Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) is not a new concept, but the persistence of FOMO in today’s online culture of sharing is perhaps far greater than in generations past. Anyone in generation X or older is likely familiar with the notion of keeping up with the Joneses, or the idea that you need a new car, television, or material product to equal the one your neighbors have. For millennials raised on social media and online sharing, however, FOMO is measured in an altogether different social currency, one that involves showing the value of a life well-lived through posting updates and pics.
Says Aurelio DeMendoza, SR VP Marketing, and Strategic Alliances at AMI, “Now, more than ever, people want to feel connected and involved. Even though virtual communications have opened doors across the globe, people still crave that intimate human connection that can only occur in face-to-face settings. Then they want to share these experiences virtually to gain social standing.”
Everyone wants to be the first to share an amazing experience, and nobody wants to feel like they’re the only one missing out. As a meeting or conference organizer, it behooves you to use this social dynamic to your advantage. How can you capitalize on FOMO in order to hype your events, boost registration, and increase event prestige in the process?
Discuss Social Media with your Certified Meeting Planner
Let’s be clear about one very important point. You can’t create FOMO in this day and age if your event does not begin and end with social media presence. Traditional and even online marketing, promotion, and outreach cannot create the social buzz you crave if you don’t include social media efforts in your event planning and management strategy.
Social media allows for unique promotional and recruitment opportunities. Not only can you easily keep leads and event attendees apprised of up-to-date information with notifications across multiple platforms, but you can use your social media accounts to tease guests and activities, encourage sharing, and build FOMO.
If you’re unfamiliar with the best ways to use social media to promote and elevate your event before, during, and after the fact, working with an expert certified meeting planner from a global meeting services organization like American Meetings, Inc. (AMI) is a great place to start. The professionals at AMI are qualified to help you come up with a successful strategy for a social promotion that fosters FOMO and boosts results.
Work with Your Conference Organizer to Craft the Event Experience
Sharing is a major part of the online experience, especially when it comes to social media, and you want to find ways to encourage event attendees to do some of your promotion for you by buying into the overall experience. This means you need to create a story that gives your attendees a starring role.
Your conference organizer can help you to craft a compelling story, so to speak. It begins with social promotion tailored to your event, including logistical elements like easy and memorable hashtags, as well as reasons to share, such as notable guests, innovative activities, trending topics, and engaging promotional posts like pics and videos.
Collaboration between the event host and certified meeting planner when creating the story of an event can lead to a cohesive and engaging overall experience before the event even happens. With proper tracking, you can use contributions from the online community to promote the story, increase authenticity, and create a sense of FOMO.
Create an Atmosphere of Exclusivity
A big part of FOMO is the idea that something is exclusive, and therefore rare. Even if your events will accommodate hundreds or thousands of attendees, and even if you host it, say, annually, you need to create an atmosphere of exclusivity if you want to amp up the FOMO.
How can you accomplish this goal? There are several tactics to consider, including limiting slots for attendees (or artificially creating demand), nabbing high-profile guest speakers or performers, bumping prices, and generally finding a way to create a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Just consider what people will pay to attend the Super Bowl, even though it happens every year. How can you and your conference organizer encourage demand and create FOMO for your event?
Increase Engagement and Encourage Ambassadorship
FOMO relies somewhat on the people who attend your event showing others how great it is and what they’re missing out on. For your part, you can encourage social sharing and elevate event attendees who share by creating share-worthy moments and displays, as well as promote attendee posts.
Partnering with a certified meeting planner from an organization like AMI gives you access to the resources and expertise you need to create an event that infers social currency on those who attend and share their experience while instilling a feeling of FOMO in anyone who misses it.
