NRA Show 2014 Wrap Up

There I was, fresh off a plane, in an unfamiliar city, and entering the nation’s largest convention space, McCormick Place, measuring an impressive combined total of 2.6 million square feet of exhibit space. Welcome to a Five Star event, I said to myself, I hope you’re ready! Having already attended a couple of smaller events with the Pixe team, I was really looking forward to the 2014 National Restaurant Association Show and it more than lived up to my expectations.

When the show opened, the Grand Concourse photo booth attracted people like magnets as they entered the main halls staged with seven feet tall NRA and Pixe branded backdrops, several prop trees decorated with boas, hats, and aprons, and selfie-stands placed in the front. Over the next four days, the NRA Pixe photo booth clicked an impressive 2100 photos from excited attendees.

The first day concluded with team dinner at Giordano’s that allowed us to rest our aching feet, discuss the highlights of the day, and plan for day two. Over delicious Chicago-style pizza, we learned about an exciting partnership opportunity SpellBrite Signs, who provided trendy LED signs with the words “NRA 2014,” “Spicy” and “I’m Gluten Free” for users to wear while taking pictures. It’s always gratifying to work with other exhibitors to spread the love at face to face events.

Surrounded by power brands such as Samsung, OpenTable, and Groupon, Pixe was able to stand out in booth 6679 not only with our fashionable red carpet, but also with our live photo walls displaying a slideshow of all the photo booth shots. Thousands of attendees made their way to our booth to check out Pixe for their brands, and of course to get their hands on the “coolest giveaway of the show,” our ubiquitous blinky glasses. We showcased both Pixe Social, the leading tablet-based social photo booth solution, and our newest offering, Pixe Snap. The latter is a user-managed app that enables individuals to find their beloved brands by geo-locations and express their emotional connections with them.

All in all, the NRA Show turned out to be an amazing experience, giving me a new perspective on how much work goes into tradeshows. Although there may not have been blood, sweat, and tears, a lot of preparation before, during, and after the show was contributed by the Pixe team. As for my number one piece of advice for the next show? Comfortable shoes!

Contributed by Katherine Kozelski, Digital Media Marketing Coordinator, Pixe LLC

Four Tips for Social Branding with the Selfie

Selfies are not just a fashionable modern technology trend–here today, gone tomorrow. By its very nature, the Internet immortalizes everything it holds.  A selfie can therefore create a long-lasting virtual imprint for people invested in a celebration, brand or event. When a simple photo is combined with the sharing power of social media, a selfie even has the ability to go viral and create millions of impressions, like Ellen DeGeneres’ selfie did during and after the Oscars.

The Internet is a great equalizer. Any brand can benefit from a ‘photomonial’ from a loyal customer to create a measurable impact online. All that is needed is right timing and smart marketing strategy.  Pixe combines theme-based social selfies with the power of testimonials, and backs it with a
powerful technology. Just as importantly, by completely eliminating boxy enclosures and old fashioned print outs, it puts an entirely new spin on traditional photo booths.

So how can your brand chase after the reported $800 million to $1 billion value Samsung estimates for Ellen's famed selfie? Read on to boost your brand's selfie driven staying power.

Post with a Hashtag: Whether you’re a startup company or an established brand, each one of your social media posts should contain a custom hashtag. To encourage your guests to post their selfies online with your personalized hashtag, make sure to promote it yourself everywhere! Tabletops, napkins, posters, and the bar are some places that should be decorated with your brand hashtag.

Show off the Selfies: To boost the amount of selfies taken at your event or business, let your guests see what others are sharing on Facebook or Twitter through a live photo wall. Create a rotating photo slideshow that uploads the photos with your hashtag in real-time. Guests will be excited to see themselves on a large than life screen.

Have Fun: In order to get your guests to loosen up a bit, provide theme-based props that coincide with your brand or event. For example, if you own a swimwear shop, decorate the store with silly sunglasses and colorful leis next to posters that encourage customers to take a selfie with
your event hashtag.

Contest: Everyone loves a freebie, right? Create a contest around sharing selfies with your branding. People are much more motivated to share their pictures (and your branding) if there is some sort of
incentive involved. Selfie contests are a win-win for your customers and your brand.

Pixe provides an all-encompassing social media solution through our mobile-based photo booth. Pixe creates a custom hashtag that displays on every photo appearing on our large, HD Photo Wall that instantly uploads every photo live from events.

To maximize the event’s fun factor, Pixe brings an assortment of silly props, including our signature
blinky glasses, so guests can transform their appearances with every shot. Pixe also hosts an exciting contest for attendees, a little spark of competition for an awesome prize results in continued engagement with attendees after the event ends. With the full-service marketing support of Pixe, events transform into powerful branding opportunities.

Cooking Up a Social Extravaganza at NRA Show 2014

Following a rewarding time at the 2014 CaterSource Conference & Tradeshow, with our business and our appetites fully whetted, the Pixe team is excited to return to another landmark for the food service industry at the McCormick Place Convention Center. For the second year in a row, Pixe Social will spice up the expo floor as the official mobile-based photo booth provide at the National Restaurant Association Show 2014. The NRA Show 2013 Photo Booth served up a great interactive experience to an appreciative audience who loved seeing their photos posted on the big HD screens and leading social media almost as soon as they clicked the button.
I love NRA Show because this is where the best in the industry come together! #NRAShow #PixeSocial #Awesome #LoveIt pic.twitter.com/1Z9PQLlaXF — Pixe NRA Photo Booth (@PixeNRABooth) May 19, 2013	Over 2,300 photos shared over five days by attendees, exhibitors, and celebrity guests on NRA Show's Facebook Page expanded the event's reach to hundreds of thousands of fans. The photos were also tweeted in real-time and reached 184,747 Twitter users. This year, once again, the official NRA Show Pixe Social Photo Booth will provide attendees and exhibitors with a unique opportunity to generate a social sizzle around their presence at the restaurant industry’s leading exhibition. To entice your social-savvy taste buds, Pixe Social is organizing an iPad Mini contest for the photo booth user who collects the most likes for their NRA Show Pixe Social photo on Facebook by midnight on June 1, 2014. Stop by booth 6679 to learn how #Pixe can deliver a high ROI on your social promotions and significantly expand your restaurant’s fan base. We invite foodie fans to use the hashtags #Pixe and #NRAShow to heat up the trending Twitter topics during the show.

Related Links:

• Say Cheese: See NRA Show Attendees Goof Off (PHOTOS)
• 360-degree Attendee Engagement with a Song, a Dance and a Photo
• Gadgets, apps dazzle at Chicago food show
  
  

Breaking Down Digital Media Acronyms Part 2

Since the start of the Internet, companies have been discovering new ways to build their brand and reach out to new customers. This platform has spurred the start of Digital Marketing. Digital Marketing is the process of using digital formats to advertise a message for a brand. In order to understand this new industry a little better, take a look at some of the most commonly used terms and phrases.

Content Marketing: Content Marketing is a brand’s process of producing original, valuable, and thought-provoking content and sharing that content with interested consumers. For instance, trade magazine, company blogs, and even many brand social media sites aim to share interesting articles, trends, and new products that relate to their specific industry. Here is a short history of content marketing from the Content Marketing Institute.

Social Media: Social Media is a combination of the websites, and now applications, used for social networking. Social networking is creating relationships, either personal or professional, through a login-based social media website. The most popular social media sites include, but are not limited, to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+.

Organic Marketing: Organic Marketing is the process of marketing a brand or product without paying for advertising. It is important to note that organic marketing does contain intent, but it is a more unexpected option.Organic marketing is focused on creating a natural relationship with your potential customers, especially through word-of-mouth and social media outlets.

Responsive Design: Responsive Design is probably one of the hottest trends in marketing now, responsive web design is a website’s ability to react to the user’s screen size. Web designers are now standardizing flexible content on the sites that can automatically adjust to whatever type of device is used. Along with changed appearances, responsive websites will transform the user experience to work with a device, such as the finger zoom feature on iPads, a drop down “hamburger” menu for mobile, and landscape/portrait views on tablets.

Tribal Marketing:Tribal Marketing is a marketing strategy to create a community-centered feeling for those interested in a certain product or brand. Marketers attempt to target certain individuals that all have a common interest or need and solve that need with the use of their product. In essence, marketers want to encourage a bonded tribe in support of their product or services

Digital Dashboard: Generally speaking, a digital dashboard is a central location that draws content from multiple resources into a manageable and readable format. Many dashboard systems support a standard selection of applications, but are usually customizable to improve user experience.

Viral: Going ‘viral’ is a term used for when a person, topic, video, article, or photo hits the popularity level as to where it reaches the Internet engagement level of the hundreds of millions of views. When one Youtube video suddenly goes from about 100 likes from the poster’s family and friends to a shocking 2 million views, this video has reached Internet celebrity status as a viral sensation. 

Need some more? Read Breaking Down Digital Media Acronyms Part 1

A Scalable Solution for Small Businesses

The week of May 12- 16, 2014 celebrates National Small Business Week (#SBW2014) in North America. At Pixe Social, we are invested in the cause of the success of small businesses because our solution provides a great platform for small and mid-sized businesses to maximize their social reach with minimal investment and in a very short period of time. Whether it’s a local restaurant or café, university event, or automotive dealership, Pixe Social has expanded the fan base of many a brand since its inception in April last year.

As a start-up company, the Pixe team understands how challenging it can be to find any wiggle room in a budget for marketing and promotion. Growing businesses want to see the maximum return on their investments (every penny counts!), and that’s exactly what Pixe Social can provide through our cutting-edge social media marketing solution. It’s simple, really. Start from the source of your business’s success by showcasing your most loyal fans.

How cool would it be if you saw yourself on your favorite restaurant’s Facebook Page? Imagine yourself enjoying a delicious meal with your buddies and your server snaps a picture to capture the evening for posterity? Not only will you be able to keep that memory of a night out with friends, but also the next day, you’ll be famous because you made it onto Facebook Page of your favorite brand. If you can imagine your own excitement from your fifteen minutes of Internet fame, imagine how your business’ fans will respond to the idea of being able to showcase their emotional connection with your brand.

Follow Pixe Social's board Pixe Social at UMD Smith School Business Summit on Pinterest.

At the 2014 Business Summit at the University of Maryland Robert H Smith School of Business, Pixe Social gave the attending students and faculty a wonderful opportunity to share their love for the Smith School. Photos and testimonials taken at the Pixe-powered photo booth were tweeted in real-time with the event’s hashtag from the @SmithSchoolPixe handle. Fans of Smith School were able to tune into what people loved about their experience not only at the conference itself, but also how the graduate school had change many a former student’s life. The popularity of the event and the photos is evident from the fact that fans continue to favorite and retweet the posts to this day, a month after the event.

Five Ways to Make the Most of Your Pixe Social Album

In order to grow your small business while keeping in mind a small marketing budget, a social media presence is an absolute must. However, many people don’t realize that you will only gain as great a return on your investment in social media as the effort you put into it.

In partnering with Pixe Social, you’ve realized the amazing social media marketing reach your event pictures could have on your business, but how can you go above and beyond? You have to promote those images!

According to Facebook, posts that include images receive 120% more engagement with your fans than a post with only text. The following tips on making the most of your Pixe Social albums will transform your small business into a social media marketing machine.

Cross Promotion

Pixe photos look great on every social media channel! Share some of your favorite event photos through Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and even on your business’s blog. Blogging about partnering with Pixe Social turns taking photos into an experience for you and your fans. Make sure to share the
link to your Facebook Fan Page and you’ll easily transform readers into followers.

#BizBashFL Attendees: Get the most likes on your @PixeSocial booth photo on Facebook by 11:59 PM EST on 5/5 to win an iPad Mini!
— BizBash Live (@BizBashLive) April 23, 2014

Keep Up the Hype

So your event has concluded and all of the Pixe Social photos are posted on your Fan Page, but how can you make sure fans actually see their pictures? Pixe Social provides your business with an email list from photo booth users, so take advantage of it. Send out a friendly reminder about the Pixe contest and have fans share the pictures on their social media pages.

Start a Conversation with Fans

Online fans love to feel like they are connecting with the people behind the Facebook Page, so start a contest with fans around the Pixe Social Photo album. Ask fans to vote on which one of the event pictures is their favorite and offer a prize. For extra credit points, make the prize a discounted offer for your business so it brings them offline and in store.

Take it Offline

Believe it or not, a lot of your customers have yet to interact with you through social media, so show them what they’re missing by printing out your Pixe Social photos. Spruce up your business walls with a photo collage and show how much you appreciate your fans on and offline.

Photomonials

Don’t ignore those word bubbles! You may not realize it at first, but the comments photo booth users type in their Pixe Social photos provide you with valuable customers testimonials. Create a page on your website or print out some of the best glowing compliments to make the most of your Pixe Social album.

The Robert H Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland recently hosted current students and alumni at the 2014 Business Summit. The official Smith School Pixe Social Photo Booth captured the following remarks from attendees:

Post by Robert H. Smith School of Business Office of Career Services (MBA Program).

Pixe Social Bringing Social Soul to Frankfurt, Germany this May

The Pixe team is excited to announce its partnership with the IMEX Group, and upcoming exhibition of our unique mobile-based social marketing solution at IMEX 2014 in Frankfurt, Germany between 20–22 May 2014.

Pixe Social is bringing a new interactive experience to attendees at this popular worldwide exhibition for incentive travel, meetings, and events.

A number of team members will be walking around the show floor, taking pictures of attendees and exhibitors alike, and inviting them to share their photos and testimonials with fans and friends on leading social media. Pictures will be shared on the IMEX Facebook Page live from the exhibits floor, tweeted with event hashtag (#IMEX14) and streamed to a HD photo wall on the show floor. Photo booth users will also have the opportunity to share their picture through their own social media pages to share their on-site experience with friends and colleagues.

In an exciting contest for IMEX attendees, the photo booth user with the most likes on their Pixe Social photo on Facebook by 11:59 PM EST on 1 June 2014 will win an iPad Mini!

In addition to providing the official IMEX 2014 Pixe Social Photo Booth to engage with attendees during the event, Pixe will also be exhibiting in Stand Number C720 with a2z Inc., Pixe’s sister company. a2z, Inc. provides event planners and organizers powerful web and mobile software that helps event organizers as well as event participants maximize their time and ROI.

A unique aspect of IMEX Frankfurt is the appointment system, which connects exhibitors with hosted buyer attendees before the event. Click here to schedule a meeting with Michael Krantz, Director of Sales, who is representing Pixe in our booth at the event.

Pixe is excited to be returning to Europe. As the official photo booth solution for MCM Comic Con across multiple cities in the UK, Pixe Social has enabled hundreds of thousands of attendees to spread the love about their favorite brands and comic characters.