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Social Media Walls: 5 Ways to get customer engagement at your next event

A social media wall utilizes digital signage to stream a continuous feed of aggregated digital posts in real time, making it a powerful promotional resource at virtually any live event. Why? Because even the most dynamic functions still struggle to captivate the crowd and pique attendees' interest. Participants at concerts, corporate gatherings, products demos, and even weddings often prefer to view the performance (or speech, or vows) through their smartphones. A streaming wall gives the perpetually surfing public something relevant and potentially productive to look at and do throughout the function.

By curating several social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube), marketers and coordinators alike can instantly command crowd attention and drive overall audience engagement.

Aggregated Social Media Walls Elevate Brand Exposure And Recognition

Marketing impact aside, social media walls are just plain fun. It's exciting to watch a rolling feed from global followers of a specific brand across all social media platforms, read clever comments from your fellow fans and audience members, and even wait for your own post to make its digital debut. As live feed walls continue to soar in popularity, so too does the pressure to wield their power as proficiently as possible. It isn't nearly enough to send a few invites, set up a screen, and hope for the best. To truly capitalize on the substantial marketing benefits offered by an aggregated social media wall, it's important to go into the process with a strategy.

Don't squander the potentially significant opportunity to catapult your brand recognition to entirely new heights (no pressure). Follow a few simple tips to optimize results with your upcoming social media event display:

Up Your Hashtag Game

The first step in any successful aggregate social media marketing campaign? Create a killer hashtag. A strong Twitter or Instagram hashtag can get the masses buzzing long before your event; it's also how your digital aggregator will collect and stream your tagged posts. Go for short, sweet, and memorable. Phrases that are too long may be misremembered or mistyped, while generic phrasing can dump a lot of irrelevant posts into your feed. Start the brainstorming early to ensure the options on your shortlist aren't already in use somewhere else. Additionally, the sooner you settle on your hashtag, the sooner you can begin to incorporate it throughout all relevant marketing campaigns.

Pick the Perfect Digital Display

Your signage strategy will play a vital role in the success of your wall campaign. With virtually endless display options available, it's critical to consider fundamental factors such as the size of your space, the flow of the floor layout, and your specific marketing goals to pinpoint the best way to present your social feed. Once you've developed a plan, be sure to include your designated hashtag on all visible screens so attendees can easily find it once the event begins.

Interact, Inspire, Influence

This is the "now that you've got everyone's attention, what do you have to say?" phase of your feed strategy. Once you go live, it's crucial to continuously stream content that not only makes an impact on the audience but also encourages attendees to share (and share and share) their posts. Yes, you'll want to include general updates, special offers, and announcements on your wall; however, you'll also want to deliver posts that require audience interaction as well.

Contests and online polls are both proven ways to boost energy levels and encourage audience participation. The only thing more effective than a social media contest? A social media contest with prizes. Embrace online gamification in all of its gratuitous glory. Promote prizes, rewards, and giveaways for winners to keep viewers engaged and enthused during your friendly feed challenges. Showcase challenge champions on your wall to rev up the crowd and prompt as many attendees as possible to join the conversation. 

Showcase Sponsors & Speakers

Never miss an opportunity to include event sponsors and speakers on your social media wall. A prominent place on your live feed is more than just an excellent way to motivate outside brands to support your function – it's also a proven method to broaden the reach of your own brand as well as ensure your wall has a continuous stream of diverse, dynamic, and collaborative content.

Moderate, Moderate, Moderate

Having an appointed moderator does far more than keep inappropriate, unwanted, and (worse yet) boring posts off your wall. A real-time feed manager can quickly zero in on the very best available content to consistently showcase thought leaders and digital influencers. Additionally, your moderator can promptly respond to questions as well as spontaneously create new content to optimize crowd connection and engagement for the very best social experience possible.

Curator can help aggregate relevant social media content for your next live event digital wall. Want to hear more? Schedule a site demo today to get to know us a little better, or click here to create your free Curator account.