Holding events is a key part of marketing your brand or your product and like everything these days, it must be given effective social media coverage. Live tweets and live coverage of events, allow brands to chat with individuals and experience their genuine, instant reactions to incidents as they unfold.
To ensure the live events your brand is involved in go to plan, focus on the key procedures and people. There are some overriding principals that you can follow to ensure things go smoothly.
Like anything brand related, you need consistency first and foremost. That is a consistency of content and consistency in terms of the style of language that you use to communicate with. The chances are you will have a big team working on your live event coverage, so make sure they are all singing from the same hymn sheet and talking with one united voice. You will want to have a set of ready to go content, in particular, stock answers and responses that can be shared by all members of the team when needed. In terms of the language your team uses to respond to members of the public on Social Media during live events with, make sure you outline this clearly. Your idea of swearing and antagonistic language could be a lot different to other members of your team. If you want to eradicate these two things from your social media platforms you have to outline them clearly, verbally and in writing to improve your team’s understandings of both. A failure to understand what constitutes arguing will result in you letting some arguments go live over others, making you seem biased and partisan.
When you are moderating the forums and platforms, it is all too easy to get distracted from the bigger picture and what the overriding responses are in relation to the live event. Avoid getting bogged down by particular threads too much and keep a close eye on the main topics of conversation. If for example, you are running a live demo of a product, keep your presenter focused on talking to the audience, whilst a backroom staff member deals with Live Chat and another team member deals with live commentary. Invest in the right tools for all your moderation aims. Tools that are flexible enough to allow for instant modification and deletion and also suit the content management needs of your brand.
To get a true picture of the consumer’s responses, each member of the team has to communicate. They have to be able to let each other know what each stream of communication, whether it is coming from Live Chat, or the comments feed is saying. You need to to be talking to team members and understanding what each is saying, to gain an understanding of the overriding themes. This team that you put in place must have an understanding of your brand’s values and its ultimate goals. They must also be aware of what it is that gets consumers talking about the brand. What do they feel passionate about?
It is important to view live events as an ongoing thing. Yes, the activity will spike at certain moments, but once your audience is engaged they will discuss your brand long after the events are over. It is important therefore to keep community managers engaged and able to continue to answer questions and moderate chat. Have a contingency plan for after hours. If you have been lucky enough to interest consumers that interest will not go away.
Well managed and moderated live events on Social Media can be great for brands and consumers alike. You can instantly gain a better understanding of how your consumers see you and what you need to do to keep winning their interest and approval. Just make sure that you have the right team in place to cope with the onslaught of live discussion in a way that reflects an overriding strategy, consistent with the brand as a whole.
