How to Use Twitter to Maximize Event Marketing

Five years ago, I created my first Twitter account. I didn’t want it. I didn’t need it. But my communications professors said it’d be important to know how to use Twitter. I rolled my eyes with all of the confidence of a college senior and assured myself I would never, ever need Twitter in my career.

Flash forward five years, and I use Twitter on a daily basis. Not to tell people what I ate for breakfast or to dish out wisdom in 140-character chunks. I use Twitter in my position as a marketing director for a cloud-based software company to connect with customers, learn more about the marketing industry and promote our company at industry events.

Social media has completely changed how we interact with each other, and special events and conferences are no exception. Social media can help event coordinators and exhibitors distribute information to a broad audience and to interact with attendees in real time. In fact, 40 percent of businesses use social media for event promotion. 

“Events are the original social experience," says Matt McGowan, who works on strategy at Google and YouTube. It's the immersive experience centered around a central topic, idea, or belief, shared between the collective audience and presenters, which makes events so central.”

Set Concrete Goals

Unfortunately, many events suffer from disjointed social outreach plans. This isn't usually because of a lack of effort or budget but rather a lack of strategic planning from the start. After all, how can your team be successful if no one knows what goal you’re working toward?

To create your event’s social media plan, ask yourself what you hope to accomplish. Common goals include:

• Identifying sales leads
• Providing a platform for attendees to connect with each other
• Increasing event attendance
• Distributing event information to attendees, including changes in dates, times and locations
• Amplifying speakers’ messages
• Building excitement and awareness
• Giving event vendors an outlet to connect with attendees

Once you're armed with this sense of direction, many other elements of your social media strategy will fall into place. 

Choosing a Social Outlet

Next, pick the best social media outlet (or outlets) for your event. Attendee demographics like age, gender, industry and job function can give you clues about where they spend their time online.

Your event type will also influence which social site makes the most sense. Are you holding an industry conference with lots of inspirational talks? Record them to post on YouTube! Are you hosting an art exhibit? Visual sites like Instagram and Pinterest are a perfect fit. When in doubt, call a few attendees and ask what social media outlets they’d like to use at your event.

In my experience, Twitter is easily the most powerful social media outlet for B2B event marketing. By using a universal event hashtag, you can connect attendees with vendors, speakers and other attendees. 

If you're an event planner, here are a few guidelines for using hashtags at your next event:

• Keep hashtags short. Remember that hashtags must fit within Twitter’s 140-character limit along with a message, a link or even a few Twitter handles. Don’t hog all of the space with a long hashtag.
• Don’t hijack another hashtag. Do your research, and make sure your hashtag isn’t already in use. Repurposing someone else’s hashtag dilutes your brand and confuses attendees.
• Broadcast your hashtag. Put your hashtag on every piece of event communication your attendees interact with. That includes your event website, printed materials, banners and more. Attendees shouldn’t be confused about which hashtag to use when they want to tweet. 

While social media can be a powerful tool, keep in mind that social media isn’t the right fit for every event. If you’re meeting with a room full of retired lawyers, creating a social media strategy probably isn’t the best idea.