NI Week 2018, taking place May 21st – May 24th at the Austin Convention Center (ACC), brings together thousands of engineers, scientists, and industry professionals to learn about the NI ecosystem. Event coverage includes test, measurement, IoT, embedded, COTS, and control systems.

Exhibitors at the show are planning their 2018 booth strategies, giveaways, presentations, and new product launches to drive awareness, exposure, and eventually, sales.

Here are a few tips as you prepare for NI Week to drive maximum exposure and return on investment.

1. Time to get social. You can view everything going on at NI Week on Twitter. You can follow them at www.twitter.com/niglobal or follow the hashtag #NIWeek to see what vendors and attendees are talking about. You can also follow www.twitter.com/military_cots or twitter.com/embedded_comp for live coverage of the show as well.

Here are a few tips to make the most impact with your tweets and social posts:

• Always include #NIWeek and if applicable #labview #ATX #IoT @NiGlobal #embedded

• Remember to include applicable images

• Include your booth number

• Announce your giveaways or contests and mention the participants’ and winners’ Twitter handles

• Post photos from the show or integrate live video via Facebook live or periscope; you can also post video blogs to YouTube

• Create your own fun hashtag and encourage attendees to use to use it for free swag

• Feature your social accounts on your booth bags, stickers, and handouts

• Use as many social platforms as you can to post your content (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+)

• You should post at least 4-5 times per day to stay relevant.

• Follow and network with others using #NIWeek to expand your reach.

• Use Twitter ads and Facebook boosted posted to extend your reach beyond your audience.

• Remember to use YouTube!

• Start posting on social at least one week before the event and one week after the event.

2. Think search engine optimization (SEO). SEO needs to be part of your equation. When we think about the engineer’s journey from gathering information to purchasing, content must be available to validate the engineer’s decision. Everything you do on your own site as well as beyond your site is incorporated into how Google ranks your pages. Thus, having links that point back to your site helps drive your SEO.

3. Keywords are key. Your sales team and field application engineers (FAEs) get lots of questions, complaints, challenges, and specific words that engineers use to search for products and technologies. Use these words in the content you produce and try to create content from an end-user perspective including LabView, Test, Measurement, NIWeek and National Instruments.

4. Blogs and content. Create content that labels you as the expert, but also keep in mind that it should aid your sales team in their sales process. Sales representatives can reference this collateral when courting prospective buyers. Blogging is always available on Embedded Computing Design and Military Embedded Systems at www.mil-embedded.com and www.embedded-computing.com.

5. Submit your news. Make sure not only to post news on your own site and share it on social, but post it on publisher’s sites as well. Some tradeshows share contact information of editors attending the show and have press room’s where press releases and new product announcements can be left. You can always submit press releases to Military Embedded Systems and Embedded Computing Design free of charge at opensystemsmedia.com/submit/news?rid=18957D.922[...]

To book an appointment or press briefing, contact Patrick Hopper, President, OpenSystems Media at [email protected]

To contact our editor, John McHale, covering NI Week email [email protected]