If you’ve got an event coming up in 2016, something important to consider is how to support your efforts with social media. Using social media at events is a great way to get people engaged, create long term relationships and expand awareness of your brand and events online.

On the build up to your event, you should have been using social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to build awareness and drive ticket sales. The key here is not to sound too repetitive. Focus on different aspects of your event, tag in speakers, venues and sponsors and use vivid imagery to grab people’s attention in the busy social media newsfeeds.

[Related: An Introduction to Tracking the ROI of Social Media]

Most events lend themselves to social media perfectly, especially conferences and talks. You should be looking to use social media to enhance an attendee’s experience, offer them something extra, and also to show off how great your event is to those who aren’t present.

Here are some top tips on getting your attendees more engaged at your event, using social media:

1. Recruit a live tweeter

Someone should be at your event, purely dedicated to live tweeting the highlights and activities happening. This will offer both attendees and non-attendees an authentic experience of the event, as well as creating buzz online.

Live tweeting is a bit of an art, as you need to ensure you are posting sharable content, you don’t forget to tag in speakers and guests where relevant, as well as including your event hashtag. Aim to post key quotes, facts and tips, and photographs from the event to ensure your content is useful and meaningful.

You should also keep an eye out for any positive comments and discussion happening on the hashtag that you can get involved in, to show that you have your finger on the pulse. This is also a great way to create relationships with people attending your event, so look out for opportunities to have a bit of banter and fun with people through Twitter.

2. Display a live-tweet wall

This isn’t a new idea, but is something that’s still hugely popular at events. Hire a screen, or projector to display the hashtag results in real time. The beauty of this is that it is a visual reminder to everyone to use the hashtag, and it can get amusingly competitive with many people trying to “out tweet” each other. Take a look at Tweet Wally for a free option.

3. Incentivise your hashtag

A great way of ensuring more people tweet is to offer prizes to those using the hashtag. It could be a voucher, piece of tech, or a hamper filled with sponsor donated prizes. You can announce the competition at the beginning of your event, and remind people a couple of times during the event to drum up entries.

Looking at the example below, the Royal College of Physicians could have created a bit more excitement about their competition by announcing the prize and showing a picture of it.

4. Get your speakers sharing

If you are hosting an event with speakers, make sure they are properly briefed on the hashtag and your Twitter username. You could even send them some draft tweet suggestions to be scheduled on the day.

Another way to get your speakers sharing is to make sure they are tagged in your tweets, so that they can spread your message to their followers by simply retweeting you.

The Festival of Marketing did this well last year, tagging in all of their speakers including Commander Chris Hadfield.

5. Live stream

You could consider live streaming some of your event. With apps such as Twitter’s Periscope and Ustream – it could not be easier. Live streaming your event will mean you are reaching more people potentially across the world, and if you pick great clips or talks to share, then it will help build up interest for your next event.

[Related: 6 Social Media Predictions for 2016 that EventProfs Need to Know]

6. Photograph everything

Get as many pictures as possible on the day, as these can all be used for post-event marketing and your future communication. It is worth hiring a freelance photographer to take some high-res professional shots of the event. Also, encouraging your attendees to take photos will help create buzz and boost your hashtag mentions. You might want to consider a fun prop to help you do this such as a selfie booth, or photo booth. Facebook recently took their selfie station to Enterprise Nation’s recent #Startup2016 event which provided a great talking point, and helped to get the event trending on Twitter.

We asked Emma Jones MBE, small business expert organiser of #Startup2016 to share some other tips on getting your event trending and your attendees engaged: “We were so thrilled that #Startup2016 was trending on Twitter for 7 hours! Sponsors were tweeting their offers and expertise and attendees sharing words of wisdom from the speakers, which simply flowed throughout the day!

“Ahead of the event we reminded attendees of the hashtag and it was visible on all branded programmes on the day. That definitely helped spread the word – as did the fact we were hosting StartUp 2016 events in 9 other locations across the UK. ”

Why not join our FREE course on ‘Mastering Social Media for Event Promotion’, just sign up below!