In today’s social media era, social platforms come and go. One day Google Plus was all the rage. On a different day, Pinterest was enormously popular. Even Swarm’s predecessor Foursquare had its time. Say what you will about Twitter, but this platform has social media staying power. Leverage the power of this platform and promote your brand with a Twitter chat.
A Twitter Chat is a fast-running conversation in real time on the social media platform.
According to Twubs,
“Hashtags are any word in the social conversation that begins with the “#” symbol. Americans refer to it as a pound sign, but it’s known as a hash elsewhere…
Hashtags let you associate your Tweets with a larger topic, group, or conversation. It’s like adding keywords to your message to make it globally searchable.”
What is a Twitter Chat?
A Twitter Chat is usually hosted by a brand’s moderator or expert (perhaps, your CEO), and four-to-five questions are normally asked during an hour-long chat.
Since most chats are well-attended, and there are many tweets during the chat, it’s not necessary to answer every single question. In fact, participants may respond to a single tweet, which then results in a back-and-forth conversation from a single tweet.
What is Your End-Goal?
Step one should be to ask, what do you want to achieve with the twitter chat?
Do you want to grow more followers, expand your reach, or establish your brand as an authority?
Do you want to announce a new product or service launch?
Do you want to provide a forum for your CEO or other experts to share exciting news?
Here are a few helpful tips in order to help you promote your brand with a Twitter Chat:
1) Create a hashtag
Once you decide on the topic of your Twitter Chat, pick a hashtag that is short and easy to use. For instance, the Disney Institute offers leadership training seminars and hosts a monthly chat with #DThink as its hashtag.
2) Promote the chat
Promote your Twitter Chat in your email blasts, on your main website, on your Facebook and Instagram pages, and on Twitter. Also try to create branded graphics with the date, time, and respective hashtag so that people can easily share it and promote it on your behalf.
3) Prepare to keep the conversation going
Have several questions for your moderator or expert in advance. Also, prepare some tweets beforehand in order to promote your chat and acknowledge attendees. These are just some ideas:
- Reminder: our Twitter Chat hashtag is (fill in the blank).
- Thanks to everyone who’s participating in our chat. We’re thrilled you’re here!
You can also thank each follower individually in order to be more engaging.
4) Prepare shareable content
Make sure to prepare some links to articles/photos/images that would be appropriate to share during the chat!
5) Closely follow the chat
During the chat, use a third-party site like Hootsuite or TweetDeck to filter all mentions of your hashtag and to easily follow along with all Tweets relating to your chat.
According to Laura Williams of MoneyCrashers,
“Twitter chats make it possible to stay on the cutting edge of an industry and expand your horizons because so many people, from so many walks of life, get involved in chats.
This means that someone in another country who has found a little-heard-of online tool, could share that tool during the chat, providing those who are participating with a new way of approaching a particular challenge.
If you can scoop just one new tidbit of insider information from the chat, the benefit is well worth the time.”
6) Keep a record
And last but not least, once the chat is over, memorialize it so that people who were unable to attend can read the entire chat. Online tools include Storify or Twubs.
Your Next Steps
If you promoted the Twitter Chat, had a good attendance and a lively conversation, your brand can gain a larger army of ambassadors.
This exposure will be priceless, and at the end of the day, this form of social media marketing costs you next to nothing.
Your marketing or public relations team practiced their message, and your brand got out front and center in the Twitterverse. Your fans were introduced to either your CEO or an expert, and they were able to virtually meet him or her – and each another.
Applaud everyone who participated. This was an excellent way to get your brand heard and talked about – and to participate in the talk.
Don’t forget to schedule your next Twitter Chat and share it before you sign off. If the chat was more than a one-time event, create a schedule that participants can count on so it’s easy to join the conversation in the future.
Do you have a favorite Twitter Chat? Let us know what you found engaging!
