Twitter is a great platform to communicate on because you get to express your thoughts and ideas with others, but that’s only a small part of it. It’s also a great way for you to connect with those that you wouldn’t normally have access to.

When you’re at a networking event, you’re often focused on shaking hands and passing business cards with all the important people. That’s expected, but utilizing social media at events can also help you network in big ways. Here are three easy ways to use Twitter to get noticed at your next event.

Find out who will be at the event and follow them.

Before the event, it’s essential for you to be aware of the people that will be attending. This is important not just so you can be prepared if you want to make small talk; it will help you with networking through Twitter. Once you’ve added the people that you want to speak to your list of followers, it makes it easier for you to directly tweet those people at the events. That way, you won’t have to take out a brochure to find the speaker’s name and twitter handle because you’ll know it from following them. Just type in the first few letters of the name, it’ll pop right up.

If the speakers are active on Twitter account, tweet them.

Sometimes we may not get a chance to speak to the person we want to at a networking event. Through Twitter, you can still make that meaningful connection.

I was once a volunteer for a fashion conference for FindSpark. There was a speaker from the Huffington Post that I really wanted to meet but didn’t get a chance to speak to her in-person. I loved her comments at the session I volunteered for, so I tweeted her.

I sent a tweet that was a quote from her and told her that it was great advice then asked whether she’d like to meet up, and she tweeted me back replying yes! We later exchanged email addresses and set up an informal meeting in which I met her for breakfast in the city. We had a great conversation about how she started her career in the Huffington Post, and she told me that if I ever need more advice, I should contact her. Although this happened in March, we still keep in touch. Huffington Post is an online platform that I greatly admire, so meeting with an editor and establishing that connection made my day. I might not have connected with her if I didn’t simply address her in a tweet.

Be smart about hashtags.

When at an event, there is often a hashtag dedicated for that particular event. If this is the case for the event you find yourself in, use those specific hashtags. It’s a great way for you to connect with the people that will be at the event because they will most likely also be using and following those hashtags as well.

It’s also a good way for you to show future employers how social media savvy you are at events because you documented the experience by tweeting about it.

Don’t rule out the power of social media. Twitter can be a platform to network and form great connections!