A Twitter chat is a great way to connect with your customers and build your brand awareness.
I have been loving listening to The Social Media Examiner Show, and one recent episode had a ton of tips to help you promote and host a Twitter chat.
The most important thing to remember is that a Twitter chat requires a lot of planning, so get started early!
Below are 7 tips to try:
- Define your objective: know what you’re looking to get out of the chat. Have a clearly defined topic that resonates with your audience. The best chats are those that show the brand in a positive light and provide unique value those who engage.
- Look at others: see how your competitors have used Twitter chats. By looking at similar brands, you can learn from their success and failure. See who they invited to participate, how long it was, what time it was held and how they engaged with the audience.
- Pick a date and time: keeping in mind other Twitter chats that are going on; you don’t want to compete with other, more established brands. The Social Media Examiner Show recommends between 6-10 a.m. EST as a best practice.
- Name your chat: the hashtag should be unique, fit your brand and end with “chat” so people immediately know what it is related to. Making a unique hashtag is critical if you want to be able to accurately track engagement.
- Invite people: make a lists of guests that you want to invite, and secure people in advance. You want to be sure that you have a few guests (ideally one with online influence) selected at least one month in advance. Start preparing the questions for the chat and send them to the guests at least three days early to give your guests time to prepare a Twitter-friendly response.
- Promote it: promote it online in advance to get an audience that is committed to showing up. Invite your biggest fans by tweeting them 12-24 hours beforehand.
- During the chat: The first thing to do is have a script ready so you don’t have to think on the fly. Then, spread out questions between 5-7 minutes apart. Ask your last question when you have about 10 minutes left in the chat. Finally, use a tool like Tweetchat so that you can respond more quickly. It automatically adds the specific hashtag to your responses, saving you time! Use the tool Hashtracking to get real-time insights into how the Twitter chat is doing.
Twitter chats are a great way to promote your business and enhance customer engagement.
If you use the tools and tips above, you’ll be on your way to success!
