The week is here! This week I am off to the Southern C Summit in Charleston. This is a gathering of some of the South’s brightest social media pros, business owners, techies and more! Of course, it 99% women, so you get who I’m talking about :) I, for one, am really excited. This will be by first Summit and being the social media pro I am, will take to the social sphere to share what is going on.
Social media interaction is becoming increasingly popular at conventions, meetings and summits across the globe. It’s a way of connecting the participants with the on-going activity while also increasing the reach of the event to those who are not there as well. Just look at any hashtag from popular events, i.e. #SXSW, and you can see how wildly popular it is.
What I love about using social media at events such as this is the fact I get to connect to so many new people. I love meeting the people I’ve come to know through Twitter or Instagram and meeting them in real life.
So what are some great ways you can maximize social media at events?
Connect with everyone!
This is part of why we are all attending, right? It’s all about networking. As you meet people and businesses, follow them on social media so you can carry on the conversation after the event is over.
Follow the event’s hashtag.
Just about every event has a hashtag attached it it these days (even weddings!). This allows people to tag their posts to interact with those there and it also allows that person’s followers to follow along like they are there as well. Just search the hashtag in Twitter, Instagram or Facebook and follow along with what everyone is doing and what they are saying.
Create a Twitter list of those you meet.
Twitter lists are awesome. Create a Twitter list, for example call it “This Event I’m Attending 2015″, and as you meet people or businesses, add them to the list so you can keep up with them year-round. This way it doesn’t matter how many people you follow – 500 or 15,000 – you have a list you can reference and see only the tweets from those you met.
Tag people in your posts.
Not only use the hashtag for event, but if you are posting about something you’ve heard or seen there or are posting a picture, tag those with you (where applicable). It’s all part of networking, so increase your circle around you.
Of course, there are many more ways you can use social media during an event, but these four are just the starting point! Share with me ways you use social media during events below!