Everywhere Agency is a social media, content and influencer marketing firm. This is their social media event marketing blog posts archive.

National Dog Day Autotrader Event

Brands’ Best Friend: Pet Influencers Welcome

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Everywhere Agency knows that one of the quickest ways to likeable social content is to “Put on a dog on it!” We are canine enthusiasts, bringing our fur buddies to work regularly, ugly crying over dog rescue videos, and supporting pet adoption. Being both social media experts and animal lovers we’ve been following the trend of pet influencers for quite some time, and even way back in 2014, The Telegraph reported that 1 in 4 cats and dogs had their very own social media accounts. As of last week, we took our puppy love and social savvy to the next level. We have officially welcomed our first four-legged member to Everywhere Society, our in-house influencer network. Meet Indy the Goldendoodle.

pet influencer indy the goldendoodleOur dive into dog talent was inspired by our client, Autotrader. Everywhere was engaged to help produce #ParkandBark, an event celebrating National Dog Day. Autotrader used the event to educate dog owners about the best pet-friendly cars and accessories. Hundreds of dog guests enjoyed free treats, received swag prizes, and played in the costume photo booth. Pet experts schooled the crowd in dog CPR, the art of doggy massage (Shi-A-Tzu… Get it?), and puppies in need were available for adoption.

Everywhere also took this opportunity to reach out to a few A-list Instagram influencers, including Indy the Goldendoodle and Sparkles the Diva.

So why are brands so eager to add some canine appeal? It could have something to do with the fact that this year pet owners are projected to spend $62 billion dollars on their furry friends, according to the American Pet Products Association. Not to mention the added bonus that brand reputations are rarely ruined by the actions of a Yorkshire Terrier. Dogs breed happiness, with pups like ChloeKardoggian slinging products for Clorox and Boo the Pomeranian working as a liaison for Virgin Airlines, it’s hard to think of a brand that wouldn’t benefit from pup-endorsement.

If you know a great pet influencer looking for amazing brands, be sure to tell them to apply to Everywhere Society. Also, we will be attending BarkWorld, the premiere pet blogging conference, this October. If you’ll be there too, give us a woof because when it comes to pets and brands - we think this is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

5 Fashionable Reasons to Give Influencer Marketing a Try

Five Fashionable Reasons to Give Influencer Marketing Campaigns a Try

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We predict that 2016 is going to be “the year” for influencer marketing campaigns.

After all, nearly one in four marketers rate influencer marketing as the fastest-growing online customer-acquisition method, and nearly 60 percent of marketers are planning on increasing their spend in this area (AdWeek, 2015). It seems that everywhere you look online, there’s another popular Viner, Instagrammer or blogger touting a brand’s wares. As fashionable as influencer marketing seems to be, some brand marketers are still leery. What’s the ROI? How can I justify the spend? We contend that influencer marketing campaigns are more than the “new black.” What follows are five solid reasons to add influencers to your next campaign:

  1. Consumers trust third party recommendations. The latest Nielsen report concludes that a whopping 84 percent of people trust word of mouth marketing over any other form of advertising. The best influencers are friends with their fans and followers, and can offer up word of mouth about your brand.
  1. Influencers bring their community. After all, an influencer was once just an everyday person. Somewhere along the way, they took to social media to share their passions, their occasional rants and their point of view on their favorite topics. Their followers are like-minded, appreciate the way they think, and actively seek their advice. When you engage an influencer, you are essentially engaging that influencer’s entire community on behalf of your brand.
  1. Consumers crave authenticity. Cohn & Wolfe’s excellent study on authenticity indicates that consumers want honesty more than anything from their brands. If you choose an influencer with a true passion for your brand, you can build rich, authentic stories that tell your brand’s core essence. Furthermore, when you give an influencer the freedom to share his or her own personal experience with your brand or product, you’re creating trustworthy, honest content.
  1. The spend does not have to break the bank. The good news is that there are a variety of ways to implement influencer marketing campaigns without emptying your wallet. It’s okay to experiment and try a campaign with a few influencers on a smaller scale. Maybe there is an aspect of your brand’s story that is complicated (something that people are always inquiring about) that could benefit from a longer blog post or video share. You can easily manage expectations on an influencer marketing program with fewer dollars. The resulting shares and blog posts are measureable, reportable stories that benefit the brand, and could also help your SEO. As with the early days of social media, sometimes you need to experiment and prove your case to get more budget dollars.
  1. Influencers are amplifiers. No matter what your marketing message or campaign is, there are content creators out there who are willing to amplify it in your next influencer marketing campaign. They may already be an aficionado of your brand. They are waiting for you to reach out to them and provide them with the marketing tools to tell your story. Of course, they’ll want to be compensated for their efforts, but that’s true for any major publishing platform. And, when it comes to compensation, it’s important to be transparent, and thank heavens the FTC has guidelines around this!

So yes, influencer marketing campaigns may be all the rage, but for good reason. Getting influencers to speak positively about your brand on their social channels is a powerful word-of-mouth message. If you want to add a feather to your marketing plan’s hat, you might want to try it on for size.

Successful Twitter Chats 101

Twitter Chats in 6 Easy Steps

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Hosting Twitter Chats is an incredibly successful way to engage a large audience and present your brand as a thought leader in the industry. Twitter chats are best used as conversations around a certain idea or topic with a unique hashtag. Coupled with an influencer marketing campaign, chats can seriously deliver on the ROI factor. The best part? They’re open to the public and a fun, inviting way to spread your message!

So, how do you throw a successful Twitter Chat (also sometimes called Twitter Party)?

  1. Preparation – Before you ever host a Twitter Chat, you’ll want to know what to expect. It’s incredibly beneficial to participate in a few Twitter chats prior to hosting your own. You can get accustomed to the flow, banter, and guidelines all in one shamelessly fun hour! Not sure what you want to chat about? AdWeek posted an awesome listing of all the possible Twitter chats you can participate in. There’s a Twitter chat for nearly every topic known to mankind.
  2. Choose Your Topic, Hashtag, and Time – Once you’ve participated in a few Twitter Chats, you’ll notice that they are all about specific events or topics. You’ll want to choose a topic that is really engaging and not super sales-y. Nobody wants to spend an hour online with you if you are selling, so find a topic that relates to your campaign but not entirely focused on the sales aspect of your campaign. Next? Choose a hashtag. Keep it simple, memorable and relevant. And finally, pick a great time! Look at your ideal audience. What’a a time you know they’re typically available.
  3. Have Something to Offer – Offering some sort of prize during the Twitter Party will definitiely increase the number of people who participate. Prizes encourages participants to be more engaged in the conversation, thus generating a larger reach for your message. The trick is to offer a prize in the middle of the chat and announce the winners at the end – ensuring that your audience will sit tight for the length of the party. It helps to promote the fact that you’re giving items away before the chat starts too! Wondering about the prizes? Gift cards are always a great idea.
  4. Choose a Host or Co-Host – How can you have a party without a host? And picking the right host or hostess, why that’s what makes a great event!!! As DJ Khaled would say, this is a “MAJOR key” to success. Obviously, your co-host should be some type of influencer. Maybe they’re already working on the campaign with you and have a large following or maybe they’re someone you hand select because of the engagement from their Twitter followers. Either way, the host is there to bring in more people and help to spread the word before the chat. Having a popular host or co-host makes for a great party and ensures lots of people will show up!!
  5. Promote, Promote, Promote – Now that you’ve planned and coordinated your Twitter Party, you need to get people to show up! Promoted tweets, Facebook posts, or Instagrams – anything works! Create an Eventbrite and have the tweeters RSVP, so you can send courteous reminders leading up to the chat. Be sure to ask for their Twitter handle in the RSVP process to do just that! Another helpful tip for promoting your Twitter Chat is to create graphics for your co-host and other influencers to share. Images get noticed more often than text or link posts and garner the best engagement!
  6. Tracking Your Success – This is the last and final step, you had a great event, now brag about it! There are lots of resources for tracking the success of a Twitter party, at Everywhere, we like to use Tracx to monitor the social components to our campaigns. You can get insightful data such as engagement rate, unique participants, keywords, and overall impressions. More than that, you can get audience breakdown – like their gender or where the participants live. Check it out if you’re looking for a way to analyze your Twitter chat or want to track specific influencers for a campaign!

So there you have it! The beauty in Twitter Chats is that the structure is completely up to you! Twitter chats are really a way for your brand to make new friends. Even before your chat is over, you will have formed new relationships, gained more followers, and expanded your exposure.

Tweet me your tips, questions, or just to say hello, @_LynzeeJay!

Lynzee Jablonka & Leticia Barr Tech Savvy Mama

Successful Influencer Marketing

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successful influencer marketing

Do you remember going to camp over summer and then keeping in touch with your new friends via snail mail? I would sit and wait for the mail to come to see what my friends from across the country were up to. It was the start of my career in influencer marketing, and I had no idea! Flash forward 15 years (has it really been that long??) to traveling to blogging conferences like BlogHer or Mom2.0 – now I’m an emailing, Tweeting and Facebook messaging machine.

Have I mentioned that I’m the self-proclaimed Queen of Influencer Marketing here at Everywhere Agency? You see, I treat bloggers as I once treated my friends from summer camp. They’re my modern day pen pals. The key to success in any form of influencer relations is just that – a relationship. On any given day, I’m telling my life story to at least three new friends from Everywhere Society, our community of bloggers and influencers. What a typical marketer would call an influencer, I have the pleasure of calling a friend.

How do I do that? It’s simple, really.

  1. I go to different conferences and meet as many people as I can on a personal level BEFORE I start talking to them on a professional level. I know that Leticia is a self-made farmer straight out of Maryland (how are your Chickens, btw?!) and that D.J. has the funniest High School vendetta story ever (I’d love to share, but it’s not blog appropriate).
  2. I become friends with them on social networks. Any influencer who is a member of Everywhere Society has the option to follow me on Twitter/Instagram or friend me on Facebook. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve commented on Jewel’s vacation photos to show my pure jealousy or liked a photo of Claudia’s OOTD – she really is the most trendy Latina I know!
  3. My emails to bloggers are full of banter and “lol’s” rather than boring business jargon. I genuinely want to know how they’re doing and wish them a “Happy Birthday!” whenever I can! Sure, I get done what needs to be done, but I’m always excited when Adanna tells me to “stay cool.”

It may seem daunting to have 3,000+ best friends, but I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s rewarding in more ways than one! As a people-person by nature, I try to incorporate those traits into my daily life and the results are my many, many successfully completed campaigns.

Tweet me at @_LynzeeJay with your favorite pen pal story, conference memory, or just say hello — I’d love to hear from you!!

Influencer Marketing Campaigns – A Quasi “How To” Manual

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At our agency, we’ve been in the blogger relations business since we opened our doors six years ago. We live, breathe and drink influencer marketing, but I’m still uneasy with the notion of building a manual for “how to reach out to bloggers.” Not because I think we have some secret formula when it comes to influencer outreach; the challenge is that blogger relations is more about the relationship and less about the process. Relationships are built organically, over time. There’s no manual for building camaraderie and trust. That said, there are some basic guidelines I can offer up that may help demystify what we take into account when activating influencer marketing campaigns.

  1. Find a common denominator between your product or brand and the blogger. Far too often, we hear of brands sending out pitch emails to a huge list of bloggers often on BCC, with no personalization, fo an influencer marketing campaign. Spoiler alert: this tactic will not get you results. It will get you straight into the delete folder. Take time to read each blog you are pitching, see when and where the blogger may have written about a similar subject, and make the connection.
  2. Today’s “blogger” really is an “influencer”. Their influence extends far beyond their blog. We go beyond the blog to review their full suite of social channels and digital footprint. You may learn they have a different content strategy on Pinterest or Twitter than they do on their blog. When pitching, think about their entire eco-system of social activity and how your product or brand might be served on their social channels.
  3. A blogger has a name. It’s not “Dear Blogger” and certainly not “Dear Mommy Blogger.” Imagine how you’d respond if you got an email that read, “Dear PR Hack,” or, ‘Hey you, marketing maven.” I can’t imagine you’d respond positively, so don’t be surprised if your “Dear Blogger” email is met with no response. I wish I did not have to offer this advice in 2015, but I still do. Use the blogger’s actual name when reaching out to them, and yes, you can find their name in the “About” section of their site.
  4. Take the time between campaigns to listen. How do you do that? Go to a blogging conference, read a blog, follow an interesting blogger on Twitter, or even friend them on Facebook. Despite commonly held beliefs, most bloggers aren’t living in their basements, alone at their computer waiting for you to send them a pitch. They have lives, they write, they volunteer, they exercise, and they write some more. The truly great bloggers don’t do sponsored post after sponsored post. They have opinions and it’s worth getting to know something about them.
  5. Focus on the relations and less on the sponsorship part of the equation. Back when I was a PR professional, I had some good solid relationships with a few reporters. I’d take the time to chat with them even when I didn’t have a story to pitch. Those key relationships held me in good steed when I did have a story and no idea how to get it into the media. If the only time you reach out to a blogger is when you are selling, you’ll be sold up the river when you really need their help.

I know everyone out there really does want to crack the crack the “blogger relations” nut. I understand why! Bloggers are influential. They’ve built a platform and complimentary social channels where they share their message. Brands who can build a relationship with a blogger have the opportunity to create rich third party content and successful influencer marketing campaigns. Get the relationship piece right and then you’ll get real results.

Beauty & Brains in the Workplace

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Beauty and Brains

I recently attended an event hosted by the media entity, Little Pink Book, focused on empowering women in the workplace. It was filled with accomplished women who had both beauty, and brains. Everywhere was a sponsor of the event and tasked with activating social media. We created “Little Pink Book” branded socially shareable signs that said, “Beauty and Brains” and “I’m Wise.” We had intended to use them as props to encourage social media sharing. What came next was a huge surprise…

Here I am, at an event about woman empowerment, wandering around with these clever signs among brilliant and successful women and several women declined to be photographed. Not because they didn’t want their picture taken. Instead, they were petrified of what their coworkers would think if they saw a picture of them holding a sign that said “Beauty and Brains.” One woman asked me, “Where is this going?” When I answered, “Twitter,” she gave a nervous chuckle and said, “No thanks, last thing I need is something like this floating around the office.” Why are women so worried about what their coworkers will think? Are they concerned that they will be perceived as arrogant? What’s wrong with having beauty, brains and wisdom? I was truly baffled at their nervous laughs and looks of concern.

Confession: I have not been in the working world that long. I graduated from college only 2 years ago. Just the other day, as I celebrated my 6-month anniversary with Everywhere, I boasted on Facebook that I have never felt more accomplished. I am a beauty with brains, and I am most definitely not afraid to show it. As a millennial, I was always taught that it was important for women to not only empower themselves, but each other along the way. We shouldn’t worry about owning our accomplishments and celebrating them, should we?

My boss has a system of self-bragging that she encourages here at Everywhere. We’re all given personal notebooks to keep track of the feats we accomplish. I sometimes struggle with celebrating the small things – but you know what? Those small things really add up! My book consists of moments ranging from responding to an email in record time with a solution and little words of praise shared from coworkers about the work I’ve completed. My biggest accomplishment to date was facilitating a Twitter chat with Supermodel Emme for our client, Macy’s that was trending for an hour. It’s nice to look back on these moments and remember that I am a part of such an empowered team. It’s crazy to me that other women out there are hesitant to celebrate their brains, beauty and embrace their well-earned wisdom!

So how do we fix this? I know, for me, I am going to post my “Beauty and Brains” picture with pride and encourage my colleagues to do so, as well! Just as Gandhi says, “You have to be the change you wish to see in the world!”

Kelley McLees Bio Headshot

Everywhere Agency’s Newest Team Member: Kelley McLees

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Hey I’m Kelley McLees and as the newest member of the team, I’m joining the upstanding, if not embarrassing tradition of penning a blog post where I share 10 ridiculous facts about me! As a recovering journalist, I’m honestly more comfortable reporting on other people, not writing about me, so this is a stretch.

But here’ s a go - The basics: I came to the Everywhere Agency from CNN where I was responsible for curating digital content for CNN’s new interactive TV, CNNgo. Before that I worked at Vail Resorts and mastered the art of skiing and tweeting, often at the same time (Trust me, you did not want to run into me on the slopes!). At the Everywhere Agency, I plan to fully explore how social media can be used towards the greater goal of delivering solid information to consumers and already have found myself knee deep in some fascinating campaigns. And to that end, here’s hoping you’ll find some fascination in these 10 things about Kelley McLees!

  1. Cat lady is my middle name and I’m not afraid to say it. I have two rescue cats, Beans and Buddy.
  2. Mexican food is my favorite, but I will never pass up a hotdog, ever.
  3. My favorite color is orange. As a child, I painted my room bright orange without permission from my mother. As punishment, she made me live with the bright orange for months!
  4. I LOVE to clean. If I could make a living cleaning, I would. (And I’m discovering my co-workers at the Everywhere offices may take advantage of this predilection of mine. Oh well!).
  5. I always wanted to be a stand-up comedian, but I’m finally figuring out that I’m not that funny.
  6. I’m super organized. If you leave something out, I might move it to where I think it should go. This causes problems at home (sorry, honey!). ☺
  7. I really only read autobiographies. Steve Martin, Tina Fey, Jim Gaffigian, and The Reagan Diaries are some of my favorites.
  8. I am SCUBA certified. My first and only dive trip so far was to the Cayman Islands, but my goal is to dive the Great Barrier Reef.
  9. This is slightly embarrassing, but I wear a size 11 shoe. If you know of a great shoe place for ladies with ski feet, PLEASE let me know!
  10. I’m a total people person. I love listening and talking! Introduce yourself and I’ll be sure to say hello!

So there are 10 facts about me. More can be found by following me on Twitter @kelleymclees or my instagram page @kelleymclees where the fact that “cat lady” is my middle name will be fully evident!

 

WSB-TV and Dr. Oz

Celebrities and Influencer Campaigns

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Some PR agencies we’ve worked with have expressed apprehension when it comes to bloggers or digital influencers interacting with a celebrity at their event, but we know that having influencers at these types of events is crucial for successful Social Local (SoLo) campaigns. Not only must you work with influencers, but you also need to have established trust and well-oiled relationships with them. At Everywhere, our Everywhere Society influencers are our partners on these campaigns and we’ve gotten to know them pretty well since the Society’s inception. Because of the trust we’ve built with them, they follow our lead when we set parameters to make our events more successful than our clients imagined! Here are 3 things we do with or ask of our influencers to make our campaigns a hit:

  1. Our influencers write pre-event posts. No one will come to the celeb’s event if it isn’t properly advertised! Pre-event posts give your target demographic all the details without the boring format of a press release.
  2. We’ve set guidelines for what influencers can and cannot talk about with the celebrity. If your influencers have a chance to actually speak with the celeb on hand, be sure they know what topics to avoid or whether they should keep their conversation based around the theme of the event. If you don’t set any guidelines, the whole situation may derail! Recently for our Dr. Oz campaign on behalf of WSB-TV Channel 2, we advised our influencers to stay on the topic of his Atlanta health expo and simple health problems, as complicated issues or other topics would eat up too much of his time and draw away from the focus of the event. Because of the trust we’ve built with our bloggers, they obliged and had a pleasant meet and greet with the doctor!
  3. We’ve given our influencers the opportunity for pictures. While not all celebrities are fans of photo opps, those are the kinds of social media posts that get the most traction/attention. We recently worked on the Think Like a Man Too media tour, which came through Macy’s. While fans didn’t get to really speak with the celebrities (other than a line or two here and there), they did get to take a picture. Kayla, one of our employees (who’s a digital influencer herself), proved that these photo opps are golden for exposure with her 363 likes and 40 comments!

Curious for more tips on handling influencer campaigns in regards to celebrity appearances? Contact The Everywhere Agency! We’ve got a few more thoughts on the topic that we’d love to share over a cup of coffee or tea.

Everywhere Agency has worked with Macy’s, Macy’s Culinary Council, Cox Media Group, IMAX, Atlanta Women’s Foundation, and more on social event marketing. Our Director of Marketing, Jason Maldonado, formerly ran SoLo events for The Home Depot. To see more about our current and previous clients, visit http://bit.ly/VR6B1l for our capabilities deck.

Social Media Apps

Social Media Event Marketing: A How-To-Guide

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If we’ve seen it once, we’ve seen it 10,000 times – a brand with every reason to succeed, every opportunity to execute an amazing event, but lacking the vision to “socially” optimize it. Deloitte University Press’ report on social trends for 2014 states, “Digital outreach should be paired with traditional in-store or on-site campaigns, delivering on the potential of seamless, omni-channel digital engagement.” We couldn’t agree more - that’s why we’ve created a ‘Social Media Event Marketing How-To’ - if you will.

At the Everywhere Agency, we love nothing more than helping our clients take a traditional event and create social media reverberation around it. Below, we’ve outlined a few tricks of the trade for turning your boring old event into a social media success story.

Pre-Event Social Activation:

  • Go Where Your Audience Is: Is your event geared toward teens and young adults? Millennial Women? Parents? (Almost) everyone is on social, sure, but where you can find your audience’s corner of the social sphere is a bit more involved. Here’s a shortcut: according to a recent 2014 Pew study, you’re most likely to find teens and young adults on Instagram, millennial women on Pinterest, both men and women looking for quick info on Twitter, men on LinkedIn, and unsurprisingly, most everyone on Facebook. This should act as a baseboard for where you will promote your event.
  • Don’t Just Post – Target: It’s not enough to generically advertise that your company is hosting a marketing conference in Kalamazoo on LinkedIn. Think about who you want there, be geographically realistic and make sure your paid promotion reflects that. If not targeted correctly, your budget could be spent in two hours by the entirely wrong demographic.

Live Social Activation:

Create On-Site Social Opportunities for Sharing Content:

  1. ‘Instagram Photo Booths’ - Invite attendees to pose in front of a branded banner with props. Have an event rep take photos of guests and encourage them to post their photos to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. with an event specific hashtag. Incentivize attendees by offering a prize to those who participate.
  2. Social Scavenger Hunt – When brands host in-house events, it’s an opportunity for guests to share social media scavenger hunt their experience and interact with products. The best way to accomplish this is through a social scavenger hunt, whereby attendees participate by locating a number of items. In order for their submissions to count, however, they must share photos of each item via their social channels mentioning your brand’s @handle and the event hashtag. Not only does this put product in attendees’ hands, it’s shareable social content that’s visual. Not to mention, it’s an interactive activity for those who like to participate and not just observe.
  3. Twitter Chats – These events pose ideal opportunities to share images and info about your event with those who can’t make it. They can - and should - run concurrently with your physical event. Talk about building buzz around your brand, sharing your event with a variety of markets, and exercising an efficient, affordable means of crowdsourcing customer opinion. Don’t underestimate the power of group conversation when it comes to social crowdsourcing – embrace it!

Live & Post-Event Digital Activation:

  • Digital Reviews – Encourage attendees to share their experience with the digital community. Be it Google Places, Yelp or simply a customer testimonial that your brand can use for future promotion, entice your attendees to share. Event reps can walk around the event with tablets and ask attendees to participate. What makes this so important long term is the online rating your brand will have for weeks, months - maybe even years - to come from SEO. Consider it the free gift that keeps on giving. *It’s important to note that this should only be a suggestion and, ethically speaking, must be free of any incentive or compensation.

BONUS: “The Doozy” = Pre, Live & Post-Event Social Activation:

  • Third Party Participation: Arguably, the best kind of promotion is courtesy of unbiased third parties. Identify local, digital influencers and invite them to attend your event as social correspondents. While their tweets may not live long beyond the date of your event, their blog articles written with proper SEO strategy and Google+ posts will secure your brand increased and prolonged searchability.social media event marketing

Whatever you do for your next event, make sure you take into consideration at least a handful of our suggestions – you can thank us later.

 

 

 

 

Or you can just hire us to do it for you. That always works too.

social media event marketing