Using Twitter to promote your events

July 2011 - Lisa Higgins

Twitter can be a fantastic tool to promote your events. With over 16 million people using Twitter in the UK, it offers an irresistible opportunity to engage with your audience.

Twitter can be used to involve your audience in conversations, provide updates, build a community for your event and generate a bigger audience. So how exactly do you use it to promote an event?

Assuming you already have a designated handle (your username e.g @divacreative) set up, below are some of the great ways to use Twitter to promote your events. If you haven’t already started using Twitter, take a look at our ‘Top tips for terrific tweeting’ for some guidance.

Follow people who may be interested in attending

To find people who may be interested in attending, look for relevant hashtags that are used by your target audience. For example if you were organising a conference on climate change you would look for key words such as #sustainability, #GlobalWarming and #CarbonEmissions. You can search for relevant and popular hashtags by using Hashtags.org. Once you have identified the hashtags, follow the people who use them and engage in conversations with them using @ mentions, so they follow you back. You can also search for the same keywords in user bios.

Set up a designated hashtag

Set up a hashtag which is unique to your event. Keep the hashtag simple so it can easily be recongised by your target audience. For example, the popular South by Southwest event uses #SXSW. You can track who is using your hashtag in their tweets by using a desktop application such as Tweetdeck.

Make it worth while for someone to follow you

Before you start tweeting, think carefully about the content. People want to receive information that is relevant and useful, not just marketing spam that will fill up their Twitter feeds. Use it to make announcements such as when a new speaker is confirmed or what products will be launched. It should also be used to engage people in conversation. Ask relevant questions that will spark interest and generate discussion amongst your audience.

Promote your hashtag and handle

Promote your hashtag and handle on your event invitation, registration page, email footer, confirmation letters and any other promotional material. You should also encourage your delegates to tweet live from the event as this will engage your attendees and be useful for those who could not attend.

Share content and continue to engage post-event

After your event is over, keep growing your community by recognising and responding to anyone who attended. You can also use your hashtag and handle to share links to presentations and gain feedback via an online survey. You can set up free online surveys at Survey Monkey.