How social media is shaping activation trends

How social media is shaping activation trends

You don’t have to be a seasoned hash tagger or selfie-pro to have some inkling of the meteoric rise of social media.

This recent phenomenon is shaping our world in totally unforeseen ways and isn’t letting up any time soon.

It’s a world in which a company’s share price can hang in the balance of a single celebrity tweet. Where influencers and their effect on the marketplace is a hotly debated topic and 95 million photos are uploaded to Instagram every day.

Social media behemoths Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter have permeated nearly all aspects of modern life with the events sector being no exception.

While a traditional media wall and photographer still have their place, there are some crazy new social inspired gadgets and tech-savvy activations taking the events world by storm.

The Nibbler sat down with and Annabelle Davidson, Director of Social Playground to get her opinion on the hottest trends in activations and what to expect on the horizon.

The Nibbler: This year, what has been the most requested activation of your offerings?

Annabelle Davidson: Our Gif booth continues to be one of our most popular offerings – nothing beats the fun of creating an animated gif that can be shared instantly to social media.

Recently, our clients have been getting creative with animated overlays, digital lenses ie. Snapchat filters and even video backgrounds.

This means each piece of content created not only provides loads of fun for the event attendee but also helps in telling more of a story about the brand or event.

TN: Why do you think that is?

AD: Our obsession with photos, video and sharing live to social media from events continues!

Event attendees love great lighting and digital effects that are a little out of the box.

Data capture is also super important for clients who are utilizing our products more and more to build their marketing databases or mailing lists.

The Hashtag Printer

TN: Are there any new concepts that you would personally like to see in terms of event tech and activations?

We’ve just launched our Social360 which offers a 360 degree video – the ultimate selfie experience!

We are definitely seeing a trend towards more creative applications of photo and video technology at events.

It’s not enough to just take a photo of someone, it’s about creating a memorable branded experience for event attendees and giving them something to print or share with their friends.

Roaming Social camera

There’s also a trend towards utilizing the event attendee’s own phone to interact with event content, for example, live displays that involve attendees via their mobile to engage in quizzes, sharing testimonials and more.

Think of it as the live Twitter feed 2.0. It can be customized to a brand’s objectives and is super easy for event attendees to get involved with from anywhere at the event.

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