Cosmoprof North America 2014

CosmoProf North America is a three-day exhibition for beauty industry professionals. The business to business trade show is held annually and is focused on distributors, manufacturers, and buyers of cosmetics, skin care products, toiletries, fragrances, spa management software, as well as hair care and styling products. This week I will be analyzing their integrated marketing communications (IMC) efforts on their social media channels before, during, and after the conference in Las Vegas July 13-15, 2014.

Please note: this post is strictly for academic purposes. I am not a spokesperson of CosmoProf North America or any of the companies represented at the trade show. Feel free to get more information on CosmoProf here and here.

As you can see from the screenshot below, CosmoProf uses social media buttons for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram as designators to the platforms in which businesses and consumers may engage with CosmoProf before, during and after the conference. Although they have a presence on these platforms, their website is where they devote their time to truly promote the event. With one glance, one can see a countdown to the event, awards they've received for most innovative trade show, a YouTube clip of highlights from 2013 and quick click-through access to visitor registration.

CosmoProf North America Website Homepage

Their website is obviously their main hub of information. At the bottom of the page, the option to subscribe to a newsletter is available. I did not personally subscribe, so I could not attest to its role in the mix but it's possible that the newsletter's purpose was to drive traffic back to their website rather than to any particular social channel for guests to gather information before, during, and after the event.

To be honest, I expected to see more posts building anticipation for the trade show, but there was only one mention of the event on Facebook before opening on July 13th. However, once the event had started, both Facebook and Twitter were predominantly used to highlight certain booths and speaking engagements throughout the three day period. 

Facebook posts frequently included photos of new products. Twitter didn't include very many photos, but did retweet a very active user named Hannah Perlman (@DalaiHannah), who strategically used #trendscout and #cosmoprof2014 in her posts. As expected, Twitter gained the most response from visitors as they commented in real-time on their participation and experience. They mentioned brands and products with which they interacted and liked. 

Instagram was also very popular although it was mostly used for consumer-generated content. There are several web viewers that contain photos from the event--Websta and Iconosquare, to name a few--but any archived content had to be tagged with #cosmoprof in order to be viewed.

#cosmoprof Instagram submissions found on Iconosquare

It should be noted that there was not a unique official hashtag for the event, and the hashtags that were used were inconsistent. With hundreds of visitors using unofficial or other interest group-specific hashtags, this may affect any measurable data for future access and that which is reported back to sponsors.

For the most part, branding is consistent among channels. I was able to recognize very quickly whether I had landed on the verified account handles simply by seeing the model in a bright blue, windblown dress as pictured from their homepage. What stood out to me was their use of 10times, a service provider for business events. There are tabs where visitors could add themselves as "Attending" the conference, get information regarding hotels in Las Vegas, or leave a review. Visitors could see which exhibitors and plan ahead. I hadn't previously been aware of this content community or how they were changing the way in which we discover and experience events such as CosmoProf's trade show.

Overall, CosmoProf is making an effort socially, but could improve their IMC by using all channels to build anticipation for the conference, asking followers questions about the event or which brands/products they tried, consistently using hashtags and using them across platforms, and encouraging visitors and exhibitors to use said hashtags. There is a lot of potential here, and I know a little planning on their behalf could make a huge difference.