Twitter at an Economic Development Conference Is Your #1 Ally to Grow Your Network.
There’s a lot of downtime at conferences and its easy to tune out and check some emails on their phone or text their partners to say when they’re leaving. Instead, you could use this time to meet more people who are interested in the topics that intrigue you.
Meaningfully Connect to New People and Grow Your Network Using Twitter
It’s not always easy to meet new people at a conference. Conferences often involve a lot of networking and a many people feel shy or uneasy about networking. It’s especially hard to meet new people if you’re there with people you already know (e.g. colleagues) as others may feel too shy to approach you.
Combine that with the fact that most people hate to be by themselves and risk looking “available.” Now you have a recipe for hardly meeting anyone (not good)!
So Twitter is your best friend for meeting like-minded people who you also can safely hang out with at a conference (you can easily vet them by what they post).
For Example: At out conferences, we run Tweetchats around economic development so you can engage with people around topics you want to learn or share about by adding a designated hashtag to each tweet you send.
When done well at a conference, Twitter becomes a digital town square for people to connect, without the awkward small chat.
I know you’re thinking - isn’t it ridiculous that all these people are sitting together tweeting? The short answer is no, that’s why the whole idea of a Tweet-Up was started. But here's the long answer for why tweet at a conference:
- You can get Twitter help from these people. Have a question about Twitter you’ve been afraid to ask? People who show up to a Tweetchat “get” Twitter and 100% of the time LOVE to share their knowledge.
- Comfortably meet like-minded people who help you grow your skills or knowledge.
What's a Twitter List and a Tweetchat?
We suggest you set up some intelligent lists for the kinds of people you want to meet. These lists can be private (only you can see them) or public (everyone can see who is on that list). Twitter will prompt you to make your list private (locked) or public when you create the list.
If you have lists set up on your Twitter account, when you find an interesting or relevant Twitter profile, you can add them to your list. Twitter lists solve the problem of getting too much info in your regular Twitter feed; it allows you to look at a list to focus on the content just coming from Twitter accounts on those lists.
Participate in Tweetchats to learn more about cutting-edge economic development topics.
A Tweetchat is like a radio show EXCEPT you get to be ‘on the phone’ with the guest and host!
If you’ve ever waited in line for a radio host to pick up your call so you could make a comment, you will LOVE Tweetchats because you get to respond to host and guest comments right away on Twitter by following the tweetchats hashtag.
Gain Attention (& New Followers) for Your Twitter Profile
When you are part of a conversation on Twitter all the followers of the people with whom you are talking have the opportunity to see your comment and your profile. They can follow you, or engage with you on Twitter. Every Twitter account you connect with significantly grows your Twitter base.
Yep, we get it: online marketing is not something economic development professionals leap into with two feet. We hear your hesitations but also let us know how we can help! OR
Discover How Other Economic Developers Are Using Twitter & Decide If Twitter Is Right For You.
