Last updated on August 19th, 2015 at 02:17 pm
On this week’s edition of Podcast Recappers we look at an episode of Marketing Nerds, published by Search Engine Journal. Hosted by SEJ Executive Editor Kelsey Jones, Episode #43 features Social Hospitality founder and former SEJ Social Media Manager Debbie Miller, and focuses on social media strategies during events. Specifically, we learn how to live-tweet an event and find out how it’s not just about what you do during the event that counts.
A digital marketing pro, Miller is the Founder and President of Social Hospitality, a boutique digital marketing agency that focuses on social media and SEO, helping their hospitality industry clients nurture online relationships and create loyal customers. She’s also written for a variety of Internet Marketing online publications including SEJ, SEMrush, and Forbes.
In this episode, Miller and Jones cover a number of topics around live-tweeting an event, including:
- The social media strategies you can use before, during, and after an event
- How to integrate pre-populated tweets into your strategy and live tweeting schedule
- Using visual elements like images and videos to drive buzz and get more attention for your event
- What platforms you can use to live tweet and get reporting on your activities
Why cover event via Twitter?
The two speakers started the podcast off talking about when they started live-tweeting events. Miller mentioned she started doing it when she started attending more events. She wanted to share the great information she was learning with her followers, as well as network with other attendees through the event’s hashtag. As social media evolved, she realized the value it could bring to her clients and started incorporating it into overall social media strategies for them.
Before the event
Hosting live events can be a lot of work and not leave B2B marketers much time to handle social media activities. Miller outlined a number of activities you can do before the event to ensure it’s a success on social media, such as: developing a hashtag, writing and scheduling tweets to be sent out during the event, and interviewing the speakers for a series of blog posts to be published before the event.
All of these activities save you time so you can focus on the event itself, yet still maintain and push forward the momentum for your event. They’ll help sustain the buzz that always happens with a live event.
During the event
Miller talked about how there’s always an excitement at a live event, and today’s marketer loves to share it with their followers on social media. This is why a hashtag is critical, as everyone attending the event can use it to generate more buzz with their fellow attendees, as well as share the experience with followers who aren’t there in person.
Be sure to take lots of photos or videos during the event as well, Miller advised, so online followers can see what they’re missing. Plus it helps reinforce the event’s message, as followers will see relevant images of presentations and attendees speaking with each other and networking. Jones notes that you should look at the social media tool you use to upload your picture, as some of them will only link to the image or video, while others will include it directly in the newsfeed.
After the event
Your work is not done when the event ends, Jones reminded us. Write recap blog posts of your big takeaways from the event. “Do it shortly after the event ends,” she said. “Since it’ll still be fresh your followers’ minds.”
Miller loved Jones’s idea of using your own Twitter stream to create a roadmap for future blog posts or articles. She said she was going to use that idea for her next event to save some time on coming up with new ideas.
Live-tweeting an event can be a great way to generate buzz for your business, and expand your reach within your market. It takes a little work before, during, and after the event, but if you use Debbie and Kelsey’s tips, it’ll be a lot easier to do.
To listen to the entire conversation with Debbie, listen to the podcast here.
Tools mentioned in the podcast
- Hootsuite, TweetDeck, Buffer, Twitter: Social media apps (web and mobile)
- com: hashtag aggregator for multiple platforms (e.g. Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.)
- co: Reporting tool to demonstrate ROI of live tweeting.
Flickr photo via Creative Commons. User HNM_1977
