Tweetwall: event animation tools, connect your audience!
A tweetwall enables event organizers to communicate and interact with their audience. One of the best practices in event organization is now to adopt this interactive mode of communication.
The world of events and that of digital communication are now one and the same: Internet users are not only at the event venue (conference, seminar, etc.) but also on social networks.
How can you use social networks to promote your event? This is now commonplace, thanks in particular to Twitter, the ideal network for fostering dialogue, and to tweetwall solutions.
To ensure maximum visibility, livetweeting has become a must. Here's how.
What is a tweetwall?
The term tweetwall, also known as Twitter wall or livetweet, refers to a giant screen, connected to an application, on which Twitter publications mentioning the same hashtag appear.
This innovative tool is based on the broadcasting of messages, posted by participants, live from an event they are attending. By contributing to its own communication, the audience becomes an actor rather than just a spectator.
Whether you're organizing a conference, a trade show, a training course... the tweetwall is the trendy, fun solution for animating and communicating effectively.
Connect a livetweet to boost your business event
Mainly for three reasons:
- It's a vector of engagement: by giving your guests a voice, you encourage their involvement and interaction. People who are not present can also follow your conference, seminar or other event, by reacting and asking questions to the speakers directly via Twitter.
- The tweetwall enhances the experience for participants: interactive and participative, it energizes your operation and creates a buzz. People want to appear and react on Twitter to that effect.
- A livetweet contributes to the notoriety of your event: the more people tweet about it, the more buzz it creates on social networks. The viral effect will have a positive influence on the event's reach and popularity... and on your number of followers!
Event and twitter: instructions for use
Quick and easy to install, to set up a tweetwall you need :
- A computer to access the web platform and for moderation work
- Free wifi access or a good Internet connection so that the audience can tweet without difficulty
- A large TV screen or video projector to broadcast the livetweet
- Livetweet software or application
If you can't handle community management and moderation yourself, you'll need to enlist the help of a member of the organization. The animation of the tweetwall by a community manager is at the heart of the success of the operation.
Before the event:
1. Choose a hashtag
Relevant and representative of the event, it should above all be short, to leave room for the rest of the text in the tweet, and easy to remember. It can be :
- The name of the event: #EventPro
- The name + the year in the case of an annual event: #EventPro17 or #EventPro2017
- The initials of the event: #EP
- Initials + year: #EP17 or #EP2017
To ensure that you generate sufficient traffic on the big day, it's essential to communicate and disseminate your message to your audience before and during the event via :
- The event web page,
- E-mails sent to guests,
- Communication media (posters, flyers, goodies, etc.),
- Social networks, etc.
Please note Remember to create a twitter account for your company and/or your event if you haven't already done so!
Below is a hashtag materialized and installed on stage, impossible to miss:
.@pierreAlzingre of @VISIONARI_Lab at #Shake16: "Le oui-we business: Positif & Collaboratif" #socialbusiness pic.twitter.com/b1bPsiuc3s
- Chloé (@chloepindeler) May 17, 2016
2. Create and customize your tweetwall
Most livetweet applications are available on a white-label basis, allowing you to customize your tweetwall to your corporate or event colors (logo, graphic charter, typography).
It's also a great way to promote your partners by displaying their logo.
D-Day :
3. Participants tweet from their smartphone, tablet or computer
Everyone who mentions the hashtag associated with the event participates in the livetweet, and their message is displayed on the tweetwall (subject to moderation).
Post a message or photo, react to someone else's post... anyone can get involved!
4. The moderator validates tweets
To keep control of what's circulated and avoid any possible excesses, moderation of contributions is essential, and is made possible :
- through the use of automatic filters and the detection of inappropriate keywords defined in advance,
- manually, by checking each message in real time before it is displayed on the screen.
5. The stream of tweets is broadcast on the tweetwall
Speakers can react live and reply to posted messages, and so can the public!
Here's a photo of a tweetwall at an event, integrated into a tweet (full circle):
Express yourself on #Twitter with the htag #BGF and stop by the #TweetWall! 😎 pic.twitter.com/DMC3cFSJAP
- Geek Festival (@Geek_Festival) May 25, 2017
Which tools should you use?
Numerous web applications enable event organizers to set up such a system. You'll find more or less intuitive and dynamic ones, both free and paid. It all depends on your needs, particularly in terms of customization and moderation, and the way in which you wish to use the system.
However, beware of free solutions which, although they may seem sufficient at first glance, don't automatically offer a moderation and support service in the event of technical problems. What's more, when you use a free platform, you run the risk of seeing the words "demo version" appear on the screen, or even an ad scrolling by every 10 minutes... not very professional...
Nevertheless, some animation tools stand out from the crowd by offering additional services and functionalities.
Such is the case with Prezevent, which goes a step further by assisting you from the organization of your event right through to tracking statistics and measuring its impact. Manage registrations, welcome guests (check-in), analyze commitment rates... all the stages before, during and after D-day are centralized and can be managed from a single software package.
On the animation side, exchanges are facilitated and enriched. In addition to interacting via Twitter, Prezevent lets participants who don't have an account ask questions via SMS or via the dedicated web page and their private space. The messages broadcast on the wall therefore come from these 3 channels. For some companies who don't want to communicate their event publicly, the web page is also a very good alternative, more intimate than Twitter!
To make your conference, congress or seminar even more dynamic, and get feedback from your audience, it's also possible to create and submit surveys, quizzes and satisfaction questionnaires to your audience.
Conclusion
Using a tweetwall device is an excellent way of connecting and boosting your offline events while involving your audience. By appealing to their collective intelligence, they'll feel all the more valued if you take the trouble to listen and respond accordingly.
Its ease of installation and customizability make it a formidable tool for your event communications.
However, the choice of software can be crucial to the success of such an operation. We've seen the advantages of real-time broadcasting, but the instantaneous nature on which the tweetwall is based can also have negative consequences for your image and professionalism, in the event of technical problems or poor moderation of intrusive messages.
Article translated from French