I recently had the opportunity to attend a live-stream event on the theme "Ignite Marketing Success on Twitter", hosted by  @TwitterSmallBiz and @HootSuite.  Though targeted primarily towards small business marketers, the information provided was just as applicable to any growing brand in a given vertical.

I picked up a number of useful tips on how to leverage Twitter to increase website traffic, engage audiences and drive sales. The emphasis was on how to create engaging and personable content, and be successful in increasing the interaction rate for one’s campaigns.

The @TwitterSmallBiz team presented their recommendations on building noteworthy marketing success via Twitter: 

1. Your marketing success can be more than just elaborate initiatives.
   Your marketing success can also be inspired moments.

2. Your marketing success can be more than just spreading the word.
   Your marketing success can also let others spread the word for you.

3. Your marketing success can be more than just moving product.      
   Your marketing success can also be moving to peopl

View the complete presentation here: http://media.hootsuite.com/ignite/

The inference I drew from this presentation is as follows. A marketing team should do much more than just feature their products and services. They should tune into trending topics and build agile campaigns to engage people in the moment. Favorable word of mouth is also invaluable in creating an enhanced brand presence on Twitter (or any other social media, for that matter). Marketers should create campaigns that inspire people so that they feel emotionally connected to the promoted brand.

This presentation was followed by a panel discussion featuring experts sharing tips on creating effective marketing campaigns via Twitter. The panelists included Carly Severn from the San Francisco Ballet, Ronald Toledo from Evernote, and Mat Rider from DocuSign.

One of the key points in this session was that people like to share content on social media not just because they like a particular brand but because they want to share great content with their friends.  

Another significant point that came out of the discussion was that just because a brand’s tweets are engaging, doesn’t mean their followers are buying into their product/service.

So how can you, as an event organizer, apply these tips to your work? In my opinion, event organizers should focus not just on creating social media content that is relevant to their audiences (that is self-evident!), but try to build partnerships by inviting them to be co-creators of content. An event’s updates should always show an understanding of its audiences’ needs, and demonstrate the capability to address the same. If the attendees and exhibitors find the content relevant, engaging and timely, they will automatically respond enthusiastically and help spread the message even farther