A handy social media playbook has been released ahead of ScaffEx 2026, giving exhibitors and attendees ideas for building their presence around the event.
Created by Petite Agency, ScaffEx26’s social media partner, the 12-page guide covers how companies and their teams can plan content before arriving at Manchester Central, capture material during the show and keep the conversation going afterwards.
The guide starts with a simple marketing check-in covering company LinkedIn pages, staff profiles and content planning. Businesses can score themselves against 15 points, including whether team members have announced they are attending, whether meetings are being arranged and who will be responsible for filming content at the event.
Start before the show
One of the main messages is to begin communicating before arriving at ScaffEx.
The week before the event is suggested as the time to tell customers and contacts that the business is attending, explain what visitors can expect to see, introduce the team and arrange meetings in advance.
There is also a strong focus on the people behind exhibiting companies.
Managing directors, sales staff, technical specialists and other team members are encouraged to use their personal LinkedIn accounts to talk about what they are looking forward to, who they hope to meet and the issues they expect the industry to be discussing at the show.
The advice is deliberately simple. Companies are encouraged to give staff a basic plan rather than relying on a stream of identical corporate posts.
During the show, suggested content includes stand tours, demonstrations, team introductions and daily observations. Afterwards, businesses can use the material for customer stories, event takeaways and follow-up posts.
A phone can do the job
The guide also makes the point that event content does not require a large production setup.
Teams are encouraged to use their phones to record short interviews with technical staff, salespeople and senior leaders. Suggested questions include what customers have been asking about during the day and what changes people are seeing across the scaffolding industry.
A separate checklist suggests capturing team photos, customer conversations, testimonials, products in use, behind-the-scenes footage and short pieces to camera during the two-day event.
The playbook also advises exhibitors to move beyond routine posts such as ‘great first day’ or simply announcing a stand number.
Instead, posts should give readers some detail about what happened, what conversations took place or what visitors can see on the stand. Each post should also have one clear action, such as visiting the stand, arranging a meeting or watching a demonstration.
Collaboration is another part of the plan. Exhibitors are encouraged to photograph and tag customers, suppliers and other companies, as well as comment on and share content being produced elsewhere at the show.
Before publishing, the guide suggests one final test: would someone actually stop and read the post, does it say something useful, and is there a reason for other people to join the conversation?
For exhibitors already planning a busy couple of days at Manchester Central, it is a useful reminder that a little preparation before the doors open could leave them with weeks of content after everyone has gone home.
