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Can’t Make it to a Conference? Here Are Twitter Tools to Use Instead

There are some amazing conferences happening all over the world in every industry. From the unveiling of the latest products to guest speakers that are the top of the top, it can be so disappointing when you can’t afford to attend yourself, especially when you know there will be a lot going on there that can give you and edge over the competition.

This is the most common woe that I hear from others in my field: “Oh, I wanted to be there so badly, but just didn’t have the cash!” It is a sentiment I have echoed myself many times.

But the Internet has been a game changer, and social networking has expanded well beyond what we initially saw as its purpose. Twitter has become especially crucial in the sharing of information and connecting, with a number of tools to help keep up to date.

Examples of HR conferences and their official hashtags include:

Even if you are going, you may want your employees who are staying in the office to be able to follow the event to get more of your brand out there.

Here are a couple of ways that you can be there without actually being there, and so get all of the benefits. Some of these could also be used by event planners to offer others the chance to check them out.

The Tools

Tweet Archivist

Twitter tools

This is an excellent application that has a huge selection of purposes and can be used regularly for anything. As the name suggests, it is an archiving tool that extracts information from within the Twitter database and organizes it in an easily read and understood format.

Possibly the best part about this is how it is set up to give you each username, the date of a tweet, the time it was posted and the status itself. You can also customize and filter everything to give you just what you want and need.

One of the most useful options is to see which Twitter influencers have been using the hashtag. This is an excellent way to expand your Twitter connections to the conference visitors and speakers because the conference will be a good excuse to interact:

Twitter tool

Twitter Archiver

A simple update program, this runs as an extension for Google Chrome. It lets you search Twitter for any hashtag or hashtag and save matching tweets in a Google Sheet. This way you end up with a searchable Google Spreadsheet you can play with to extract most useful users and popular tweets to interact with.

Twitter tool

You can share the Google Spreadsheet with your social media team to let them interact and participate in Twitter conversations around an event.

All you do is use your Twitter account info through a login connection in the “Addons” tab of the spreadsheet. Then, you set up an archive using hashtags as a parameter.

This will allow the program to gather all tweets that use those hashtags as keywords, and put it all together into a single archive. Then, it permanently keeps it active for you to use or share with others. Some useful info you’ll see for each archived tweet:

  • How many times each tweet was retweeted and favorite
  • Whether the user was verified
  • Location of the user
  • The full bio of the user

Analytics for Twitter

If either Google Chrome or Google Spreadsheets (or both) are not an option for you, you can try this Excel app (Windows-only) that imports Twitter search results into an Excel file and archives them.

The app comes with nice visualizations. My favorite feature is, again, the ability to see users tweeting the hashtags most actively. You can go through their profiles or set up an list of potential conference attendees.

A few more tools to try:

  • Keyhole lets you archive the hashtags, download the results into an Excel file and go through historical data for the terms you need to analyze retroactively
  • Hooks allows you to set up hashtag tracking on your mobile phone in case you want to participate on the go. BestAndroidApps offers a good tutorial on how to set up mobile alerts using the app.

Now, What to Do with All Those Archives?

Whether you handle your social media marketing yourself or you have a team for that, make sure you are doing the most of your archives:

  • Engage with those tweets: Retweet, congratulate, ask questions, etc.
  • Follow people you are engaging with. Remember conference people are there to network: They will be happy to interact back!
  • Bookmark and read the tweeted URLs: Conference speakers often tweet URLs of their PowerPoint presentations, books or articles. This is your chance to educate yourself!

If you do everything right, you may be able to drive as much value as people actually attending the conference! Grow your connections and expertise for free!

Other Ways to Use the Tools

The above tools have lots of possible applications beyond conference participation. Here are just a few examples:

  • Analyze your competitors and monitor what others are saying about them. Archive the search results for more context.
  • Use the tools to archive your brand mentions. Then go through the archives regularly to create case studies, blog roundups or FAQ sections. You can embed tweets on your pages to provide trustworthy social media testimonials or real-time user reviews. Here’s how this site is doing that:

Twitter tools

Conclusion

Twitter is a goldmine of useful data and information. But it is also an amazing place to keep up with major events that are happening but you can’t attend yourself. These tools will help you to keep up to date, and also help event planners keep their followers up on what is going on.

Do you have any tools that you think are must have’s for this list? If so, be sure to let us know in the comments and provide a link to the download page.

photo credit: Alan O’Rourke Twitter-birds-social-media-leader-crowd via photopin (license)

#WorkTrends Preview: Forget Work-Life Balance & Start LIFEworking: Pick Yourself in the 21st Century

The TalentCulture #WorkTrends Show is all new on Wednesday, February 17, 2016, from 1-2 pm ET (10-11 am PT).

While we have been led to believe that we can separate our personal and work personas, we are only one person. We don’t need to have this separation and balancing act in our lives. For many, work has become how we define ourselves and why we need balance is because many of us no longer have a life outside of work.

We can buy into the work-life balance mythology or we can change the story and realize there is only life; no blending or integrating required. We need to become whole as people by figuring out what role work plays in our lives and our own relationship with money and power. Many people of all ages no longer want to live someone else’s stories and are picking themselves instead of waiting to be picked for a job or a promotion.  

LIFEworking is an approach that meshes life and work into an integrated existence, but most importantly, it is a way of living in which the individual and not the organization defines the meaning of success. To achieve LIFEworking, we need to first understand what success really means for us, and then systematically address the fears that stand in the way of change. These fears typically relate to personal anxiety and the social consequences of choice.

#WorkTrends Event: Forget Work-Life Balance & Start LIFEworking: Pick Yourself in the 21st Century

#WorkTrends Logo Design

Tune in to our LIVE online podcast Wednesday, February 17 — 1 pm ET / 10 am PT

Join TalentCulture #WorkTrends Founder and Host Meghan M. Biro as she talks about Forget Work-Life Balance & Start LIFEworking: Pick Yourself in the 21st Century with Tim McDonald and Ayelet Baron.

#WorkTrends on Twitter — Wednesday, February 17 — 1:30 pm ET / 10:30 am PT

 

Immediately following the radio show, the team will move to the #WorkTrends Twitter stream to continue the discussion with the entire TalentCulture community. We invite everyone with a Twitter account to participate as we gather for a dynamic live chat, focused on these related questions:

Q1: How can 21st century business encourage people to focus on a shared purpose?#WorkTrends  (Tweet this question)

Q2: How can organizations thrive when the focus is on individual success?#WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q3: What’s an example of when you’ve picked yourself vs. waiting to be picked?#WorkTrends  (Tweet this question)

Until then, we’ll keep the discussion going on the #WorkTrends Twitter feed, our TalentCulture World of Work Community LinkedIn group, and in our TalentCulture G+ community. Feel free to drop by anytime and share your questions, ideas and opinions. See you there!

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#WorkTrends Recap: Overcoming the Symptoms of Destructive Management

During today’s first #WorkTrends show, we discussed how to overcome the symptoms of destructive management. #WorkTrends Founder and Host Meghan M. Biro was joined by Shawn Murphy, a well-respected author, keynote speaker, and CEO/Founder of the consultancy Switch & Shift.

Destructive management has been percolating in organizations for some time. Its adverse effects have become commonplace and too little is being done about it. Our guest, Shawn Murphy, discussed his debut book, The Optimistic Workplace, which defines the symptoms and many antidotes to overcoming destructive management. He also shared why and how to move towards building an optimistic workplace.

It was an extremely lively #WorkTrends podcast and Twitter conversation. Participants had a lot to share about the topic at hand, making for a successful first #WorkTrends show.

Want to learn more from today’s event? Listen to the recording and check out the highlights below:

Thank you to all the TalentCulture sponsors, partners and supporters!

The TalentCulture #WorkTrends Show is all new on Wednesday, February 17, 2016, from 1-2 pm ET (10-11 am PT). Join TalentCulture #WorkTrends Show Founder and Host Meghan M. Biro as discusses LIFEworking Experience with Tim McDonald and Ayelet Baron.

Join our social communities and stay in the know! The TalentCulture conversation continues daily. See what’s happening right now on the #WorkTrends Twitter stream, in our LinkedIn group and on our Google+ community. Engage with us anytime on our social networks or stay current with trending World of Work topics on our website or through our weekly email newsletter.

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Introducing the TalentCulture #WorkTrends Chat and Podcast

We’ve all seen many a site proclaim significant changes for 2016, but in this case, the proclamation is earned, and real. It’s been quite a ride and I will continue to make new things happen here. My friend in forecasting and futurecasting about the world of work (Kevin W. Grossman) is heading for some exciting new ventures and partnerships, and so am I—right here— with the TalentCulture Community. Kevin is still going to be a featured voice here on the blog as we move forward.

I’m amping up my own podcast, shifting from #TChat to a focus on something new, and we’re incredibly thrilled to announce the launch of #WorkTrends—the new incarnation of our current podcast and Twitter Chat on The Future of Work, but with a sharper lens.

Our new #WorkTrends podcast and Twitter chat kick off on Wednesday, February 10, 2016, from 1-2 PM EST.  It’s the same time and channel for those who participate along with us weekly. 

As you know, my passion is about the workforce and most importantly, its valuable people; both in the workplace as well as how we navigate this amazing new global, multicultural workscape. Things like big data, cloud technology, mobility, and social media continue to influence all things about work as we know it today, and as it will be in the future. How those things impact your brand, recruitment and hiring practices, loyalty, corporate culture, marketing, social media, employee retention and beyond are all things I’ll examine in great detail moving forward.

And yes, I see this as a workscape for The Future of Work. The clarity with which innovation bumps us into a new awareness is the same vision we need to maintain, and that’s what #WorkTrends is all about.

The world of work has so radically evolved in the past decade. It has changed, and when looking back, sometimes it’s hard to fathom the incredible leap we’ve taken. In honor of that evolution, I was reflecting on all the work and adventures Kevin and I have been fortunate to be able to do, and I realized that he and I have taken one incredible social and learning journey together. It’s always a leap of faith to trend cast, particularly when it comes to brand and talent issues these days: like weathercasters, getting it wrong can have profound consequences. We are still searching for answers and asking questions along the way.

But we’ve also managed to get it right. We both share respect for the power of analytics and the importance of cross-generational teamwork, along with an appreciation for the value of employers who understand brand awareness and the candidate experience. We live on mobile devices and in social channels, so the leap to seeing work take on these facets has been a natural one for us, and always exciting to share with the community we’ve created.

As a fellow work-caster, Kevin has been a font of wisdom and a great friend along the way. Kevin also understands, firsthand, the value of seemingly trivial things–like middle initials. I applaud Kevin and all he has accomplished and continues to do at The Talent Board and am looking forward to watching him do what he does best—make great things happen.

As for me, I’m interested in how we dovetail talent, technology and business, enabling the right kind of intelligence without disabling the right quality of interaction for the future of work. What we’re learning about this is incredibly exciting, and in the same vein as we work to forecast new trends. I’m also profoundly impressed by the team of talent and the community I have with me, and you’re going to see the results of all this work I hope.

It’s going to be exciting to set off into 2016 with this super foundation as a jumping off point. So hang onto your hats. Here we go! I have more exploring and collaboration to do. We all do.

#TChat Preview: How HR Leaders Achieve Talent Brand Dominance

The TalentCulture #TChat Show is back live on Wednesday, January 27, 2016, from 1-2 pm ET (10-11 am PT).

Last week we talked about how tech pros can help assess and hire tech pros, and this week we’re going to talk about how HR leaders achieve talent brand dominance.

Employers are constantly aware of the state of their company brand. But very few organizations realize the impact of their talent brand on both their reputation to job seekers and company morale amongst existing employees.

A talent brand is what talent (which comprises both working and non-working professionals think, feel, and share about your company) as a place to work.

Contrary to what employers believe, according to this week’s guest, less than 30 percent of the working population cares about their company’s product brand. What they are concerned with is how employers approach caring for their people and addressing their needs. Most hiring authorities aren’t coming to terms to deal with the reality that their talented employees have options.

#TChat Event: How HR Leaders Achieve Talent Brand Dominance

TChatRadio_logo_020813

Tune in to our LIVE online podcast Wednesday, January 27 — 1 pm ET / 10 am PT

Join TalentCulture #TChat Show co-founders and co-hosts Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman as they talk about how HR leaders achieve talent brand dominance with this week’s guest: Joan Graci, CEO and President of APA Solutions, a boutique employment and human capital consulting firm.

#TChat on Twitter — Wednesday, January 27— 1:30 pm ET / 10:30 am PT

Immediately following the live show, the team will move to the #TChat Twitter stream to continue the discussion with the entire TalentCulture community. We invite everyone with a Twitter account to participate as we gather for a dynamic live chat, focused on these related questions:

Q1: What is the difference between employer brand and talent brand? #TChat (Tweet this question)

Q2: How do you measure talent brand and replicate its success? #TChat (Tweet this question)

Q3: What should HR and recruiting implement now to improve their talent brand? #TChat  (Tweet this question)

Until then, we’ll keep the discussion going on the #TChat Twitter feed, our TalentCulture World of Work Community LinkedIn group, and in our TalentCulture G+ community. Feel free to drop by anytime and share your questions, ideas and opinions. See you there!

Subscribe to our podcast on BlogTalkRadio, Stitcher or iTunes:

BTR stitcher_logoItunes_podcast_icon

 

 

Join Our Social Community & Stay Up-to-Date!

Passive-Recruiting

photo credit: Choices via photopin (license)