The power of social media continues to amaze me every day. As Event Planners, we are constantly adapting to the needs of our clients whether it be through F&B trends or new event technology.

If you are not already incorporating social media into your events, today is the day to start. Here are 3 fun and creative ways to incorporate social media into your next event!

1. Host A Social Media Contest

Everybody loves a little friendly completion, and a contest is a great way to engage your attendees in a fun and interactive manner.

Make your attendees a part of the experience; that’s what makes a contest fun!

2.  Hashing Wars

Assign attendees a specific (Insert color, fruit etc.) hashtag when they check-in at the event (Ex: #TEAMRED). Attendees use this hashtag in addition to the event hashtag to post live pictures and commentary at the event.

The team who generates the most tweets during the event wins and there is a prize drawing for the winning team.

There’s even a service that will help you set-up your hashtag battle and track the competition for you.

3. The Red Balloon

This awesome idea comes from one of my favorite event planning blogs BizBash, and I love sharing it at all my trainings.

AT&T created a social media buzz at several of their events this year with a red balloon, which is activated by an event hashtag.

The balloon expands as attendees tweet using the event’s hashtag. The person whose tweet makes the balloon POP wins a prize.

The bottom line is that social media enhances the experience for your event attendees.  Whether it is generating buzz and excitement to connecting niche audiences, it’s all about the SOCIAL in Social Media!

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This article was contributed by Alex Cameron. Alex is a Corporate Event Planner and Social Media Consultant. She works with event planners all over the US and she is passionate about helping clients plan successful events in today’s tech-savvy world! She can be contacted on Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn.