How To Effectively Integrate Social Media Into Your Events

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past decade, you know that social media is kind of a big deal these days.  This technological phenomenon has revolutionized the way people interact with each other across the globe and, if done properly, it can revolutionize interactions at one of your events as well.

When hosting or operating an event, you want your attendees to be as engaged as possible and social media can add a supplemental level of engagement.  To start, one of the main tenants of social media is to stimulate conversation in an online environment in different ways, depending on the platform you are using.  Popular examples are Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.  This is done thru a number of devices such as comments, hashtags, the “at” sign, retweets, pins, etc.  There are some differences in the “languages” of the specific platforms, however, there is enough overlap that it is quite easy to transition between them.  With a basic understanding of how it all works, you’ll just need a mobile device or computer to effectively add an extra level to your event. We, at the University of Delaware, take pride in our comprehensive understanding of social media. So, we have a few easy suggestions to help get started.

 

Make it engaging

First of all, if you want to have an engaging social media presence at an event you need to ensure that there are one or more of your people monitoring all of the platforms you are using for the duration of the event.  This ensures that any questions or concerns that may pop up on your pages can be answered or addressed quickly and effectively.

 

Something as simple as a “like” or “retweet”, or even a neutral comment on one of your pages, can go a long way in showing whoever is trying to engage with you that they are being heard.

 

Use a Hashtag

Another suggestion is to create a hashtag for your event.  A hashtag (#) is a device allowing users to apply user-generated tagging that makes it possible for others to easily find messages with a specific theme or content. Hashtags are used primarily through Twitter.  By using one for your event, you can create a conversation between people at your event and even people who are not. This can create networking opportunities or help someone gain more knowledge about the specifics of your event, or even of your organization.  Other options are video content, whether it be live streaming or not, picture content through Facebook and Instagram, or social media exclusive raffles.  There are almost endless possibilities to find new and creative things to do with it.

 

Why not try a few of our these suggestions?  The process will only get easier with time and, hopefully, we will be exchanging hashtags during your next event with us.