SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues.
This week, we asked: Have you ever produced event coverage as part of your social media presence?
- Yes: 65.15%
- No: 34.85%
Almost 2 in 3 SmartBrief on Social Media readers say they’re producing original event coverage as part of their social media presence. That’s great news, because event coverage is one of the easiest and most useful ways brands can engage with fans. Feeding the content beast is one of the trickiest problems facing most corporate social media managers. Conferences, seminars, trade shows, parties and all manner of other events are easy ways to produce content not only for that day but also for days and weeks to come.
Event coverage offers several distinct advantages.
- Events offer plenty of topics to discuss. You can report on panel discussions or keynote speeches, analyze trend, review vendors or interview other attendees.
- You can piggyback on the event’s built-in awareness to drive additional traffic.
- If you write about a panel or interview a speaker, chances are your subject will help you share that content.
- Events lend themselves to multiple platforms. You can live tweet, blog, take photos or shoot video. Don’t limit yourself to one channel.
The challenge, of course, is that events require you to work quickly to capture the moment. Being able write up a panel discussion as it is happening or conduct a speaker interview is a difficult skill that takes time to master. The only way to ease that hurdle, however, is to out there and get some practice.