Measuring the success of an event does not finish after the final presentation of a conference.
No, there are lots of juicy insights still to be gleamed from the online conversations.
By evaluating the reactions of attendees to a brands presence at an event, it can then be determined if it has all been worth it.
But, what are those key metrics that you should be measuring and how do you determine what has worked for your brand?
We have already highlighted how to use SMM before and during an event.
So, here are some top tips for conquering your event evaluation stats and be #winning!
Perfect your Earned Query
Making sure that you are capturing all the mentions of your brand is extremely important.
You don’t want any precious recommendations or critiques slipping through the net.
An earned query can be used for numerous SMM activities – campaign measurement, tracking PR stories and looking at the spread of content for instance.
Earned queries gather all the online mentions of your company and exclude those made by your owned channels.
Brands could also choose to exclude mentions made by staff to guarantee that all the data you receive are from those outside of your business.
Once you have perfected your earned query you can then apply a rule to this data to segment it into conversations on individual events.
For creating quick comparisons it is worth categorizing events into sectors or time periods to evaluate how they compare in relation to past events attended.
What Event Coordinators should Measure
Look at those mentioning your brand in relation to the event name, Twitter handle, speakers and other key factors that connect to an event to evaluate your reach.
It is important that you research your event online thoroughly to have a rule that effectively brings back all the relevant data.
Looking at topics and sentiment in relation to a specific event is a great indicator of what went down well with attendees.
Analyzing key topics will show you what were the main talking points at an event.
Did your speaker connect with your audience or did that booth draw in the right crowd?
Considering the reach of the conversation and the topics combined will tell you what worked well and what missed the mark.
Sentiment is another way of quickly determining how your brand was interpreted at an event.
Negative conversation around your speakers is never a good thing!
However, the online chatter will soon alert you to any changes that need to be made to your event strategy.
Your Social Activity
When attending an event you never want to be silent on social.
Tweeting about your speakers or running Facebook competitions at your booth will drive those mentions right up. You don’t want to be the stand with the business card bowl.
But, you can’t then just leave all those spectacular stats untapped.
Brands need to evaluate what mentions were successful and determine why!
For instance, should you place your speakers slides on social and was that booth competition a waste of time?
These are all factors that need to be explored.
You can see that in the aftermath of a great event is the need for some in-depth evaluation.
Monopolizing on success and understanding what motivates an audience is a powerful tool to an events coordinator.
It certainly shouldn’t be undervalued in your reporting processes.