Category: Social media

Content marketing, General, Social media

How to leverage value from trade shows and conferences with B2B content

Outdoor pavilions at the UKREiiF property trade show in 2025

Trade shows and B2B conferences are expensive to attend, but there are ways to start leveraging the value in the weeks before by using content.

Here’s a content strategy and ideas for what to publish in the 5-6 weeks leading up to the event opening, and how it might help you once you are at the show.

Why create content in the run-up to a trade show or conference?

• Good content can position you or your team as experts and the people to talk to, opening the door to meetings. It can shift your position from simple attendee to authority.

• It can help get the conversation started before you go, and once there, it can give people an easy reference point when meeting up: “I read your LinkedIn piece on…”

• The algorithm rewards early movers, and you benefit from the rising tide of search and interest in the weeks before the event.

• If your LinkedIn profile pic is clear and up to date, pre-show activity on the platform can make you easily recognisable.

What content should you publish/post in the run-up to a trade show or conference?

Make sure your content is specific, and showing a bit of personality can help amplify its effect. Here are some content ideas for any trade show or conference:

Thought leadership series

Harness your expertise or that of your senior spokespeople and develop a series that creates a talking point, for example:

• Something that no one or not enough people are talking about.

• A contested issue or a different approach to solving an industry challenge.

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Audience engagement, Content marketing, Repurposing, Social media, Video

Getting value from panel events and podcasts

Panel discussion at MIPIM 30th edition event on 'UK: Regeneration & Waterfront Developments.' The stage features four seated male panelists and one female moderator standing at a podium. A large screen above displays the panel title and participant names and roles: Moderator Stacey Meadwell (Freelance Editor), Cllr Jon Collins (Leader, Nottingham City Council), Steve Dunlop (Chief Executive, Scottish Enterprise), Mark Sitch (Senior Partner, Barton Willmore), and Cllr Huw Thomas (Leader, Cardiff Council). The event branding and social media information are also visible on the screen.

Panel events and podcasts are powerful platforms for raising your profile as a thought leader to a broader network, expanding your brand reach beyond your own social media connections and email list.

These powerful formats help your audience connect with you or your team’s expertise on a more personal, human level. It can help build connections and brand trust, and open doors to other opportunities and conversations.

Panel events and podcasts foster brand storytelling in a way that builds trust and familiarity, especially compared to more polished written communications.

But you and your business want to come across well and get the most out of the experience or event. Here are just a few tips to get you started.

Invited guest: Delivering your message effectively

Tip 1: Align your messaging with the theme and audience

Do some preparation ahead of your panel or podcast appearance. The audience has turned up or downloaded the episode to hear a conversation on a specific topic, so make sure your messaging aligns with the overarching theme.

If you go off topic or fall into a marketing pitch, you risk damaging audience engagement or, on a podcast, being edited out.

Equally, to engage the audience, make sure you are speaking their language. What is their level of technical knowledge? Use plain English with a clear point of view, as it will always land better than jargon. 

Tip 2: Give the right answer

Listen carefully to the question you are asked and answer that. There is a danger of being overprepared and answering a question you anticipate rather than the one being asked, or giving too much away too soon.

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Content marketing, Social media, What journalists want

New UK Government agenda: How to engage and build visibility with B2B content

Ayo Abbas, Stacey Meadwell and Shirin Iqbal

Four months into the new UK government and more detail on its agenda is emerging, but how can you use B2B content to engage with that agenda?

Speaking ahead of the budget, I went live on LinkedIn with co-host Ayo Abbas of Abbas Marketing and special guest Shirin Iqbal of Shirin Iqbal Consulting to talk about how to get involved, align your content strategy, boost visibility and position yourself as a sector expert.

We all work with built environment clients, so our examples come from that sector, but the overarching strategies apply to any industry.

Here are the edited highlights of our conversation and you can watch the replay which includes our budget predicitons here.

What channels are available for built environment firms who want to share their knowledge and expertise?

Ayo: You have to understand which areas you care about and where you can add to the conversation – which parts of the story you want to focus on.

Then, look at who is talking about these issues and championing causes. For example, in the past few years, Architects Journal has talked about retrofitting rather than knocking down buildings.

Then there are associations and campaigning groups like the London Society and non-government groups like Business First.

The government also puts together expert panels such as the New Homes Accelerator. Who’s on those panels, and how can you join that conversation? Plus, there are consultations where they ask what the industry thinks.

It’s all an opportunity for you to join the conversation.  

Shirin: There are also thought leadership articles, trade press, panels, conferences and podcasts.  

Add your voice, not just to add to the noise, but to add value to the conversation and really showcase your expertise.

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Content marketing, Social media, Writing tips

Writing LinkedIn posts: 3 different styles of opening lines

Photo by Nik Shuliahin 💛💙 on Unsplash

The first two lines of your LinkedIn post are critical for stopping the scroll and drawing readers in.

If it’s boring and doesn’t grab attention or intrigue, people will scroll on by.

There are many ways to write an attention-grabbing opening line on a LinkedIn post. Here are three examples using this post I wrote about the dangers of relying too heavily on one social platform.

1. My original opening line

What would you do if you couldn’t post to one or more of your social media platforms?

It happened to me recently.

I started with a question that would (hopefully) give pause for thought and intrigue – ‘What would I do?’ ‘How does my strategy compare?’ etc.

Followed by the start of a personal anecdote to add to the intrigue and make it relatable.

2. Less direct/conversational

I could have gone for something that didn’t involve ‘you’, which I know makes some B2B content creators a bit itchy because it’s more conversational and direct:

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Content marketing, General, Social media

How to avoid B2B content creation overwhelm and be strategic

With so many different types of content and so many channels, how do you decide where to put your content marketing time and energy?

This was the topic of a LinkedIn live stream and webinar discussion comms pro Ayo Abbas and I had.

We covered a lot (and answered a lot of audience questions) but here’s are some edited highlights. There’s a link to the replay of the full discussion at the end.

How do you decide what type of content to create?

Ayo Abbas You’ve got to make sure that you move away from perfection. Sometimes getting it done and getting it done to a decent standard is better than nothing at all.

When it comes to what type of content I want to create, I think about what the story is I want to tell and what content works for the story.

Or what have I not done for a while? Sometimes people aren’t posting certain types of content, so maybe doing that makes you stand out from the crowd.

Me I think it’s important to focus on where your audience is. Is your audience watching 15-second videos on TikTok? Then that’s probably what [your content] should be.

But if they’re not, then maybe that isn’t the type of content you should create.

[Caveat] Don’t forget new audiences. It’s very easy to get stuck into doing one type of content, but is there a new audience you want to reach, and are they consuming different types of content rather than the type you’re creating?

AA I interviewed an architect from BVDs. And he talked about finding the channels that you really enjoy. He loves talking, as does his partner, so they do podcasts.

Is it OK to stick to one type of content?

Me Yes and no. Yes, because it’s better to do one thing and do it well rather than trying to do lots of different things and not do anything particularly well.

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