How Westercon Can Gain a Stronger Following

Let's face the facts...Westercon's social media sites are kind of a drag right now. How can we improve? I think using the Businesss Model is a great way to get together ideas on how to increase engagement and interactivity and gain popularity for Westercon.

First thing is Key Partners. Who are the key partners of Westercon? If Westercon can build relationships with people who have existing reputations, the popularity will increase. This includes other events, such as the Salt Lake Comic Con, authors, and other celebrities people may be interested in. Westercon showed they were working a little with Salt Lake Comic Con by setting up a booth, but they just need to do more. More advertising, more excitement, and more working through others to lead to a more successful event.

As far as Key Activities go, Westercon needs to promote lectures or activities that will actually be taking place during the event. In all honesty, I don't even know what Westercon is. Why would I spend three days going there, completely blind to what my schedule is going to be? They could possibly get customer feedback to see what events people would most like to attend and try to bring more of that in. That would also build a relationship with the customers and prove to them that they are a company that wants satisfaction from the people attending.

With activities, they also need to bring in value. The events they're attending should mean something to the customers and they should leave with a sense that they learned something and be excited to return. Exciting events will lead to more popularity. This includes bring in well known authors or even involving the customers in the events somehow. Involvement leads to learning and engagement and establishing a relationship that keeps people coming back.

I think the thing that needs to be most improved is the channels. Westercon has social media sites set up, they just need to be improved in order for them to be successful. This can include setting up contests, adding pictures, giving sneak peeks of what to expect, and posting content that will make people click the "share" button. If only one person shares a post, that post is going out to all their friends, which is great advertising for Westercon. They should also be posting more often rather than just once a month. Posts should be daily, and even more when we get closer to the event. Also, another thing to do would have people who will be presenting or attending tweet out/post stuff. If we got authors to attend, and that author has a following, if the author tweeted he was going to be there, it is more likely his fans would attend Westercon.

With increasing their postings, values, partnerships, and activities, Westercon will have a more solid foundation to build off of and make their event more successful and well-attended. It is more likely they will see fresh faces and get a bigger following if we can apply these things.