Conference hashtags Part 1: How to use them effectively to promote your conference
Conference hashtags are fast becoming a popular and very modern method of promoting a particular event. If you have never heard of them before, they are simply a Twitter orientated method that utilizes the # function to promote a particular event as shown below.
Once at your conference the idea is for attendees to be essentially live tweeting the event and its various discussions. This in effect develops a bit of a Twitter community around the particular conference where attendees interact with each other and inadvertently promote the event through the hashtag.
So as the conference organiser how do you approach getting the most out of your content hashtag?
Promote, promote, promote:
First and foremost you need to ensure that attendees are actually aware of your conference hashtag, else nobody will use it. You need to have the hashtag on as many digital platforms as possible, websites, e-mails, social networks and any other channel you may be using. Spread as much awareness as possible about the hashtag and encourage people to use it when posting on social networks.
Make your # catchy:
Consider your event title and see if you can abbreviate it and make it catchier and save characters when people are tweeting it. If it’s an annual event I would consider including the year in your event hashtag. Ensure it’s unique, you don’t want a conflicting hashtag with another event, this would cause a surge of confusion on the day.
Monitor:
During the event someone should be assigned to monitoring the hashtag, join in with discussions and stir the pot every now and again to keep interactions at an optimum level. Monitoring the hashtag is also a vital part of the feedback process that you should look to indulge with post conference.
Innovate:
Do something different with the hashtag, run competitions, live discussions or Q & A’s with conference speakers. The more creative you can be the more interactions and promotions you will receive. Don’t be a static conference organizer on the digital front; always be looking to get the most digital traction from your hashtag.
Overall it’s all about creating that social buzz around your conference and hashtags are a great way of doing so. Be creative, proactive and participate as much as possible to get the most traction out of them.
Luke Cope is a Content Marketing specialist for Quba New Media. Luke has written for the Content Marketing Institute, Topman and the Huffington Post.