Social Media Expands Awareness of Protective Security Council Event
Posted on | May 24, 2011 | No Comments
When you think about ways of promoting a gathering of top level security professionals, using social media isn’t the first tool that comes to mind. Unmarked direct mail. Late night phone calls. Encrypted email, maybe. But social media? Not on the list.
Yet, that’s exactly what the Protective Security Council has turned to to attract the types of professionals whose jobs very often require them to stay in the background: Think Kevin Costner as a former Secret Service agent playing security detail for Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard. Would agent Frank Farmer tweet? He didn’t have the option then, but so much has changed since 1992 when the movie came out.
Today, even security professionals use Twitter and Facebook and other social media sites… if only to keep up with the clientele. So, for the Protective Security Council, staying in touch with their own customers and prospects through social media made sense.
“Much of the media coverage around security today is related to information technology. The idea of protecting people – which is just as important if not more so – often gets left out of the discussion,” says Michael Nossaman, president of the Protective Security Council. “Using social media is another way for us to extend awareness of this important topic.”
Nossaman’s core marketing tool is his event website which he created using Ennect Event and which includes complete details on speakers, sessions, location logistics, and allows attendees to conveniently register online. To promote the registration portal, Nossaman relies on a marketing mix of traditional and emarketing activities such as direct mailers and opt-in email marketing. A broad scope of social media efforts complement these activities. They range from Twitter and Facebook updates to LinkedIn group promotions and efforts to engage bloggers who cover security in the blogosphere.
“This is our first time experimenting with social media, but we want to do it right,” says Nossaman. “At my core, I’m a community organizer. When I think about social media, I think of it in terms of interacting with our ‘community.’ We want to share things that will interest and engage them. We’re still looking for the right balance.”
Measuring the organization’s success with social media is something else Nossaman is interested in: “We plan to do the analytics on this after the event is over and things calm down. There are a lot of moving parts when you’re putting on an event like this. And as we get closer to the first keynote, things move even faster. Having social media adds a whole new level of activity we haven’t had before. So it will be important to evaluate the results of our efforts.”
Now in its third year, the Protective Security Conference is an intensive two and a half day event comprised of in-depth seminars, panels, and roundtables conducted by leading authorities in the field. It targets security professionals whose responsibility it is to ensure that the people in their organizations are operating in safe and secure environments whether at their headquarters or in a hot spot half way around the world.
For information on the Protective Security Conference go to:
Call: 1-913-385-2034
Email: info@protectivesecuritycouncil.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ProSecCouncil
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Protective-Security-Council/169125529796800
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=1801635
Comments
Leave a Reply