SOCIAL MEDIA FOR FESTIVALSNext steps with Twitter – Using Tags

WHAT IS A TAG

Also known as a hash tag

#

WHAT ARE TAGS USED FOR?

Using a word or short code preceded by # allows you to group Tweets together

Good for conferences, gatherings, conversations

Using a tag allows you to find others who are interested in the subject and helps you connect

#ETAG2013 – AN EXAMPLE

At this year’s Edinburgh Tourism Action Group conference, the organisers spread the word about the conference and declared a tag #ETAG2013

They included this in the joining instructions for the conference

People attending the conference used the tag to tweet information

POWER OF A TAG #ETAG2013

WHAT DOES THE REPORT MEAN?

FINDING TAGS TO FOLLOW

Listening to Radio, TV programmes now give tags for you to Tweet comments - #GBBO for The Great British Bake Off

#R2Folkawards – Radio 2 Folk Awards http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01ps9dy/live

Weekly Twitter events #FF or #FollowFriday Check with organisers of an event Look at your time-line and search by tags

from people you follow Look at “Trending topics” on Twitter

TAG DIRECTORIES

http://tagdef.com/ http://www.hashtags.org Both directories where you can search for a

tag you’d like to use to see if it has been used before. Can add your own tag definition

This is a Google Spreadsheet list of Twitter Chats: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aprv5ylG3L56dGs1Z1NTXzNNUnZZZ3JMQ2Vyc0xoN3c#gid=0

PARTICIPATING IN A TWITTER CHAT

If you or your event wishes to participate in a Twitter Chat, all you do is append the tag to your Tweet e.g. #ScotlandHour

To save you typing tag every time, and to monitor a conversation, you can use: http://tweetchat.com/

IT’S ALSO FOR FUN!

People use tags on Twitter for fun or irony too #JCHMB – Jings, Crivens, Help Ma Boab! Used

a lot by @Mr_Paw_Broon – a fun parody account on Twitter

#nowplaying – to talk about games or music

JUST FOR FUN!

FURTHER READING

http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/best-tools-to-summarize-twitter-hashtags.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Hashtags-With-Twitter

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/222955 http://sproutsocial.com/insights/2011/05/how

-to-use-twitter-hashtags/ http://

www.socialmediaexaminer.com/twitter-chat-guide/

GET BUSY, GET SOCIAL

•Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/SusanMcNaughton•Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Susan.McNaughton.Social.Media•Web: http://www.susanmcnaughton.com•LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/SusanMcNaughton