Live tweeting offers a great way to stay plugged in to the key happenings around an event both for attendees and for those unable to attend the event physically. Typically, when it comes to large events it’s nearly impossible to hit all the places when there are concurrent presentations or workshops happening at different places. You have to pick and choose and prioritize one over the other. Here’s where live tweeting serves as a great online collaborative platform to catch a glimpse of what is happening on the other side of the hall.

So why would you want to live tweet? Well, your reasons may be multifold but the consequent benefits all drive back to relationship building. Twitter is a wonderful new age tool to create, nurture and build on those relationships. Through live tweeting you may gain new like-minded followers and establish new relationships with them at the conference. It can be your initial step to building on your network and forming new contacts at such events. It further allows for an opportunity of collective learning from each other and strengthening your online identity and reputation.

Live tweeting is very similar to sending a typical tweet that involves sharing timely updates on the twitter stream during an ongoing event, workshop or keynote to reach and engage with a broader audience. Different people follow different tweet styles. Some people like to tweet every event status such as – “Joe speaker just entered the stage.” Others may choose to describe the mood in the room: “Joe speaker addresses a room full of excited attendees cheering him on.” Then there are others that tweet direct quotes from the speakers versus the ones that like to opine or tweet out their own two cents about the speaker and the event. The visual learners may choose to capture moments by uploading and tweeting photos on the fly. While there is no ‘one-tweet-fits-all’ formula, I offer some collective advice to help maximize your twitter experience at large events. Listed in no particular order:

1. Use the official Hashtag: Many events these days promote an official hashtag for the entire conference or even individual breakout sessions. While this might sound like an obvious one, using the hashtag in your tweets helps streamline all connected conversations on that topic making content easily searchable by the users. Here’s an example: Insightful presentation by Joe speaker on the future of Business Analytics #abaws.

2. Reference who you are quoting: If you are quoting or referring someone who you know has a twitter handle make sure you use it by adding the @ followed by their twitter name. For example: @Joespeaker: what’s new with the cloud computing world? It allows for them to engage and participate further in those ongoing conversations.

3. Make it interesting, relevant and resourceful: Just like engaging in any cocktail party, try to ensure that when you speak/ tweet you have something witty, useful or insightful to add to those conversations. Aim to add value when participating. Don’t tweet for the sake of RT’s (retweets). If people find it interesting they will pick it up and spread it on, but that should not be your motivating factor.

4. Listen and engage: Twitter etiquette is very comparable to our physical standards. We try not to interrupt someone when they are talking. No profane language to express our displeasure, or yelling over another person while they are trying to make their point. Why should we behave any differently when it comes to our virtual chats?!

5. Make it conversational: Treat Twitter as a social exchange platform versus a one way channel to push your content. Look out for responses. If people react to your tweets or ask you a question acknowledge it immediately and make it a priority to respond to them. It’s all about creating a dialogue with your audience rather than making it a one-sided broadcast.

6. Lastly but most importantly, be your genuine self: People will naturally gravitate to you online if you show them your natural self. Don’t try to project a side of you that you are not in real life. If you like humor, or are the pensive kinds let that side of you reflect online. Let your tweets be a reflection of who you are in real life, that will make these conversations that much more fun and engaging!

Can you think of other tips or tricks to add to this list? Feel free to respond with your comments.

Until then, happy tweeting!

Related posts –
7 Tips to Live Tweet an Event Effectively
Tips For “Live Tweeting” An Event
How to Live Tweet an Event

Photo by: wissam_ali

With the advent of social media, there has been a lot of chatter about its usefulness as well as many raised eyebrows regarding its benefits. A lot of people are still left wondering, how and why social media is even important and relevant to what they do. Most people who are skeptical about joining the bandwagon want to first know what the ROI will be for investing their time in social media. Is it even worth the time or is it better left to the teenyboppers who pride themselves on updating their social status by the minute!?

I believe social media has something to offer everybody; it depends on how and to what extent you use it. It’s not a one-size-fits-all glove, but really depends on what you make of it and how willing you are to venture into it in the first place.

My personal ROI for investing in social media over the past several months has been very apparent. The most apparent return is that it has led me to a contract job opportunity at SAS. Here’s how social media helped me achieve that.

My initial escapades with social media started at a curiosity level, while I experimented with it on a trial and error basis. The truth is, I’m still exploring, as I still do not know or totally understand the full impact of these social media platforms. I started with what made me comfortable: I created a LinkedIn profile and filled out my background and skill sets. I also made it a point to upload a professional photo. I figured people register things better when they associate a visual against any data. I started building connections and strengthened my network online. This took a considerable amount of time, as I’d spend hours trying to research people and companies I admired and wanted to connect with.

I made it a point to customize my LinkedIn invite, which typically included a very short introduction, what I have in common with the contact, and why I would like to connect with them. I think it was this approach that gave me a better response rate in building new connections. I always tried to keep my end goal in mind, in this case it was building a stronger and richer network of people that I could emulate and learn from in my field of interest.

Twitter gave me the opportunity to follow these people, read what they tweeted about and even engage in those conversations with no strings attached! Twitter, like most social sites is merely a tool created for us to use at our own discretion. Garbage in is garbage out! If you wish to have fruitful and productive conversations, the onus lies on you to follow the right people you’d like to have real and interesting conversations with. Tune out the mindless chatter by creating lists of people you’d like to follow and focus on those.

Beware, though: What may have started as a 10-minute activity can easily turn into a couple of hours online spent toggling between a dozen or more tabs open on your monitor. So always keep track of time and make a hard stop using a timer (if need be) so you don’t go overboard with it. Time management is key here. Brief focused bursts of engagement online on a daily basis helps keep your profile active onscreen.

I tried to mix the old with the new methods of networking. While these tech-savvy social platforms helped give me the initial leverage to connect, I followed through with the old-fashioned way of meeting and greeting over coffee or with an informational meeting. This always helped make the interactions more human aside from our virtual connections. I’m grateful for these opportunities that social media platforms created for me allowing me to make new connections, while preserving old ones, and strengthening my online brand presence through each of these platforms.

While your goals may vary ranging from brand awareness, networking, relationship building, or strengthening customer connections, all it takes is an open mindset, adventurous spirit and the willingness to invest a small portion of your day on these sites, and the ROI can be huge in the long run.

What has been your experience using social media, how has it helped you?

Photo by Keith Burtis