A new, and interesting, initiative from Twitter this year has been the introduction of monthly event calendars to help social media marketers better plan their strategy in order to tap into key events.
The key benefit of Twitter's monthly calendars is that they denote not only the events of most interest, but also their projected Twitter volume (based on past performance), which provides a great overview of where you should be paying attention in order to tap into key trends.
Twitter has now released their April events calendar for reference - worth considering in your planning.
Among the major events set to gain traction in April are the NFL Draft, Coachella and the beginning of the MLB season - along with, of course, Easter (18.9 million tweets in 2016) - while Earth Day provides another great opportunity.
In order to capitalize on these opportunities, Twitter advises that brands should:
- Join the live conversation - According to Twitter, 42% more time is spent looking at Twitter Ads relevant to surrounding content, meaning Twitter users respond better to trending themes. "Align ad creative with suitable topics to reach baseball fans (from local teams to #OpeningDay), or people getting ready for Easter (from Easter egg hunts to the #EasterBunny)."
- Embrace festival season - Again, according to Twitter data, 74% of people on Twitter will attend a music festival in the next 12 months, while 42% have watched a live stream of a music festival. It's worth paying attention to such trends and considering any brand opportunities.
- Use event hashtags - Using relevant hashtags will enable you to tap into relevant conversations - but Twitter also notes that: "While hashtags like #Easter will be predictable, others may start trending in the moment. Keep an eye on the trends section of Twitter to identify new topics that are being talked about."
There are some good notes here - worth considering for those looking to capitalize on the real-time, in the moment nature of tweets.