Social media is integrated into every aspect of our day-to-day lives. It's no longer a question whether or not to use it at events. The question now is how to use it to its best advantage. From a digital conversation to free event marketing from your attendees, social media can provide enormous benefits for your event. Implementing social media is a great first step, but if you want to stand out you need to go one further. Make your presence be known, utilized, and remembered by your attendees by considering some of the following social ideas.
Social Vending Machine
Are you looking for ways to increase your social presence? Take a look at the social vending machine. Similar to a traditional vending machine, you can stock it full of whatever you want. Many events have taken advantage of this and stock the machines with event or brand related apparel and swag. You can also use it as a sponsorship opportunity and have your sponsors fill the machine with their swag. The possibilities are endless and are sure to entertain your attendees. The catch, though, is that you can’t use money to buy what’s inside. Instead, to active the vending machine your attendees need to tweet a specific hashtag to a dedicated handle.
Topshop sponsored Twitter-Activated Vending Machine at the London Fashion Week
The machine can be set up with your event-related hashtag and your event or company’s Twitter handle. Once the tweet has been sent, the vending machine automatically dispenses a product. Not only does this get people talking about your event on social, it can also increase the company's following on social.
Snapchat Game
The idea of implementing a Snapchat filter for your event is nothing new. Thousands of events do it and attendees expect to see a filter when they arrive. For your next event, stand out from the crowd and up your Snapchat game by creating a filter game! The game is accessed like any other filter by selecting that lens from Snapchat’s camera screen. Instead of the traditional augmented reality filter appearing on a user’s face, they can now play a game. Typically, this game unlocks a special filter only accessible by playing the game.
The popular champagne brand, Moët, created a Snapchat game where, after an age verification step, users swipe to shoot corks at a tower of champagne glasses. The modern marketing aspect of the game was a success and many other brands have tried it. For your next event, look into creating a Snapchat game of your own or use it as a sponsorship opportunity and have one of your vendors sponsor the game.
Event-branded Emojis & Stickers
Although texting is not technically a social media network, many products are evolving their text messaging to be more than just a messaging platform. Companies such as Visixtwo are capitalizing on this trend and are enabling sponsors to engage with attendees via custom branded emoji’s. These emojis are available on multiple devices, and on iPhones they can be used as stickers as well. After downloading the branded emoji app, your attendees can send fun, animated emojis and stickers (if they're using an iPhone) to their friends. This opens up a whole plethora of opportunities for the events industry in terms of event marketing and sponsorship opportunities. If your emojis and stickers are extra fun, your attendees may continue using them after the event has ended, expanding your event marketing reach without even trying. 
Hashtag Mosaics
Utilizing a unique hashtag at your event is not a new concept, but did you know there’s more you can do with a hashtag then just send a tweet? Luster has created a really engaging and fun tool that uses your event’s hashtag and your attendee’s experiences to create a mosaic wall. How does it work? Attendees take a picture and post it to Twitter or Instagram with your event’s hashtag. After posting the image, a printer automatically prints the photo and assigns it a location on the mosaic wall and the attendee places it there. As attendee’s snap more pictures, the wall begins to come together and creates an awesome event-related mosaic. [caption id="attachment_5950" align="alignnone" width="584"]
Luster Hashtag Mosaic for New Balance[/caption] The mosaic engages attendees and increases the use of your event hashtag. As your event progresses, your mosaic builds. The best part? In order for your attendees to participate, they have to post images with your hashtag to their social networks. This broadcasts your event to an even larger audience and creates FOMO.
Skrite
Skrite combines augmented reality and social media to create a fun attendee experience. It defines itself as an augmented reality social networking app. To use, people point their phone at the sky to create and view messages left by other “Skyers”. Using Skrite doesn’t mean you're moving away from other social platforms. You should incorporate Skrite into your social strategy and event goals. Introduce your attendees to the new social platform via a Click or Game challenge in your CrowdCompass app. Ask your attendees to submit a photo of their Skrite message or to find a certain message from one of your sponsors. Skrite probably isn’t the next Facebook or Twitter, but it is a fun, new, and unique social platform. Have you used any other fun and unique social tactics at your event? Let us know, we want to hear them!
