Northeast Hardscape Expo
Project background
This business to business expo show is for the Hardscape and Landscape industry.
1. The client was the New England Concrete Manufacturing Association. Due to Covid they were forced to postpone their 2021 show for a full year.
2. The goal of this project was to maintain consistent branding. All messaging should be geared towards engaging NEHExpo’s target audience to remain relevant until the 2022 Northeast Hardscape Expo while continuing to grow our social media base.
Marketing
Along with marketing the show itself; there were plenty of other features of the show that needed to be marketed
1. Education - the show offers a plethora of classes, floor demos, and certification courses for those in the industry
2. Installer Competition - the show holds it's installer competition on the floor over the two days. The winner receives $10,000 and a chance to represent the Northeast in the National Show. Sixteen teams compete, four make it to the finals. Social Media plays an important part in finding the teams to sign up.
3. Awards of Excellence - the show asks contractors to submit their best hardscape projects for a chance to be considered one of the best in the industry. Social Media plays an important part in reaching out to those contractors.
4. New Products - everyone exhibiting at the show is bringing their latest and best tools to show off and to sell.
Success
When I came into this business, the social media was being run by Pannos Marketing. Since taking over these are some of my benchmarks:
1. Increasing Facebook following by 115%
2. Increasing Instagram following by 337%
3. Increasing Twitter following by 141%
4. Increasing LinkedIn following by 51%
5. Created a Facebook group to interact with our exhibitors and attendees.
6. Created a TikTok - our highest video has 69.5k views
7. Created a YouTube page
Exhibitor Spotlights
When Covid came and we were forced to postpone our show; as a way of thanking our exhibitors for their loyalty to the show, I created an exhibitor spotlight program. This allowed us to showcase our exhibitors on social media.
Mulch Madness
During Covid, as a way of keeping the show relevant when we were forced to cancel our 2021 show, I created a March Madness inspired social media contest by taking the winners from the past Awards of Excellence and pitting residential projects against commercial projects. Mulch Madness was a big success and a lot of fun.
