Why Your Next Event Should Have A Tweet Wall

Social media is so intertwined into life and business, that I don't need to tell you it should be there for important events. In fact, blog posts are resorting to explaining how to DISCONNECT anymore. But, we'll save that for another time.

Today I am here to tell you why you're next event needs a tweet wall.

What is a Tweet Wall? 

Ever been to an event and seen a projector shining everyone's tweets in real time up on the wall while you listened to a boring finance speech? Weren't you more interested in watching the tweet wall? It's actually really easy, and really cheap to set up!

How To Set Up A Tweet Wall

1. Pick a #hashtag. You can't have a tweet wall without a hashtag, and hashtags help bring the conversation into one place. This past week I helped my sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha, set one up for their annual Zeta Day convention. We used the hashtag #nynjzetaday2014 if you want to follow it to see how it worked for us.

2. Pick a platform to host your tweet wall. There are lots of programs out there, and some of them are even free that will do a great job if you're hosting a simple, small event.

My recommendation? LiveTweetApp.com  They offer a free option, and it's only $40 to upgrade to their pro package for a 24 hour window. Having a weekend-long conference? They have options for longer days as well. They offer different layouts, and the option to "approve" all tweets before they go live on the wall. Trust us, you'll appreciate that when you ban porn from showing up in your ministries' weekend conference.

3. Post Photos. People LOVE to see themselves, so they're likely to use your tweet wall just because they want to see themselves up on the wall. Show them that their photos can some up on the wall too, and you're sure to get the ball rolling.

4. Incorporate a Contest. We set up 5 different categories to tweet about throughout the conference that got the attendees even more engaged - especially after they saw the first winner announced, plus come up to grab a prize! We made note cards that hosted the questions on the tables, and then posted on the wall when it was time to tweet about that specific question. We then had one moderator choose the "best tweet," snap a pic, and send it to the person running the podium, who would then announce it 10-15 later.

Technology is beautiful!

Why Use A Tweet Wall? Success Story: Zeta Day 2014

Want to go viral? Want to be trending? Get a room of people all together and tell them to tweet.

For Zeta Day, we had a room of over 700 collegiate and alumni from the New York and New Jersey area. We had over 800 tweets in only a few hours, and were trending in the US! Needless to say, Nationals were ecstatic that ZTA was getting some much attention - and from us!

We even had Zetas in Spain, Mexico, Seattle and Tennessee jump into the conversation.

Meet the behind-the-scenes crew! Jill, Anne, myself and Karlie. They always said, "it takes a village."

Looking to set up a successful tweet wall campaign? You can always ask us for our advice! Email stephanie@socialmindedmediagroup.com today!

10 Tips To Be Successful On Facebook:

written by Socialminded Media Group intern, Claire Belizidsky

Everybody thinks that being successful with Facebook is easy, but this social media platform takes more than just posts to conquer. Below are 10 rules to be a true Facebook Guru: 

1.     Define your goal with Facebook. Even if you can’t measure your ROI in dollars, you will build relationships and remain top-of-mind with your existing followers.

2.     Plan a commitment, like 3 posts/week.... and stick to it! Having an editorial calendar can help keep you organized and on track. Also, tools like Hootsuite let you schedule your posts in advance and more than one at once!

3.     Decide what image of your brand you want to portray, and be sure that your posts are always connected with this image.  

4.     Share pictures and videos as much as possible, they have a better engagement with users than just text. And make them REAL photos of you when possible - not stock images (like below!). People can connect with you more when they see into your world. 

5.     Like and comment on the posts of your community. But when you comment on a post, be sure to add value, so people reading it will want to follow your page. 

6. Be Familiar With The Facebook Terms of Service (TOS)

If you are going to giveaways or contests on your page - be sure to review the Facebook TOS first. You can find your page shut down without notice if you violate a rule. Yikes! Also, terms are always changing, such as cover photos dos and don'ts. Visit Facebook to learn more https://www.facebook.com/policies.

7.    42% of Facebook users, the first reason why they decide to unlike a page is irrelevant content, so be relevant ! And for that, understand your audience well: Think about what your followers will want to share, and analyze what they like the most in your posts. Using the Facebook Insights for this can be a valuable tool. 

8.     Respond quickly to the comments on your posts, questions, or private messages.

9.     It’s normal to share with your community blog posts, news articles, pictures.. but always give credit where credit is due! If you use someone's photo, be sure to credit them, and as always NEVER use photos just googled from the internet. (read up on copyright infringement rules here). 

10. Tell people where you are! It sounds basic, but are your social media links in your email signature? Newsletters? Website? Business card? Make sure to be available for your audience.

STOP! Know Your Online Photo Copyright Laws Before you Push Publish!

Recently a client of ours got slapped with a very hefty fine for using a copyright image on their website.

We preach until our face is blue NOT to use just any image you come across on the Internet – but sometimes it’s just easy, tempting, and fast.

But, when you get that fine for over $1,000 in the mail – you might change your mind.

So here are a few dos and don’ts we’ve learned (the hard way) along the road of social media.

DON’T:

-          - Use Google Images. Just don’t do it. All images that pop up in the search are from OTHER websites – meaning there is a 99% chance they are copyrighted.

-       - Don’t use a photo unless is ABSOLUTELY says it is NOT copyrighted. If you don’t know, don’t      risk it.

-      - Don’t rely on other shared images on social media. Just because one company shared an image doesn’t mean THEY acquired it legally. Make sure to follow to the original source before published and shoot them an email to ask permission. 90% of the time, people wont mind – and you’ll be glad you asked instead of got caught with the other 10%.

-       

DO:

-      -  Use free sites like stock.xchng – that has lots of images that mostly let you use the images if you attribute (link from your site, and/or say their name) them. The only bad thing about free sites is that there is more quantity vs. quality. But, again, it’s free and safe.

     Another is freedigitalphotos.net - you can see how they ask you to add attributions here:

     example: 

     "Image courtesy of [contributor name] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net".

-      - Do browse cheap sites like istockphoto – you can get images for as low as $1. So even if you’re only publishing 1 blog a week, that’s only $48 a year! TRUST ME – that’s a lot less than getting that hefty fine in the mail.

-      - Do use your OWN images – nothing is better for content that your OWN ORIGINAL POSTS – they are unique, and guess what – NO COPYRIGHT ISSUES! YAY!

-       - Add your own images to free sites – like stock.xchang and freedigitalphotos.net – it’s a great way to get links to your site and free exposure/traffic by allowing others to use your work and attribute you on their own sites as well. 

-   - Do keep a link sheet of all used images. Make a document hosting date, image used, link to where you found it, and where you posted it etc. It may seem like a lot of work, but it’s worth it in the end to have the paper trail.