Person live tweeting on cell phone

How to Manage a Live Event on Twitter

When it comes to driving conversations and engaging in your industry space, social media is key. While there are a number of ways to be effective on social media, we’re here to spark some inspiration around live-event coverage on Twitter.  

Why Twitter?

Plain and simple: people turn to Twitter for live events. The platform functions as a fast-moving, interactive space that fosters conversation through trending hashtags, making it an ideal channel to drive engagement for a live event. Whether covering an event your organization is hosting or one that’s relevant to your industry, live-tweeting is a smart social strategy. Below are ways to prepare for your organization’s live coverage:

How to Prepare for a Live Event on Twitter

      • Research + Prep: Know the ins and outs of your event ahead of time. Create a content calendar in advance that has pre-drafted tweets around key moments, including the correct spelling of names and Twitter handles if you plan to tag participants (which you should!).
      • Create Image Templates: Ready to use template will help you quickly create content based on photos or quotes from the event. Set yourself up for success with a template sized for Twitter and include the event hashtag, your logo, or other visual assets. (Don’t have a designer available? Try using a tool like Canva to quickly develop graphics.)
      • Lists: Set up separate lists on social media or in your social media management tool (TweetDeck, Sprout Social, etc.) in order to monitor all relevant conversations without missing a beat or a tweet. Lists can be separated by event hashtags, key event participants, etc.
      • Promote Early: Get your audience informed and excited about your event well in advance. You can do this by promoting speakers or participants, having a countdown, or promoting an event-specific hashtag.

How to Engage During an Event

      • Live-tweeting: Of course, this is key. Amplify key speakers and moments, add some text-only reactions, and reply to followers using the event hashtag.
      • Appropriate hashtags and timeliness: These key factors are most important when live-tweeting—it’s how users can find your content in trending conversation and how they can participate in the discussion (by mentioning, replying, or retweeting). 
      • Personality: Think beyond being a reporter and add a human feel to your tweets. Try this in the form of text-only tweets that react to real-time moments during the event.
      • Amplify attendees: From speakers to key influencers that other people in the network will be interested in engaging with.
      • Have a conversation: Don’t just tweet out, be sure to engage with followers and conversation around the hashtag. Be prepared to reply, mention, retweet other users, and answer questions that are being asked with the hashtag. A like can go a long way for people to feel appreciated.
      • Be Selective: A lot will happen during a live event, but you want to be sure you’re only pushing out high-quality, relevant content, and not mass tweeting every moment.
      • Wrap it up:  Once the event is over and you have collected all content, wrap it up in blog form. For example, you can grab shots of the highest performing or most effective tweets and create a wrap-up blog to highlight them.

Types of Content to Leverage

      • Text-only tweets are where your organization’s personality and opinions can shine. Weigh into conversations or make bold statements with text-only tweeting. 
      • Quotes can be paired with a video or a graphic, or as a stand-alone tweet. Consider pulling a key quote into a social graphic featuring the speaker.
      • Video clips are typically effective for live event coverage. Capture key moments or keynote speakers, push out behind-the-scenes footage, or tweet updates from the event via video clips.
      • GIFs/memes can be prepared ahead of time. Use a variety that can reflect a certain range of emotions during your event. For example, use a “mic drop” GIF paired with a great speech or workshop.
      • Social Graphics can capture images, speaker/participant photos, key quotes, etc. A ready-made template can allow you to add relevant content into the graphic quickly and push out during the event.
      • Retweet event speakers, presenters, or performers as well as humorous or insightful comments about the event from other users following the event hashtag.

Remember, live-tweeting can get hectic. Always be prepared to act—and if things change course, lean into the chaos and engage in it! If you prepare an effective content calendar, ready-to-use social templates, and organize Twitter lists that display the event hashtag and key participants, you will have the potential to drive the influential conversation about your event and in your industry space. 

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