Case Study · AEM
AEM Stopped Running Show Campaigns. They Started Running A
Social Operation.
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers runs the largest trade show in the Americas, plus two more. Across six years and three shows, one continuous social operation produced 49.8 million impressions and 68,244 new followers in a single ConExpo cycle.
49.8M
Organic impressions · ConExpo cycle
68,244
New followers · single ConExpo cycle
35K+
Paid leads · $4.51 cost per lead
CLIENT
Association of Equipment Manufacturers
Industry
Trade Association · Heavy Equipment
Engagement
Full-service social · 6 years · 3 shows
Offering this proves
Full-Service Social Management
01
Stuck Point
A show that fills for one week, on a clock that runs for years.
AEM represents more than 950 companies across construction, agriculture, forestry, mining, and utilities. It also runs CONEXPO-CON/AGG — the largest trade show in the Americas — plus The Utility Expo and World of Asphalt. Shows that size live on a multi-year cycle. Registration opens eighteen months out. The floor fills for one week. Then the clock resets.
That cycle is where most show marketing breaks. The team had a strategy to build, content to produce across every phase of every show, and nobody to run the production day to day. Members were doing things on the floor that other members never heard about. The activity was real. The amplification was not.
The diagnosis: AEM didn’t need a louder show week. They needed a social operation that ran whether the show was twelve months away or twelve hours in.
Shows Managed
3
6-year relationship
Problem
No Off-Year
Social went quiet
Platforms
6
Run as one system
02
The Bet
Treat three shows as one operation,
not a string of launches.
Most agencies sell a show a campaign. Light it up four weeks out, run paid until the doors open, go quiet until next time. We made a different bet: one continuous operation — one strategy, six platforms, three phases per show — running whether the show was twelve months away or twelve hours in. The off-year too. That was the call most of the industry gets wrong, and the one AEM hired us to get right.
One Strategy. Three Shows. Never Dark.
Pre-Show Phase
Registration campaigns, awareness content, exhibitor seeding — 18 months out to doors open
On-Show Phase
Live content, community amplification, creator activations — the week the floor is open
Post-Show + Off-Year
Wrap content, member highlights, off-year warmth — the gap most agencies leave empty
Six Platforms · Each Given The Job It Does Best.
03
The Work
We built the thing that repeats. Then we ran it.
One strategy across every AEM show instead of a separate plan per event. Content produced in batches for each phase, so the pipeline never went dark between shows. Six platforms run as one system, each given the job it does best. Not five vendors. One operation.
Strategy
One full-service social strategy spanning every AEM show — not a separate plan per event.
THE SPINE
Batch Content
Recap finalized by 6PM PT each day. Morning sights-and-sounds film by 10AM. People scrolling at home saw the floor the same day people walking it did.
5 days running
· zero misses
Six Platforms
Recap finalized by 6PM PT each day. Morning sights-and-sounds film by 10AM. People scrolling at home saw the floor the same day people walking it did.
5 days running
· zero misses
Community
Recap finalized by 6PM PT each day. Morning sights-and-sounds film by 10AM. People scrolling at home saw the floor the same day people walking it did.
5 days running
· zero misses
Paid Funnel
Recap finalized by 6PM PT each day. Morning sights-and-sounds film by 10AM. People scrolling at home saw the floor the same day people walking it did.
5 days running
· zero misses
“
Amazing to see such clear recognition and proof that what we’re doing is truly working.
Melissa
AEM
Impressions
49.8M
New Followers
68,244
Paid CTR
5.44%
04
THE PROOF
What a continuous operation puts on the board.
Every figure below is from AEM’s own cycle reports. Two shows carry the numbers. World of Asphalt ran inside the same system across the relationship, sharing the on-site content engine that fed Utility Expo.
CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026 Cycle
Metric
Before Sociallyin
Vs. Prior Cycle
Detail
I
Organic Impressions
49.8M
+52.1%
Across six platforms
F
New Followers
68,244
+25.4%
In a single cycle
L
Post Link Clicks
–
+180.6%
The shift from posting to moving traffic
P
Paid Leads
35K+
$4.51 CPL
On $158.6K total spend · 34.8M paid impressions · 916K link clicks
The Utility Expo 2025 Cycle
Metric
Before Sociallyin
Vs. Prior Cycle
Detail
I
Organic Impressions
13.6M
+21%
With 8,587 new followers and 7.6% LinkedIn engagement rate
F
Paid CTR
5.44%
+763%
At $0.17 cost per click
P
Promo Redemptions
599
599 > 563
Beat the prior show on a smaller discount — better conversion, cheaper incentive
Across both shows: the operation compounded. Each cycle launched from a warmer audience than the last. The off-year wasn’t a gap — it was where the next cycle’s lead was built.
49.8M
Organic Impressions · ConExpo
+52.1%
68,244
New Followers · ConExpo cycle
+25.4%
35K+
Paid leads · $4.51 CPL
$158.6K
5.44%
Paid CTR · Utility Expo
+763%
599 > 563
Promo redemptions on smaller discount
Better conversion
05
THE UNLOCK
A trade show looks like an event. It isn’t.
It’s a cycle that never fully stops, and the teams that win it are the ones still running between the doors closing and the next set opening. AEM doesn’t hire a show campaign. They run a social operation.
Six years of it, across three shows, is the proof that the cycle — not the week — is where the show is won.
The off-year isn’t the gap between shows. It’s where the next one is won.
Running an event on a multi-
year cycle?
Don’t go quiet between shows.
We run full-service social as one continuous
operation: strategy, content across every phase,
six platforms, community, and a paid funnel that
moves tickets. The off-year is where we build the
lead. Let’s map your cycle.
Ready to Maximize Your Social Media
Potential?
We’d love to hear about your organization’s goals on social media. Get in touch with us today!
info@sociallyin.com
