numerous other distractions to those nearby.

Social media can be a double-edged sword in more ways than one it seems. The possibility of sharing information and content from your event in real-time with people around the world, and connecting with others at the same event is exciting and useful, but the trade-off may be the distraction of others at the event.

What you can do

Being prepared can go a long way towards avoiding this issue. Preparing clear, accessible guidelines as mentioned above can be helpful in this situation, especially if attendees are exposed to them prior to the event itself. Reminders to turn off mobile phones are commonplace, but perhaps a reminder about being respectful to those around you will do the trick. If the problem is widespread or especially disruptive, you may want to create a designated area (perhaps one side of the room in particular) where people who want to use social media during the event can congregate, to avoid disturbing others. If your event (and budget) is large enough, a designated area with free wifi is a great way to encourage heavy social media users to congregate in a particular area.

Is it worth it?

Remember, just because I’ve pointed out some of the pitfalls of using social media in this post doesn’t mean it’s all bad. This is the first negative post I’ve written for the Eventarc blog, because there are so many positive things to say about what social media can do for your marketing strategy and your communication efforts with your customers.

If you prepare thoroughly for all events, communicate openly and clearly with attendees and evaluate your results to learn from your efforts, you can avoid these common mistakes in your social media use.

If you want some more information about avoiding social media fails, this blog post has some simple graphics that compare how three major companies handled social media crises, and what you can learn from them.