You Really Need To Start LIVE Tweeting

Live tweeting is the process of sending out short updates about an event as it is happening. This can be done on a personal Twitter account or on a dedicated hashtag for the event. Here are five reasons to live tweet your next event:

1. Authenticity Is Compelling!

A lot of marketing on social media is planned beforehand. And while this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it can feel very formulaic and clinical to your audience if you are only ever posting content that you created a week prior.

Live tweeting offers an altogether different experience. Since you're tweeting in real-time, your audience will feel closer to you because they will see what you notice about your event, what you think about your event, and how you think about your event.

In other words: live tweets just feel more human.

And while they are not always sustainable (we all do have other responsibilities beyond Twitter), it can be a fun "treat" for your audience every once in a while.

2. It's Like A Magic Trick

Your LIVE tweets can add to the excitement of an event. Think of a festival: they can have rides, candy, hot dogs, music, dance performances, and magic tricks all in one place. Your LIVE tweets can be the magic trick that some attendees can participate in and enjoy as they also enjoy your event!

And if you're not sure what to talk about, here are some ideas that will engage your audience:

• Updates (ex: who just showed up?)

• Information (ex: what was the origin of this particular product/service)

• Fun Commentary (ex: what are you thinking at this particular moment?)

• Photos (ex: the welcome sign!)

• Videos (ex: a short clip of the speaker talking about an interesting topic)

3. It Uses The Power Of FOMO

Not everyone who follows you is going to attend your event, whether it is virtual or in-person - but that doesn't mean they won't come to the next one! And one way to ensure that they're excited about it is to make them feel like they missed out on a whole lot of fun or interesting moments.

We touched on the importance of FOMO in an earlier blog.

Posters and ads and sales-y posts are great, but LIVE tweeting encourages a sense of community and exclusivity that the other options likely don't. Who, after all, is going to fully understand your LIVE tweets other than the event attendees? Onlookers may be intrigued at a certain tweet, but they wouldn't have experienced it themselves.

If you inform your audience that you will LIVE tweet an event, they're likely to get excited to read what you have to say (and will want to attend the event so that they can fully relate, as well). Let's remember: they followed you for a reason! They want to hear your updates and thoughts.

4. Connects, Connects, Connects!

If you add your own original thoughts and experiences to your LIVE tweets, rather than simply relaying what you see around you, you can find yourself connecting with other attendees who feel similarly.

This is great for businesses who want to build communities (hint: all businesses should). If you can connect with someone, they are more likely to become loyal customers/clients.

Here are some examples of how you can add your own original thoughts and experiences:

• Instead of saying "we're serving lemonade," you can say "this lemonade is probably the best I've ever tasted."

• Instead of saying "John Doe is speaking now," you can say "John Doe just went up to speak. I've been so excited to hear from him considering his expertise in such-and-such-field."

• Instead of saying "loved the speech!" you can say "the part when they spoke about such-and-such really put things into perspective."

5. Gets More Eyes On You

We can't forget hashtags! Since you're engaging so much on the Twitter platform, you're likely to reach an audience beyond your following just by using keywords that they are interested in. But you can give your LIVE tweets an extra boost in the algorithm by using hashtags.

We recommend using a hashtag that is commonly used in your field along with a hashtag that you created specifically for your event (so the people who see your tweets can know that there are more LIVE tweets on your profile).

In Other Words: Use Twitter!!

LIVE tweets don't have to consume too much of your time or energy. Tweets should be short and sweet, so just adding one sentence per tweet is enough (or even just an emoji to keep your attendees engaged and your non-attendees curious about what that emoji could possibly mean).

Have questions? Comment below!