Live Tweets and TweetUps

When people ask me about my approach to social media, I am confident to share that I have built my business off the back of Twitter, Facebook, WordPress and LinkedIn. Sometimes I am pressed to pinpoint a specific moment or strategy that tipped the scales. It’s an easy answer: live-tweeting conferences. If you have yet to venture onto Twitter, I apologize upfront for the lingo I am about to use and not explain – but perhaps it will encourage you to Google it or to just jump in. 

The benefit of live-tweeting conferences is multi-fold: 

• Hashtags get you noticed by people who don’t follow you. Nowadays, every conference or large meeting has its own hashtag. Not only can participants in the event keep track of the tweets coming from the event, but it allows those who are not able to attend to jump into the conversation.
• Which brings me to my next point. By offering those who can’t attend your live-tweets, you are providing a valuable free service to people. Oftentimes you can become their voice in the room – asking questions they submit via Twitter. You provide them with a “Cliff’s Note” version of the content of the conference. 
• Twitter offers you the ability to showcase your otherwise “private” thoughts in a public forum. During a conference session or a meeting (when it’s appropriate) you can also provide quick op-eds for the content that the speaker is offering. You don’t have to wait until you get home from a conference to share your thoughts. You can share the powerful snippets the speaker shares, you can offer your commentary, you can engage in a discussion about it – all live and in the moment.
• Retweets. When someone sees your live-tweets, commentary, etc and it resonates with them, they can re-send it out to all of their followers with a quick click of the cursor. Sometimes even the hosting organizations will retweet your postings. Now you have multiplied your exposure infinitely.
• Live tweeting at conferences lets others using the same hashtag know you are “in the building” which makes personal meet-ups very easy.  We all know that hallway conversations, meals or late nights at the bar is where the conference magic happens.

So, if you are trying to get noticed on a national platform for the value you bring to the field, try live-tweeting the next conference you attend. Then sit back, and watch your connections grow.