A recent article from Forbesdelineates a few ways the Obama campaign has been using social media in its political outreach efforts:

• Fielding questions and speaking with ordinary citizens in a Google+ hangout after last night’s State of the Union address.
• Holding a Twitter townhall meeting to get a greater sense of voter concerns.
• Using Instagram to document the campaign trail.

Recruiters have integrated social media into their day-to-day business activities, posting jobs on their networks and sharing content with their followers. But President Obama’s campaign demonstrates how you can take social media to the next level, using it as a vehicle to drive events and connect with people outside of your network.

Whether you’re attending a job fair or tradeshow, hosting a webinar, or conducting interviews on a college campus, don’t leave your twitter handle behind. Social media is as big an aspect of the event as renting a booth or booking your flight.

Executing Social Media Events

Unlike holding spontaneous day-to-day conversations with your networks, holding a social media event takes some planning.

The Focus.  What do you want to get out of the event? Are you curious what technologies your candidates find most effective in their job search? Or maybe you want to pick the brains of a few thought leaders in your industry.

The Medium.  Choose a platform that will best suit your focus. If you want to hear from a large pool of candidates, Twitter. If you want to have a deeper discussion, video chat may be the way to go.

The Moderator.  Choose a moderator who can keep the virtual conversation on-topic.

The Marketing.  Get the word out with other pre-event marketing through press-releases, emails, articles, and print materials. Let people know why they will benefit from participating, & how they can get involved.

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this post originally appeared at www.sendouts.com