Conference News February 2020 | Page 21

21 A conversion path, if you’re wondering, is the steps taken by a user through your digital media to a definite end. Social media is commonly used by events organisations, especially venues, to drive people to their websites, but in order to do that the social content must add some manner of value. “Before every post I recommend asking yourself ‘who out there will receive value from this, how and why,’” says Beech. “From a social media marketing perspective, small value can be a friendly compliment: it’s valuable to the recipient and in most cases, people compliment areas where they may be an expert in their community. On another level it often gets liked (engaged with) so it helps your engagement metrics, which will make your future posts more likely to be served to the person who engaged. “Value can, and frequently should be, much larger. A high-tech venue could produce typical kit and tech specs for different setups and event types. This is valuable to any event organiser who may be struggling “Like your home, your website is quite static, it represents who you are and is visited by those who care about you most. Your social media, however, is like your personality.” Matt Beech, marketing director at Patch Media www.conference-news.co.uk Cover Story to work out what tech they need, and it positions the venue as an expert on and provider of high-tech events.” A fundamental flaw with attitudes towards social media is the idea that numbers mean prizes. Specifically, number of followers. Social media isn’t an arbitrary numbers game… is it? “Not entirely, but it’s a metric worth paying attention to,” says Beech. “You can have a tiny following and achieve more impressions and engagements than the following you have just by being interesting, engaging or trending. Conversely, you can have a huge following that isn’t engaged and as a result doesn’t really exist.” Beech gives the example of two venues’ stats over a 48 hours period.