I wholeheartedly agree with David Meerman Scott about newsjacking: the process by which you inject your ideas or angles into breaking news, in real-time, in order to generate media coverage for yourself or your business. This can also apply to conferences in your industry to generate blog posts for yourself or your business/blog. Moreover, be one of the first with a great (almost) live report from an event or about a research in your field. You get to show your readers they’re special by giving them exclusive news and advice from important events they couldn’t attend and earn the chance to gain new readers due to great content from an event.
Almost two weeks ago I attended Content Marketing World in Columbus, Ohio. As a former radio journalist I decided to write short reports from the event, mainly about what I’d hear about blogging and content marketing that would be helpful to Zemanta users.
Very soon, however, I was going crazy. I was fuming; I couldn’t blog live. So much was going on and I could write only when I got back to my hotel room to type on my PC.
What did I learn at Content Marketing World about live blogging to generate coverage? Here are five tips for live blogging at a conference to reach new readers that otherwise wouldn’t be reached.
1. Invest in gadgets with great batteries
Although we talk a lot about the relevance and quality of content, we must not ignore good technology. It is simply necessary to go to a conference with a great machine that allows you to blog live, not just tweet. So, I am definitely going to invest in a new great PC (like a mac) that has great batteries so I don’t need to worry where I can plug it in every 20 “bloody” minutes.
2. Blogging LIVE means LIVE
Marketing and blogging events are full of ambitious bloggers who are friendly but still fighting for attention on the web. So, you need to be the first or among the first and GOOD. You must learn how to write relevant live reports while listening carefully to the presentation at the same time. Practice makes perfect.
3. Write relevant posts
Don’t just blog for blogging sake, blog what’s relevant to your niche, to your readers. There’s no need to write thorough reports on everything that is said at the conference.
4. Write how-to posts based on a presentation
Posts should be focused on a particular presenter and their tips on how to do something better to get better results whatever they are in your niche. Distribute the post around the world wide web and make sure that the presenter knows about it. He/she will distribute it further, so you’ll be able to reach the audience that you otherwise wouldn’t.
5. Write many shorter posts
Rather than writing one long and detailed conference report, you should rather write many shorter ones focusing on one topic. You should get multiple ideas/topics to write about for weeks to come after the conference.
What are your experience in blogging from conferences and other events in your industry? What tips would you add to the list above?
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