Tips for Live Posting an Event

For a conference I attended last week, our team was tasked with creating a strategic social media approach, with the objective of sharing content externally from the event.

The challenge?

The busy conference was stacked with educational sessions and networking time. And to top it off, it focused on an in-person B2B audience, but the company’s social channels attract more of a B2C audience.

So how’d we pull it off? And how can you live post at an event, no matter the audience? Here are my top tips and key learnings from this experience:

Pre-Draft Posts – As much as you can, pre-draft your posts and schedule them through tools like Hootsuite. Don’t discount the “follow along for more info” call-to-action posts, which give people a heads up they’re coming, and make sure to tag the presenters and use the event hashtag for tracking purposes. When pre-drafting copy, take a look at the session content and develop both engaging posts that leave flexibility for edits or supplementary live imagery as well as others that will both educate followers and encourage them to engage. Polls, GIFS, and photos are all welcome.

Make it Relatable – Truly consider your audience. In our case, we focused 75 percent of the content on consumer-facing language, to mirror the channel breakdown. Everyone is a consumer, so despite all of our tendencies to lean toward technical language, you can never go wrong with an easily digestible post or food/décor-focused post, as long as it offers valuable information beyond the event itself.

Split Your Team – Being smart about how you tap your team can make a big difference. Split up responsibilities by having one person responsible for actively pushing content out, with a second supportive person on tap for photography, video and live stories. Lastly, have someone who’s back at the office actively engaging with attendees or viewers tuning in.

Tap the Experts – It’s not every day that you have this caliber of people in one room. Find ways to leverage the attendees and speakers to further your message, whether through pull quotes, video Q&A or live interviews. Also make sure you capture content with them that can be used at a later date, whether for event recaps, future event promotion or day-to-day educational opportunities.

Instagram and Facebook Live – Should you decide to take the video route, consider live videos where viewers can tune in and ask questions. If you choose Instagram Live, those videos will only live for a day, so make sure to repurpose them into shorter, regular Instagram posts for those who missed it. Regardless, try to pre-schedule and promote those interviews ahead of time on all of your channels as well as the influencer’s, to encourage participation.

Lo-Fi is OK – We assume followers on certain channels, especially Instagram, expect high quality content, but in-the-moment, lo-fi content is just as acceptable. People appreciate man-on-the-street interviews and on-site videos, as long as they offer something valuable beyond the event, like tips and tricks or behind the scenes exclusives. You don’t always need an entire video crew.

How have you seen success with social media posting on-site at events? Interested in learning how you can be successful? Email me!

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