Five Tips to Make the Most of Your Sponsorship at a Blogging Conference

Interested to sponsor a blogger conference? Here are tips for sponsors on how to maximize your investment, based on our 11 years of running the Wine Bloggers Conference, Beer Now Conference, and International Food Blogger Conference.

1. Set Your Expectations Properly: If you sponsor a conference and expect immediate movement of the dial (sales or something else) you will be disappointed. Your goal is to make connections and create relationships that pay off over the coming days (social media), months (blog posts), and years (ongoing interaction and reposting of the quotes and reviews you receive).
2. Attend and Interact: One of the best things sponsors can do is actually attend the conference and participate throughout the weekend, not just for the time slot you are sponsoring. This allows you to make connections with attendees and determine with whom you would like to work in the future. Plus, attendees who see sponsor reps throughout the conference will be impressed.
3. Take Advantage of Your Benefits: It is amazing how many of our sponsors do not take advantage of the benefits they receive. For example, many sponsors have the option to write a post that gets published on the conference website but a good portion never take the time to do so!
4. Don’t Self-Promote Too Much: All companies have the tendency to want to promote themselves. That is what traditional marketing is all about. However, influencer marketing is about making relationships to get the bloggers or others to like you and your product. Be real. On the other hand, make sure you do clearly provide your social media handles and contact details. It is amazing how many sponsors forget to do this.
5. Engage on Social Media: We see many sponsors sit back and watch the social media activity, which can be extremely robust. Much better is to engage with attendees: follow attendees, respond to their social media posts, and write your own posts that are not simply self-promotional but are of interest to attendees.

We think these tips will help you fully appreciate your investment in a blogging or influencer conference!