Paying influencers on your trade show booth? Make it count!

A large segment of marketing budgets nowadays is dedicated to influencers. Social media influencers are primarily online celebrities known for their reach within particular online communities. Their net worth is evaluated on the basis of Twitter and Instagram follower counts, YouTube subscribers or Facebook likes. But often, revenue from sales referral.

Influencers are vocal and share their knowledge for free to their audiences – thus influencing purchasing decisions from their followers. Influencer are everywhere. Not a single industry escapes the phenomenon. B2C brands and B2B corporations alike. Aeronautics, Yachting, Video production, Banking, Real estate, Gaming, Sports, and all kinds of hobbies – there is an influencer for everything.

It didn’t took long for brands to invite influencers to attend trade shows. Today, most brands pay influencers to make an appearance at their booth. Within a few years, this resulted in marketing dollars shifting from old-school advertising towards influencer marketing. And with it, came the need for brands to measure influencer ROI on trade shows.

Evaluate Influencer ROI with simple metrics

The real world is messy. Unlike online where every click, comment and action can be precisely quantified, the real world is complexe, ambiguous and analog.

It is a challenge for brands to asses the true ROI of having an influencer at their booth.

But solutions exist. The simplest way evaluate the impact of an influencer is to measure the footfall in attendance. It’s important to measure it before, during and after to conclude of any impact. This also allows you to compare an influencer vs. another vs. your own staff.

Here is an example through a practical example.
At a B2B show, if your brand invites an influencer to host a talk, you could know:

how many people turned up? (vs. our marketing staff hosting a keynote)
how long did people stayed?
did passing visitors stopped at a higher rate (conversion) when he was there?
did visitors remained on the booth longer for a chance to meet and talk with him?

Footfall, dwell time, conversion and engagement. These four key metrics are easily measurable and are part of our Event Analytics services.

Boost trade show engagement with influencers and communities

Engagement at trade shows is the battle ground for exhibitors. And A/B testing isn’t the only recipe for success.

Attention is a scarce ressource and by using the power of influence to magnetize visitors, brands can more than ever capitalize on the power of communities.

One very important element that brands learned from influencers is their power to attract visitors from niche communities. Visitors recognize influencers. They recognized them from their YouTube videos or Instagram accounts. They feel that they have a connection with then. A connection that brands often struggle to establish. And just like a magnet, they will attract hundreds if not thousands of fans to your exhibit.

The importance of choice and relationship

Working with an influencer goes beyond a marketing gimmick. Do not mistake influencers for magical wands. You must build true and strong relationships with your influencers. This relationship needs to mirror the type of relationship you offer to your best customer.