Here are a few cool ideas I saw at ASAE09 for combining word of mouth marketing and face to face social networking.

Now we all know about the huge value of networking at meetings, including  ”networking receptions”, whether they are breakfast, lunch, dinner or drinks.  The idea of the association as platform for people to convene is partly about that, getting people together for conversation and collaboration, both fun, social and serious.  But I saw and took part in a few things which I thought were cool that combined the idea of “getting people together” with the idea of having an experience to share online later.

1) Make people feel special

NFI Studios created a VIP Red Carpet area in their exhibitor booth where they took pictures of their clients and friends (and whoever was game).  You can see all the pics on Flickr here.  This was an awesome idea because people love to share pictures (especially online!  How much do you want to bet these end up all over Facebook!) and they love to feel special.

2) Run a Flash Mob

Avectra held an awesome flash mob at their exhibitor booth.  This one had a specific target audience, namely YAPstars, so they told us via Twitter and other online channels to show up at 11:00 am and hold our phones up (or otherwise do something noticeable) and we’d get a t-shirt.  Now of course this was not so different than any other exhibitor giveaway (e.g. “put your business card in the bowl for the chance to win a Wii”), except that it was different because:

1) it was relevant to YAP as the target audience – Avectra was the sponsor (with SusQtech) of the YAP party, and the T-shirts were branded with a little YAP logo on the sleeve along with really cool Avectra branding – awesome.

2)  flash mobs like this target social media “talkers”, who will specifically spread the word for you – because spreading the word is part of making the flash mob work –  not just trade show attendees in general who may or may not care whether the activity works or not.

3) it has a certain cool factor (by virtue of the channels through which it is promoted) that appeals to certain people.  There’s a “secret password” factor, basically, that you have to be “in the know” to, well, know;

4) it does not involve the participant having to give up their contact info for subsequent spamming.  It’s just for fun – and we want to talk about it and spread the WOM love even more for it.

3) Party like it’s 1999

OK, parties, yeah, everyone gets that.  But the WOM factor?  Create stuff around the party that people can share and talk about.  Of course I am biased on this one, but I still think we had good ideas worth sharing, e.g. we distributed little limited edition moo cards, like VIP invites to the party; and we also tasked people with creating our YAPtini drink for the evening.

Needless to say, we totally rocked the house…

What else did you see that had good “shareability” and WOM-ness to it?  Would love to hear your experiences.