Twitter can be a powerful tool for promoting events. But most of the promotions only apply to the preparation for the event. When you write a live event, you can capture attention at the most important moment – while everything is happening.
In addition, real-time event coverage gives your online audience the opportunity to take part in an event they may have really wanted to attend.
In this article, we will explain what a live tweet is and how to do it well, including examples and guidelines.
What is a live tweet?
Direct Tweets are Twitter messages about an event as the event unfolds.
Do not confuse this with live streaming, which is broadcast in real time via video. Direct tweets are strictly about writing tweets. This means posting tweets, sharing images or videos, and replying to your followers.
While you can live stream on other platforms such as Facebook, live tweets are only available on Twitter.
Why live tweets?
In a sense, live tweets are our source of breaking news. That’s because people are turning to Twitter these days to find out what’s going on in the world.
When you post an event live, you get the attention of people who care about the same things you do. As a result, you are more likely to hear from your existing followers and connect with new audiences.
Direct tweets can increase your brand awareness and position you as an industry leader. We would call it mutually beneficial.
8 Tips for Successful Live Streaming
Direct tweets may seem easy, but don’t let the looks fool you. These tweets require just as much attention and strategy as the rest of your social content calendar.
Live events are somewhat unpredictable – and that’s half the fun. But with a plan, you can count on any surprises without taking them by surprise.
Here are our top 8 tips to help you prepare for a successful live tweet.
1. Do your research
Anything can happen at a live event, but there will always be a few known quantities. Do your research ahead of time to avoid last-minute scrambles.
Is there an agenda? If the event you’re promoting has a schedule, use it to plan ahead for the content and flow of your Live Tweets.
Double check the names and descriptors. You will need Twitter names and handles for all attendees prior to the event. Then make sure you tag them every time you mention them. This will increase your reach and retweet chances.
Have links handy. Do some research on event attendees, headliners, or keynote speakers to add context to your live tweets. For example, when you post about a speaker, it’s a good idea to include a link to their biography page or website.
2. Set up your streams
Stay on top of live conversations using streams. (If you’re already using a social media management tool like Hootsuite to schedule your tweets, this part is easy!)
Feeds help track activity on your social media accounts and specific topics, trends, or profiles.
We recommend setting up two streams. Use one to monitor content that uses the event’s official hashtag. Create another one with a list of people involved in the event on Twitter.
That way you won’t miss a single tweet from the most important people at the event – or an opportunity to retweet them.
3. Create image templates for ease of use
If you want to include images in your tweets, plan ahead by creating high-quality templates that you can use to create content on the fly.
Make sure your templates are the right size for Twitter (here’s our latest image size cheat sheet). Plan to include the event hashtag, your logo, and other relevant information.
You may want to have several different templates on hand, depending on the content you want to create. These can be quotes from the event, unforgettable live photos and much more.
Then use them as a starting point when creating social media posts with minimal effort.
4. Collect your GIFs in a row
Gather a bunch of content that you can easily access during your event. If you have GIFs and memes, you won’t be looking for them on this day.
If you need help getting started, try making a list of the emotions you and your followers will experience. Are you tweeting about an award ceremony or a performance? You may be shocked, surprised or impressed. (Or maybe less than impressed)
Grab a few GIFs or memes that reflect these feelings to be the first to respond.
5. Get ready for hashtags
If you or your organization is responsible for an event you’re streaming live, make sure you or your team create an event hashtag.
If you’re tweeting an event live that you didn’t have a hand in organizing, just make sure you know what a hashtag is.
Pro Tip: Set up a stream in Hootsuite to track the hashtag of the event, and be sure to use it in every tweet you send. Keep an eye out for any hashtags that start to gain popularity during the event! You may want to include them in your own tweets.
6. Vary content
Anyone with a Twitter account and two thumbs up can post live events. To really engage your audience, you need to engage and entertain them with different types of content.
Try mixing it up by including the following ideas:
- Questions or polls related to the event
- Inspirational quotes from event speakers (use your image templates for this!)
- Video, video, video! Try behind-the-scenes footage, updates, or powerful crowd reactions.
- Retweets from official event speakers or insightful comments about the event from other Twitter users.
- Answers to questions people may have using your event hashtag
Note. If you plan to post photos or videos from the event, please make sure you have the proper consent and permission.
If you need help creating tweets, check out our content ideas cheat sheet for inspiration.
7. Purposefully tweet
Remember that you always want your followers to appreciate your tweets. You can either entertain them, present relevant information, or add interesting context.
The official Golden State Warriors account does double duty in this tweet. They mark the next basket and offer small sports trifles:
8. Wrap it up and repurpose
One of the great things about live tweets is the wealth of content they can bring to you after the event. The time and effort you put into live tweets can pay off well in the future.
Try turning your most popular tweets into a blog. Write a full story about how it went, including any issues you encountered or bugs that didn’t make it into your feed. People always like to look behind the scenes.
You can also post your spiciest tweets to your Instagram Stories or share any video you’ve made on YouTube or Facebook.
Your post-live checklist
Congratulations! By now, you should already be a twitter pro.
Once the adrenaline from live tweets at your event wears off, here are a few things you can do to end it well: