Trade Show Promotional Idea: Using Selfies to Create Trade Show Buzz

Have you jumped on the selfie craze yet? Selfies aren't just for kids anymore. Not only are adults having just as much fun taking selfies or photos of themselves with their friends or in fun places, selfies can be harnessed to provide some creative promotions for your business.

What is a selfie, you ask? A selfie is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone, which is then shared on social networking services such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter.

Last night at the 2015 Oscars, our favorite movie stars were posing for and posting selfies left and right.

A week ago President Obama, had fun creating silly poses with a "selfie stick” while creating a promotional video for HealthCare.gov. The clip, which was produced by the video arm of the viral content experts at BuzzFeed, was online for less than an hour when it already received 100,000 views. Obama used one of the hottest-selling items in both retail and the promotional markets—a monopod, also known as a selfie stick, to capture our attention.

Why are selfies so popular? They are a fun way to communicate and express yourself. They are also a great way to encourage people to promote your brand or create some buzz in your trade show booth.

Here are some ideas on how to tap into the selfie craze to create some brand exposure for your company at your next trade show or event.

1. Photo Props - A fun way to get people to take photos of themselves in your trade show booth is to provide some photo props that make the picture fun. Mustaches, eyeglasses, hats, fake smiles, and other props bring out the silliness in all of us and make memorable photos. The props can be both inexpensive and branded with your logo so they can be distributed to all attendees who stop by your booth. Trade show visitors would love to take home a silly photo prop to their kids. You can have a special hashtag printed on the accessory, like the name of your company, your product or the event, to make sure it appears on all of the photos shared on social media.

My colleague was recently at a Travel & Adventure show in Chicago and the Travel Channel booth had a photo booth set up where people could take a selfie that represented the location they most wanted to travel to. They had props for New Orleans, San Francisco, Hawaii, and New York. People would dress up in their props and hold a small sign with #travelchannel printed on it. The booth attendants would then send the photo to their email address or allow them to post it on Facebook for fun. The travel channel got a lot of social media publicity for a very small investment.

The more elaborate and creative the props are for the photo will only improve the fun and event buzz. How about having a motorcycle and even costume elements, such as leather jackets, bandannas and sun glasses in your booth for a memorable photo? Put up a poster of the beach and have people wear leis and grass skirts for some fun photo opps.

2. Cut-out Boards. Another variation for photo fun is to create a photo cut-out board where one or more people stick their head through a hole in a printed board for a fun photo.

Make sure your logo or a special hashtag are included on the cut-out for brand visibility. Again the resulting photo can be posted on Instagram or Twitter to multiple your exposure at the show.

3. Celebrity Cut-outs. Another fun photo idea is to create a life-style cardboard stand-up of a celebrity or famous person. Again, make sure that your company name is somewhere on the prop or distribute small logo-imprinted photo frames for a printed copy of the resulting photo.


4. Photo Accessory Giveaways. As selfies grow in popularity, so do the accessories that support taking them. For example, you suddenly see selfie sticks everywhere. The stick is really a monopod or tool that allows you to extend your camera or smart phone further than the arm can reach to get a wider angle on your selfie. It's a necessity for taking group shots!

Remember the selfie Ellen DeGeneres took at the Oscars last year that "broke" Twitter? If Bradley Cooper had had a selfie stick they could have included more stars!

The best trade show promotional products that recipients love and use, and get your brand the most exposure, are the ones that people can use over and over again and that tap into an emerging trend. Selfie sticks are useful and all the current rage. If your trade show booth was giving away selfie sticks, you would have a line of people waiting to grab one.

Selfie sticks range in price from under $10.00 each to about twice that amount, depending on their features. In either case, that price range isn't geared for mass distribution. You aren't going to hand them out to anyone who walks in your booth. People need to really help your promote your business in order to get one.

You can award a limited number of selfie sticks as a raffle prize for all people who tweet the photos taken at your booth. Or, if they place an order right then, they get a free selfie stick. Or if they sign up for a follow-up sales call in their office, you will bring them a selfie stick as a thank you for the opportunity to meet.

One of the promotional selfie sticks we like the best is this Wireless Selfie Stick with Frizzy Bag. Use the frizzy bag to clean your phone or camera. The stick has a wireless button and supports Bluetooth products so you can get more angle variations, fit more people into the picture, get above or below for unique views.

Here's another more colorful Selfie Stick with a Wireless Button.

Or take a look at this Selfie Keychain Remote. This High Definition Bluetooth 3.0 Wireless Remote allows you to simply pair you smartphone with the remote and open your camera app to take a photo.

Taking a lot of photos can drain your phone's battery. Here's another coveted smart phone or camera accessory to raffle off - the Selfie Power Bank. This device provides power for your mobile phone, digital camera, MP3/MP4 player or GPS device. It has a suction cup on the bottom to attach it to surfaces. Uses Bluetooth™ to take pictures with your phone.

Don't forget photo frames! Print the selfie photo in the booth and frame it with a cardbard frame with your logo on it. Hopefully, it will sit on your prospects desk, reminding them of how much fun they had in your booth.

I hope you enjoyed these ideas for a multi-media way to get noticed at a trade show or event! For more information on these or other ideas on how to drive traffic to your trade show booth or promote your brand at an event, give us a call at 847-398.5500 or email me at dona.blunt@newportpros.com.

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