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Do you want to get more out of the events you attend?
Have you thought about live-tweeting them?
Live-tweeting events is a great opportunity to build an audience of targeted followers and increase influence in your industry.
In this article you'll discover six ways live-tweeting can benefit your business.
What Is Live-Tweeting?
Live-tweeting is about sharing what people are saying at an event, as it unfolds. It's very different from regular, everyday tweeting.
Just like tweetchats, live-tweeting requires participants to be focused on the event hashtag. So anything you tweet during this time has the potential to get attention and make an impact.
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Here are some benefits you can gain from live-tweeting events.
#1: Drive Targeted Traffic to Your Site
Live-tweeting events is a great way not only to gain new followers, but also to get people to your website. To do this, your Twitter profile needs to resonate with event attendees who are also tracking the event hashtag.
Here's how to set up your profile to encourage people to click the link to your website:
Rewrite your Twitter bio to align with the event. For example, if the event is about social media marketing, mention this in your bio and include the event hashtag.
Create a landing page for the event with a free download that complements the event. For example, offer a top-ten list of ways small businesses can master social media marketing. Or if you're at a trade show, provide a code that attendees can use to collect a free prize at your exhibition stand. Put the link to the landing page in the website area of your Twitter profile.
Make sure you pin to the top a tweet that provides a link to the free download. Include the hashtag for the event and an eye-catching image so the tweet stands out to attendees.
On your website, create a Twitter wall of all tweets generated from the event. You can do this with tools like Tint, TweetWall Pro, Postano, Twitterfall, LiveTweetApp or Wall of Tweets. Embed the Twitter wall in a page on your site and include a sidebar with relevant information about what your company does and how people can contact you. Then tweet that link to other attendees.
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- Keep tweets concise.
- Avoid splitting a thought into two tweets.
- Remember to use @[name] when starting a tweet with a name.
- Tweet your own content—photos, quotes and commentary.
- Link to books or films mentioned.
- Monitor other attendees who are tweeting. Retweet, favorite and reply to tweets and direct messages.
#2: Showcase Your Services
There are a number of ways you can live-tweet about your services without spamming the event hashtag. I like to call this method the “sideways tweet.”
Anne McColl used the sideways tweet effectively during Social Media Marketing World 2015. She took valuable nuggets from the event and packaged them in beautiful sketchnotes for each session. She then collated all of these sketchnotes in a SlideShare called Social Media Marketing World Sketchnotes – #smmw15. This SlideShare generated interest for her and her business.
#3: Generate Product Buzz
Use live-tweeting to generate interest for a contest or make an important announcement during an event. But make sure you're not spamming the event hashtag.
In the tweet below, i3DCreatives announced the company was giving away a free 3D printer during an event and made sure to include the event hashtag.
Startups frequently benefit from live-tweeting at big technology events. You can build interest from people tweeting about your products and services throughout the event. For example, this tweet touts Meerkat, which broke out at South by Southwest Interactive this year.
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#4: Capture the Attention of Journalists
Before the event, find out if any journalists or bloggers will be attending. Often, you can get a list of these people from the event organizer. Request this list a few days before the event.
Make sure you note their Twitter handles before the event and keep an eye on their tweets. Create a private Twitter list so you can track their tweets more easily. Be sure to retweet them when it's relevant.
If you're launching a product or announcing important news at the event, let journalists know that you're available for follow-up questions during and after the event. Create a digital press kit with high-quality photos and your press release and provide a link to your announcement page.
Then create a Google alert to track whether any articles are written about your company. If you find one, live-tweet a link to the article with the event hashtag. Don't forget to also share the article on other social networks to get the most mileage from the coverage.
#5: Connect With Influencers
One way to create relationships with influencers is to live-tweet their speeches. Make sure you've noted the correct Twitter handle for the speaker and then start tweeting important nuggets from the presentation. This provides valuable information not only for people at the event, but also for interested people who weren't able to attend.
Your tweets also make speakers aware of you and your brand, and they may retweet them to their audience. This helps create a connection between you and the speakers.
You can even take it a step further and interview speakers to generate rich content for your followers and establish rapport with influencers. Forming meaningful connections with influencers can be a game-changing move for your business.
If you develop rapport with speakers at an event, ask if you can interview them. In the video above, I interviewed with Kelsey Ramsden at Off The Charts Live 2014.
To make a lasting impression, think about why you're connecting with an influencer and what interests that person. If you've interviewed him or her on camera or recorded the audio, share the end product after the event. This then gives that person the opportunity to share it with others.
#6: Establish a Reputation as an Expert
Depending on the event, you may be able to get transcripts of presentations ahead of time, as they're sometimes included in press kits. If you maintain a blog that is relevant to the event, you may be able to get access to the press kit.
The information in this kit can help you plan tweets that complement the presentation, such as relevant quotes, links to books, videos, movies or even images that you've branded with your company logo. Preparing tweets ahead of time helps you build your reputation with both attendees and non-attendees using the event hashtag.
Because visually compelling images can go viral at events, creating branded visual content in advance can capture more attention for your brand. Also create blank-quote Twitter templates with your logo to capture important points from speakers.
Remember that graphics need to meet Twitter's frame guidelines, so you'll need more than one person to execute them quickly and effectively at an event.
How to Create a Brand Presence When You're Not at the Event
You don't have to physically attend an event to make an impact. If you're unable to attend, you can still actively participate by reacting and responding to live-tweets from the event. Retweet, favorite tweets, ask relevant questions and create your own content, such as graphics of interesting quotes from the event.
If you're lucky, most events are live-streamed over the Internet in real time, so you can follow the presentations as if you were in the room. This is a great option if you don't have the budget or time to travel to the event.
Conclusion
Live-tweeting is the main vehicle for information at events. So if you go to events prepared with a tweeting strategy, you'll likely increase your visibility with your target audience and also make valuable business connections.
What do you think? Have you live-tweeted any events? If so, how did that benefit your business? Please share your experiences live-tweeting in the comments below. I'd love to hear your tips, too!
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