Tips for using Twitter for Events [Tips for trending topics]

We always look for the right method and platform when we want to reach as many people as possible with news and coverage of an event or conference.

Twitter is always the perfect platform for distributing this type of information. Twitter allows us to reach a greater number of users, in a much faster way, in addition to achieving more interactions than other platforms with which we work.

Benefits and advantages of covering an event with Twitter

Amongst the different social platforms that are active today, Twitter is the one that works best when broadcasting an event, worldwide.

With it, we have managed to reach large numbers of people due to the speed with which the TimeLine is updated, it allows everything that is happening at our event to be broadcast, practically in real time.

Another advantage is the wide reach of tweets. In addition to our tweets spreading a message amongst our community, we can double that reach if several of our followers retweet it and it goes viral within each of their communities. It is much easier for a tweet to go viral than posts made on other platforms.

How to use Twitter for events

When we decide to use Twitter for events, we usually start by following these steps:

• Create a hashtag that defines our event (# are usually used because they are easy to remember, they define the event and above all, they have not been used with other events)
• Monitor the amount of tweets related to our hashtag at all times. In order to carry out this step, we will simply use the search section that Twitter has. There we will write our hashtag and the results of the tweets that are created will appear.

With these search results, we see the people related to that #, the most relevant tweets, the most recent, etc.

• Another way to monitor our Hashtag is through tools. With Metricool we have a section, where we can create a very detailed report, of the evolution of the chosen Hashtag.

However, if all you do is simply use Twitter on the day of an event to cover what is happening, it might not be enough.

This often happens. If what we want is to reach as many people as possible with our event or conference coverage, we must prepare a dissemination strategy, one which begins several weeks before the event, maximizes the day or days in which the event takes place, and monitors the results days after it finishes.

This will assure that we achieve our goals, or tell us why we haven’t.

Problems that can appear when covering events on Twitter

✅ What is Shadowban and what consequences does it have?

The shadowban or phantom block, is a block that occurs with the publications of an account, it means that the user publishes their tweets, but in reality they stop appearing for other followers.

As a result of the Shadowban, the user is not aware that they are suffering a blockage, unless they carry out a rigorous review of the interactions of their tweets and verify that their reach is abnormally low compared to what they are used to.

This form of blocking is very difficult to detect normally and comes as a result of having made publications that Twitter thinks are “harmful” to the community.

✅ Temporary and permanent blocks

Sometimes we make mistakes when managing our accounts, which lead to the blocking of our account, either temporarily or worse, permanently.

BUT WHEN DOES TWITTER BLOCK OUR ACCOUNT?

If it detects that you are using the account improperly or you are making several publications in a row, much higher than what you normally do, Twitter usually sends a warning and blocks the account so that you stop creating what is referred to as “spam”.

There are usually two types of account blocks: temporary or permanent. The temporary block, usually comes when we greatly exceed our number of tweets on our TimeLine, especially by the RT (retweet) method. 

At first, Twitter sends you a warning by means of a message, to verify that you are not a robot, and for that it activates a method of selecting images, in addition to instructing you to put a code, which is usually sent to your mobile number.

This block is usually released after a few minutes, since you have carried out the actions that Twitter requested.

But if after a short period of time it continues to detect that you are tweeting in bulk, it can block your account for several hours. 

If you receive a permanent block, it almost always means the closing of the account. This occurs when Twitter detects that your account is abusing the rules that they have predefined in their help page. These terms are essential to read before you make use of this platform. 

If they close your Twitter account, you will lose all of your followers, as well as all of the publications you have made with this social media platform.

Tips that work to boost Trending Topics

When we create an event, we seek to achieve the greatest worldwide reach that our tweets can produce and the Trending Topics that come along with such an event. To achieve this goal, the following tips are of great help:

• Create dynamic tweets. There is nothing better than using videos or gifs to show the characteristics of the event or conference and how it is playing out. Don’t include gifs that have no relation to what you are covering or describing in a tweet.
• Use the Hashtag appropriately, try to leave a space between the event Hashtag and the text or emoji you put in the tweet. It is also recommended to include the Hashtag in the text naturally, not to place a meaningless list, oversaturing the tweet with hashtags.
• Whenever you do an RT with a comment, mention the author of the tweet.
• Write the event Hashtag correctly, many times, our tweets do not appear when we monitor a Hashtag, because we have not written it properly.
• Using quotes, important phrases and summaries of what each of the different speakers are explaining to us always creates great interest within our audience.
• Tweet with calls to action, surveys, questions…they will get more interaction in your publications.
• Use well-defined images, that show valuable elements…in short, tweets that attract attention amongst all of the others.
• And finally, always reply to the tweets that you are mentioned in, as your community will see that it is really important to you.

Do you have any doubt? We’ll read your comments…

Anniston Ward , 05 May 2021