If you’re new to Twitter marketing, a Twitter chat is simply an interactive conversation held at a specific time on the social network.
Twitter chats can cover just about any topic and they’re a great way to network with customers, increase influence, and share key knowledge, including information about new product features or big industry news. Apart from the time cost, they’re free, and you don’t need a fancy venue and trendy drinks to spark a lively discussion.
To host a Twitter chat, you just need your Twitter handle (i.e. your account name), a hashtag (you might know it as the “#” sign), and a pre-determined date and time. You should also tell folks about it and share the Twitter chat time, date, and hashtag on any hard copy marketing materials you distribute.
Can any business host a Twitter chat?
Yep – any business with a Twitter account. That said, how a Twitter chat is run often varies by company size.
For example, a Twitter chat with a small number of participants (typical for SMBs) might follow a loose, relaxed format. A Twitter chat with more participants (typical for bigger brands) can be a bit more crowded and lively, which requires the host to provide a more structured chat environment that keeps everyone focused on the same topic.
Treat your Twitter chat like a dinner party and keep it polite.
Regardless of how many participants you have, think about your Twitter chat like a dinner party. Folks interrupt each other, get noisy, and engage in side conversations. It’s your job to keep the conversation respectful and engaging. If you do that, your Twitter chat will be successful.
What topics should you discuss, and which ones should you avoid?
The best topics are the ones matter most to your customers (not you). So look at your data.
What are people searching for most on your site? What blog post topic got a lot of comments? What articles did your customers share all over their social networks?
Customer feedback is crucial to hosting a great Twitter chat. It lets you know what your customers are thinking about and should give you some insight into what they might want to chat about.
The same principles apply to the topics you shouldn’t discuss during a Twitter chat. Think about the things that you or your customers might feel uncomfortable discussing, and avoid those.
If you’re an emerging law firm, you might discuss the qualities of good lawyers or the legal process in general. What you don’t want to do, however, is host a chat that hands out legal advice or takes a stand on a particularly sensitive political or social issue.
There’s no hard and fast rule about what to avoid, but it’s generally a good idea to avoid bringing up competitors, products you have in the works, or issues that may anger your audience. Inspired and opinionated conversation is fine, but you don’t want the chat to infuriate your customers.
Whatever you choose to discuss, keep these three tips from MarketingProfs editor and Twitter expert Verónica Maria Jarski in mind as you prepare to host your Twitter chat:
1. Know your purpose. In other words, what do you hope to accomplish? Will it be a Q&A style, or a free flowing conversation? Will you be talking about one specific topic, or allowing participants to choose the focus?
It’s best to pick one chat style; that way you can format the conversation to best suit your purpose. On the other hand, it’s also a good idea to be flexible and understand that your format may change as your audience grows.
2. Do your homework. Say you’re going to have a Twitter chat about marketing on a budget or creating visual content. Well, then, you need to do your research about that topic before you have the chat. If you don’t do your homework, once the chat starts, you’ll come off as clueless.
When you don’t prepare, you can come off as selfish because you’ve wasted everyone’s time.
3. Listen. In a Twitter chat, people want to share their smarts and opinions, or they want to learn something. So, pay attention to what folks are asking or saying. And if you see a Tweet that strikes you as funny, smart, or interesting, retweet it for the rest of the participants, who may have missed it.
Also, reply to some comments, so folks know the chat is being hosted by a real person from a real company — not a cyborg. To paraphrase author and speaker Sunni Brown: When you listen, you honor the humanity of the one who is talking.
For more digital marketing tactics, download our 15 Ideas guide here.
Image: kevin dooley