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T3’s Guide to Leveraging UGC from Your Next Event

User-generated content (UGC) has become a powerful tool for enhancing event experiences and amplifying your event marketing efforts. Leveraging UGC allows event organizers to create a sense of community, encourage attendee participation, and generate authentic content that resonates with potential audiences.  

 

Our guide features 6 actionable strategies to harness the full potential of UGC during and after your events. 

 

Encourage Content Creation During the Event 

  • Create Shareable Moments: Design your event with social media in mind. Set up photo booths, interesting backdrops, and interactive installations that attendees will want to capture and share. 
  • Branded Hashtags: Promote a unique event hashtag. Encourage attendees to use it when posting about the event on their social platforms, making it easier to track and leverage content. This can be done through preparation communication before the event to displaying banners at the event with the hashtag as a way to incorporate additional décor. 
  • Live Sharing: Set up live social media walls displaying posts in real-time. This not only motivates attendees to participate, but also enhances the event experience. 

 

Host Contests and Giveaways 

  • Photo and Video Contests: Run contests that reward the best photos or videos taken at the event. This encourages attendees to capture and share high-quality content. 
  • Hashtag Challenges: Create challenges where participants must complete certain tasks and share their experiences using the event hashtag. This adds to the event experience and can set your event out from the rest when it comes to memorable moments. 

 

Feature UGC in Your Marketing Campaigns 

  • Social Media: Repost attendee content on your official social media channels. Always credit the original creators to build goodwill and trust for both your audiences. 
  • Website and Blog: Integrate UGC into your website and blog posts. This can include testimonials, event recaps, and user photos. 
  • Email Marketing: Use the UGC from your event in your email campaigns to provide social proof of the activities, and testimonials to highlight the success of the event. This is also a great way to promote future events. 

 

Create Post-Event Highlight Reels 

  • Video Recaps: Compile videos and photos from attendees to create a highlight reel of the event. This can be shared on social media, your website, and in follow-up emails. 
  • Testimonials: Gather quotes and feedback from attendees to feature in future marketing materials. 

 

Engage with Your Audience Post-Event 

  • Respond and Interact: Engage with attendees who have shared content by liking, commenting, and sharing their posts. This builds a sense of community and encourages future participation. 
  • Surveys and Feedback: Send out post-event surveys to gather more content and insights from attendees. 

 

Analyze and Measure Impact 

  • Track Engagement: Use your current analytics tools to measure the reach and engagement of UGC. This data can help you understand what types of content resonate most with your audience. 
  • Adjust Strategies: Based on your analysis, refine your UGC strategies for future events to maximize impact. 

 

 

These strategies give you the ability to fully take advantage of UGC during and after your events, from encouraging content creation to analyzing the impact of these efforts. Engaging with your audience and showcasing their contributions will not only enhance your events, but also build lasting relationships with your attendees. By effectively incorporating UGC, you can transform your events into vibrant, engaging experiences that extend far beyond the event itself. 

 

Ready to take your event to the next level with user-generated content? Contact us today to learn how our expert strategies can transform your event into an unforgettable experience. Let’s make your event the talk of the town! 

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Leveraging User-Generated Content from Your Event

When you think of how consumers get product information today, user-generated content (UGC) has become a powerhouse in these marketing strategies. Therefore, tapping into the potential of UGC, especially when it comes to events, can transform your promotional efforts. Here’s how you can leverage user-generated content from your event to enhance your marketing strategy and build a stronger connection with your audience. 

 

What is User-Generated Content? 

User-generated content refers to any content created by people rather than brands. This can be text, videos, images, or reviews and is often shared on social media, blogs, and other platforms, providing authentic insights and testimonials from real users. 

 

Why should you use UGC in your event marketing? 

 

Authenticity and Trust 

When you showcase UGC, it brings authenticity to your brand. When it comes to events, allowing the attendees to share their experiences can aid in building trust among potential customers.  

 

Engagement 

Encouraging attendees to create content about your event increases engagement and interaction with your brand. Ask for collaboration requests as an easy way to feature their content on your brand’s social media accounts. 

 

Cost-Effective 

Utilizing UGC is a cost-effective way to gather promotional material without the need for extensive resources. You are able to reshare and post what your attendees do and create additional hype for future events and products from their real testimonials and responses. 

 

SEO Benefits  

UGC can boost your search engine rankings through increased content and backlinks. Comment and engage with each attendee’s post for additional boosts on social media. 

 

User-generated content is a goldmine when you are looking to amplify your event marketing efforts. By encouraging content creation, featuring UGC in your campaigns, and engaging with your audience, you can build a more authentic, engaging, and effective marketing strategy. Remember, the key to leveraging UGC is to make it easy and rewarding for your audience to participate. So, at your next event, make sure to create opportunities for attendees to capture and share their experiences—your marketing efforts will thank you! 

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4 Effective Promotional Merchandising Strategies

Investing in promotional merchandise is a great tactic for a variety of marketing initiatives. When used strategically, merchandise has the ability to create lasting impressions and boost brand exposure and awareness. Below we have outlined 4 highly effective promotional merchandising strategies to keep your investments successful and efficient.  

 

1. Communicate Your Brand Voice 

Whether you are choosing promotional materials for a tradeshow as an exhibitor, hosting an event, or creating an on-boarding kit, making sure your brand voice is woven into each merchandise element. Your brand voice represents who you are and how you communicate with your audience. Below are a few examples of types of brand voices and items in our online promo store that coordinate well with each. 

 

BRAND VOICE

MERCH IDEAS

Inspirational

candle, oil diffuser, plush blanket, journal 
Playful

beach towel temporary tattoo, fanny pack, pop socket 
Professional

luxury pen, padfolio, Yeti tumbler, power bank 
Edgy

luxury sunglasses, Apple AirTag, noise canceling headphones  

 

 

2. Tune to Your Industry  

Your promotional merchandise doesn’t have to be just generic note pads, pens and magnets, you can tailor yours directly to your industry! Each industry has its own characteristics and value sets. Education, construction, agriculture, sports, hospitality, and healthcare are just a handful of industries that can all benefit from having a great lineup of merchandise options.  

 

For example:

one industry we at Think3 work with frequently, is the agricultural industry. The ag industry encourages sustainability, stewardship and thrives in innovation. Merchandise that is often appreciated and is valuable to them, is high-quality, rugged apparel, knives, seed depth tools, multi-tools, on-the-go tech gear and sustainable items.  
 

Things to think about: 

Is it relatable to this industry? 

Does it reflect the industry’s values? 

Would it help members of this industry’s work environment? 

Is it a trending item for this industry?  

 

3. Coordinate Your Marketing Campaigns 

Promotional merchandise is an effective component to elevate a variety of marketing campaigns such as product launches, brand awareness or recruitment. An effective and successful marketing campaign hinges on the coordinated efforts woven into each component. Your promotional merchandise should match the look and feel of the campaign artwork, design, messaging and tone.  

Tip:

Take your product launch to a new level by creating branded launch kits. Design a custom box and kit all your coordinated promo items. You can use these to send to customers, sales reps and influencers. 
 

4. Enhance Your Event Marketing 

Whether your business is exhibiting at an event, hosting an event or sponsoring an event, promotional merchandise makes an excellent tool to increase awareness both in your brand and products. If you are an exhibitor or sponsor, make sure your merchandise is unique yet useful. Be mindful of airfare restrictions if your audience will be traveling by plane (i.e., avoid pocket knives). Common functional items are the most coveted. For example: We sourced these stress relievers that are also cell phone holders at a conference we exhibited at. They were a huge hit and we couldn’t keep the table stocked fast enough. 

If you are hosting an event, promotional merchandise gives you the opportunity to add a tangible element to your theme. You can customize your merchandise with event colors, shapes, and logos. These items can be used for welcome bags, table décor/giveaways, team apparel, games prizes and more. The possibilities are endless with event merchandise. 

  

Finding the right promotional items for your business doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming. Shop our promo site www.think3promos.com. We also offer our services to research and source customized products tailored to your company and marketing initiatives.  

Feel free to give us a call anytime to get started!