Did you even attend if you didn’t send a tweet?
Live tweeting has become a fixture at live events; from concerts to conferences, even lectures and webinars, there is sure to be someone pumping out some snappy tweetable takeaways.
These 10 tips, tricks and best practices will help you ride that live commentary wave like a pro.
- Honour thy hashtag
It is the number one rule of live tweeting! For the most part events will have one or sometimes more dedicated hash tags. A quick search will typically uncover the official tags; from here you must include these hash tags in your tweets to be part of the event conversation.
(Also worth keeping an eye on unofficial hashtags running parallel.) - Hashtag smart
Use of a smart hashtag can breathe life into live tweeting your event. When creating a dedicated hashtag be concise: eight characters or less, make sure it is logical and memorable! - Scrap the script
Don’t be too scripted or formal. One of the endearing qualities of a live tweet conversation is its ability to capture the ‘vibe’ of an event. - Don’t rush!
Resist the natural urge to pump tweets out at machine gun fire pace. Take your time and dedicate your energy to quality tweets and quality engagement, your followers and the conversation community will thank you for it. - Schedule the fun
Scheduling tweets ahead of an event is advisable where it is likely to be fast paced with lots coming at you at any given time. Scheduling can certainly alleviate some pressure and free you up to pursue quality tweets. - Pre-game
It doesn’t start at the event! Build some anticipation and kick the conversation off ahead of time. Let people know what they can expect and how they can get involved. - Handle aggressively
It is pretty self explanatory, but still often overlooked: use Twitter handles when quoting or referring to speakers, guests, companies, celebrities etc! This will broaden your audience and also let the person/people know you are talking about them. - Snap happy
Opt for visually rich content and take advantage of other services like Vine and Periscope. Between tweets don’t be afraid to get a little snap happy so you can use the content as you go, or bank it up for later use. - Don’t highjack the conversation
Practice good conversational etiquette; always aim to make quality contributions. - After party
People will continue to tweet about an event long after it is over; sometimes days. Check in on the conversation, particularly in the hours immediately after. This will give you an opportunity to respond to things you might not have had time to during the event.
