Going to a conference or event this year? These days, every event is actually two events in one: the one you attend in person, and the parallel event happening on twitter. If you are not tapping in to the twitter stream of an event, you are not making the most of your event investment. By tapping in to that stream you can gain followers, raise your personal or brand awareness, find new insights and make new real-life connections.

Here are some ways to make the most of your presence at your next event using twitter:

1) Know the event #

Almost every event has at least one # associated with it. For example, when LivePerson hosts their annual Aspire events, the event # is #LPAspire. A quick visit to any event’s website should immediately showcase the assigned #. Once you know the #, you can tap in to conversations happening about the event - before, during and after. Don’t know what a # is? Here’s a quick tutorial: Twitter Help Center | Using hashtags on Twitter

More and more frequently I am seeing multiple hashtags in use for an event. The overall event # and then #s that are specific to tracks or specific presentations. This helps attendees have even more specific online conversations with each other which can lead to great opportunities.

Advanced tip: if you are a hootsuite user, create a column specific to the event’s # for easy reference. If you are not a hootsuite user, suggest you check it out!

2) Follow fellow attendees

Once you have tapped into the event #, you can see who else is talking about the event. This is a great opportunity to follow people in your industry who have similar goals/interests... especially potential partners or customers.

Advanced tip: Referencing the event’s agenda, search twitter for user accounts for all the event speakers. Follow them before the event starts to be ahead of the game.

3) Engage

Don’t be a wallflower. The trick to twitter success is engagement-- and by actively participating in the event conversation you can raise your own social brand, attract new followers, find networking opportunities and help expand the reach of your (or your company's) social presence. But don’t forget - every tweet you send in reference to the event needs to include the event #!

Here are some suggestions:

• Re-tweet something interesting someone else tweets-- especially if that person is highly visible or a key-influencer at the event. Or, quote something interesting that was said in a presentation (and attribute it to the @AccountName of the speaker).

• Frequently speakers are using twitter during their presentations to invite Q&A or to keep the conversation going after the event. If the speaker has a twitter account send them a tweet asking a pointed question or thanking them for their time.

• Be a thought leader - if you have information to share with the twitter community in reference to the event, feel free to share it. For example, if you are at an eCommerce event, you can share an interesting customer success story or other collateral that the audience might find both relevant and useful.

• Reference your brand at relevant points in the conversation and invite users to follow the brand. But don't overdo it - if you are crossing the line into annoying self-promotion people will keep their distance. Keep those references to a minimum and choose when you make your brand mention wisely.

• Take it offline - Put the social in social media and reach out to people via twitter you think are worthy of a face to face. When you can see who else is participating in the event’s #, perhaps you’ll see an opportunity to connect with someone IRL (in real life). Send them a tweet inviting them for a coffee or martini for further conversation. If your company has a larger presence at the event, this is also a great way to encourage individuals to visit the booth or attend a session you're hosting.

• Have happy feedback? Tweet it to the organizers, speakers, etc. People love to see positive mentions on twitter. Be judicious about tweeting negative feedback - it can come back to bite you, though it can be very effective in getting a resolution, especially if you have a strong following.

• After the event, follow up with interesting people you met via twitter - “Thanks for taking the time to meet with me about your business goals @AccountName. Look forward to further conversations.” Or people you didn’t get a chance to meet, “Sorry @AccountName we didn’t get a chance to collect during #eventname. When is a good time to reschedule a call?” Good manners go a long way on social.

I recently attended a content marketing event and by following these steps gained 150 new, relevant followers to my twitter account and made several face-to-face connections. These connections will continue to pay off well beyond the event itself.

If you need help understanding these tips or need to have further conversation about an event you are attending this year, please feel free to schedule a conversation with me. Have you had a positive experience using twitter at an event?

Most businesses have caught on to the fact that they need to create some kind of social media presence, but many don’t know how or where to get started.  Useful Social Media’s 2014 State of Corporate Social Media reports that, “83% of companies are not satisfied with the extent to which social is used in their company - and know there is more to do.” That’s a stunning number and proof that brands have a lot of work to do in building a social strategy that yields a positive, measurable outcome for the company.

If you’re just getting started with a social media strategy, or revisiting a strategy that just isn’t paying off, here are some best practices for getting started.


1) Start With One Social Channel And Do It Well

If you don’t already have a social strategy in place, it can be daunting to figure out where to start. Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest, Vine, Snapchat, Blogging, Slideshare, Tumblr... there are hundreds of social media engagement platforms from which to choose. But the good news is: you don’t have to have a presence on all of them. The key is to determine the one or two social media channels that will best suit your business goals, and the level of engagement you are looking to achieve. By doing some research you can start to get a feel for which demographic of customers are using each platform, and how they’re using it.  

Top five questions you should be asking as you examine each channel:

• What type of content do I have to share? (photos, videos, text, stories, blog posts, user generated content, etc.)
  
  
• Who is my audience and which is their preferred social channel(s)?
  
  
• How does the brand want to engage with users?
  
  
• What are the KPIs that will determine my success?
  
  
• Do I have the right tools and resources to manage and measure the brand presence on this channel?
  
  

Don’t assume that you have to jump in with social’s king and queen: facebook and twitter. It’s very possible that a smaller, niche channel, might serve you better. You can always grow your presence further in additional channels, but picking one and getting it right is a great way to get started without being overwhelmed or straining precious resources.

For example, if your brand has a lot of great photos to share and caters to a younger market, perhaps Instagram is the perfect gateway for your brand’s social presence. If you have a great video team, consider a vine or youtube.


2) Being Social = Engagement

It pains me when I see companies that have a beautiful brand presence on a social channel, but do little to interact and engage with social fans and followers.  I was on a major brand’s Facebook page recently and asked a question about one of their products. After several days, I was disappointed to receive no response from a brand representative.  Then I noticed dozens of other consumers similarly waiting for answers that were simply never going to come.  This brand had a beautifully designed page with an abundance of colorful marketing campaigns, but there was no one was actually manning the virtual counter to provide service to potential buyers on the page.

When people ask questions on your facebook page, or via any social channel, it’s just plain rude to ignore them.  If you don’t have the resources to engage in social conversations with the fans you’re cultivating online, you’re not ready to put a social strategy in place. Would you open a brick and mortar store and not staff it? In this personal scenario it’s not surprise that I took my business elsewhere… to a brand who was able to answer my questions where and when I needed them.


3) Are You Listening?

If Maslow created a hierarchy of social media needs, social listening would be on the bottom rung. It’s a basic component of social strategy that every brand should be including within their core operations. Getting a good social monitoring tool in place is critical for a social strategy... and no, sadly, Google Alerts just aren’t enough.  There are a number of free or relatively inexpensive tools available, so budget shouldn't be the obstacle here. Brands tell me the bigger problem is getting the human element in place-- who does your corporate social listening? In a perfect world, social listening is a component of multiple functions, including those responsible for your brand’s online reputation, talent acquisition, sales, marketing, customer service, investor relations-- just to name a few

What should you be listening for?  Naturally the first monitor to set up should look for keyword mentions associated to your brand and product name(s).  But, you will find tremendous value if you extend your listening further by monitoring keywords common in your industry, competitor names, product keywords and other relative terms. Knowing what’s being said about your brand and your industry online is powerful stuff and can help you understand your customers and their needs better, which means you can sell to them more effectively. For example, 

If you know that there is a rise in online complaints around a service or product you offer, you can proactively address the issue and resolve it-- delighting your customers and ending the online rants that probably are scaring would-be customers away.

4) Establish an Internal Social Media Policy

Whether or not your industry requires you to have an internal policy governing employee participation in social channels, it is important to have an internal social media policy in place.  I have seen social media policies that are just a few paragraphs and others that are pages long-- different businesses will have different requirements.  

Independent of any regulations your business may have to adhere to, it’s a good idea to spell out not just what employees should refrain from doing, but, more importantly, spell out how employees are encouraged to participate.  Some of the best social advocates for your business are your employees and they should feel empowered to participate in the social conversation, with a clear understanding of where the boundaries lie. I have seen some policies that are so strict and prohibitive that it's no wonder employees might refrain from helping spread the company's social messaging. While this may be the 'safe' way to go, it's also a major hindrance in expanding your brand presence across channels and networks.


5) Eliminate the Noise

Some companies rush to the social conversation without a plan, which can frequently lead to accounts that are created then quickly abandoned after priorities fluctuate or internal ownership for social accounts changes hands.  If you have dormant social accounts under your brand’s name, take whatever steps necessary to eliminate them completely.  An excess of inactive accounts can create confusion to customers who may be trying to find your “real” brand presence.

Similarly, it’s important to question how many corporate accounts your company needs to be effective online. Do you need separate accounts to communicate marketing messaging, support messaging, and to target various geographic audiences? In most cases, the answer would be no, however again it depends on your audience and your business goals. I recommend streamlining your social presence into as few accounts as absolutely necessary to keep communication lines consistent and easy for your audience to find. And make it abundantly clear in the channel description who the target audience is so there’s no confusion.


6) Be Human

People love brands, but they want to communicate and connect with people: real identifiable human beings.  Even when communicating on behalf of the brand, it’s good to let your social audience know who is behind the logo-- especially when it comes to service issues.  For example, some companies have tweets signed off with a name or set of initials, especially if a group of people from the brand are participating in the engagement process. This helps customers feel like they are truly connecting with an actual human and feel more engaged with brand representatives. This is especially important if your social accounts are helping field customer service inquiries.  This little extra bit of humanity works.


7) Don't Ignore Social in a Crisis

Things happen.  None of us like it, and we all do our best to avoid it, but sometimes things go wrong outside of our control.  If you have active social channels, it’s important to have a plan in place as to how social communications will be managed in a crisis situation-- before the crisis actually happens.  You can’t leave it to chance, it may only make a bad situation a lot worse…   

A recent example of a brand handling a crisis right: Kate Frasca’s handling of ConEd’s twitter account during Superstorm Sandy.  Their crisis plan won them a lot of points with their social audience, which grew from 800 to 22,300 twitter followers in the span of a week. Of course Ms. Frasca and her team couldn't directly resolve the problems ConEd's customers were facing in the wake of the storm, but at the least customers knew they were being heard. Not to mention, ConEd was able to benefit from real-time alerts from locals on the streets via social media mentions-- helping them to get a handle on emergency situations faster in the areas of the greatest impact.  Again, having a social media listening tool in place is a big part of managing a crisis successfully.

Your social strategy should outline:

• What types of crisis situations are plausible 
• How a crisis is identified
• What steps those with access to social brand channels should take in the event of a crisis (escalation, response, etc.)
• Who is responsible for creating any official statements from the brand to be published to social 
• Sample scripts pre-approved for possible crisis situations
  
• How crisis is managed outside of typical ‘office hours

Whether you want them to or not, customers will turn to your social presence when things go awry. Having a plan in place for it is a critical part of your social strategy.


8) Protect The Brand

It is disturbingly easy to accidentally tweet something from the corporate account thinking that it’s your own personal account. Whoops!  These mistakes are so easily made and can lead to disastrous consequences for the brand.  

I am constantly seeing some awesome/awful social media blunder highlighted in the news. Check out The 20 Biggest Brand Disasters to see how things can really go wrong when social accounts are improperly handled-- case in point is the KitchenAid disaster when a jr. staffer tweeted a highly inappropriate message to their brand account during a presidential election.

These kinds of disasters frequently go viral, making a bad situation even worse for the brand. Some companies, like this Red Cross 'rogue tweet' blunder, are savvy enough to turn these kinds mistakes into PR wins, but that’s rarely the case and best to be avoided if possible.  

To avoid these kinds of scenarios here are a few tips:

• Be abundantly careful who you give publishing rights to and be aware of how and when they are accessing the brand channels. Are they using the same mobile app to publish both brand and personal tweets? That might be a concern.  
• Put tools in place that require senior staff approval before social content goes live on your brand channels. 
  
• Use a tool like Hootsuite that gives content creators access to the brand channels without giving them the passwords to those channels. As few people as possible should have access to social passwords. 
  
• Have a social media policy in place just for place for people who are social publishers at the company. Make it clear what kind of content is acceptable for the brand and how the approval flow for content works at your business. 

9) The Mobile-Social Revolution is Upon Us

If you don’t have a mobile-optimized website or app, having a strong presence on social channels is even more important for your business. According to Business Insider, “60% or so of social media time is spent not on desktop computers but on smartphones and tablets.” That’s up from 30% in 2012.  As a result, make sure your social presence addresses the needs of mobile customers. Include maps, directions, phone numbers and other geo-location services on your social sites.

Also, since 73% of consumers say they have used their mobile phone in a store for things like product information and assistance with buying decisions, you should offer content through your social sites that cater to your in-store consumers as well such as in-store coupons, access to store directories and check-in perks.

10) Stay Current

One of the things I love about social media is how quickly it’s changing.  Sites gain and lose popularity very quickly, new features are popping up all the time-- which is both exciting but also a little unnerving.  Take a look at Pinterest. Not long ago, few of us had heard of it, and now it’s the fastest growing social media site in history, and enjoying up to a 400% month-over-month growth.  

Before setting up a branded page on any social site, first try it out as a consumer/user to get the hang of it.  Then take time to identify business reasons for setting up a branded page and ensure you have the resources to maintain the new account once you get it started.

Existing social channels are constantly evolving and adding new features for brands-- if social channels don’t evolve they will be left stagnating in the dust. Check often to see what new innovations, features or plugins might be available to you on channels you’re already using.

Take a stroll around other brand pages every once in a while to get inspired by the possibilities. It’s fun to learn from others to see how cool features are being implemented.

Social media is undoubtedly still in it’s early stages and continues to rapidly evolve.  What the social landscape will look like in one year, 5 years and 10 years from now will be very different than what we see today.  Will Facebook and Twitter still be the reigning social king and queen?  Most likely not.  Understanding this means that all social media professionals have to keep one eye on the present, one eye on the horizon and have a commitment to always be learning.

This guide is just to get you started. Once you have established the basics, it’s time to think about optimizing your social presence through content, paid ads and engagement best practices. More to come!

I am eager to hear your feedback. What points did I miss? What additional lessons would you share with someone just getting their social strategy off the ground?


Connect with me further on twitter!