Five Tips For A Successful Twitter Chat

 For those of you that work in social media, you’ll appreciate the recent “54 Warning Signs That You Work in Social Media” list that Jason Keath of Social Fresh put together. I know I did, especially #47 that says “Your significant other asks, “Are you still working, or just tweeting?”

I thought of this list recently as I was trying to describe the concept of a Twitter chat to a family member who witnessed my participation in a series of them in December. Each Thursday night, I was glued to my computer tweeting about cookies and holiday baking, on behalf of a client, to a community on Twitter. While my family members thought the idea of the chat was funny, they hopefully realized that Twitter chats represent an opportunity for brands to use a social network to engage with other people who are passionate about a certain topic area – ultimately giving a brand the opportunity to build relationships and awareness online with their followers, and even better, with potential new fans and customers, in a direct, casual manner.

Typically, chats are structured to provide clear direction and guidance around a certain topic of discussion but are flexible enough to allow one-off related conversations to grow between participants. Chats usually follow a question and answer format with either the brand or partner organization tweeting a question every few minutes while participants respond with their answers.

As your team prepares for or considers if chats are right for the brand, consider the following items:

#1 Get Familiar

Want to consider a chat for a brand but don’t personally know much about them? Jump in. The best way to learn is to join one. Like most things in social media, you can’t effectively bring a brand into the discussion if you aren’t there as an individual first – understanding the mechanics of the platform, learning the lingo and knowing when to weigh in and when to observe.  Find a chat that you are personally interested in and join it  – tweet a little, RT others, use the hashtag, or just sit back and watch – but really get the whole experience before you put forth a recommendation for your brand. If you search “twitter chats” on Google, you can find this Google document that is a good reference for chats on Twitter listed by topic area. A few good ones to start with:

• Girls Night Out – rotating topics on a variety of fun lifestyle themes, held Tuesday nights (#GNO)
• Travelers’ Night In – great travel based chat, held Thursday nights (#TNI)
• Community Manager Chat – for community managers, on Wednesday afternoons (#CMGRchat)
• JournChat – for PR professionals, bloggers and journalists, on Monday evenings (#journchat) 

Example Twitter Chat Stream: #GNO

#2 Is Your Brand Well-Known Enough to Start Its Own Chat? 

Many times we have to make the decision to either host a chat on our own vs. sponsoring an already established chat by another organization. Typically, we’ll consider if the brand has the social footprint to host and cultivate a chat on their own and if based on that footprint (and the footprints of influencers who could possibly participate as moderators) the brand will get the results they want and expect. For companies with smaller or growing followers, we’d probably recommend they partner with a brand/customer/affiliated partner/spokesperson that has a well established social following or sponsors a Twitter chat with an organization that has an already established community around regular Twitter chats – like many of those listed above.

#3 Nail Down the Details – Making Choices

Pick a Time of Day That is Best For Your Chat

Consider when you want to host the chat and what time/day slots make the most sense for your community. Many established chats happen in the evening, so participants can jump in and join the conversation after work hours but many organizations that host Twitter chats for brands also offer a daytime chat option too. Check with your chat partners to see what responses they get during the day vs. night and make a decision based on what would work best for your brand.

Pick a Theme for Your Chat

Create a theme for the chat and a focus you want participants to follow and discuss but don’t choose something so niche that anyone joining for the first time wouldn’t be able to follow because they don’t know the topic. For example, if you are a CPG brand and you want to promote your product around an upcoming holiday, consider a theme around traditions, recipes or cooking/baking that would be a natural fit for your brand to share and offer content to participants.

Create or Choose a #

Choose a hashtag that you can use to track the conversation. If you are partnering with an organization, they may already have a hashtag in place but usually you can have two tags – one to represent the brand and another to represent the topic or partner organization.  When choosing a hashtag, consider the following items:

• Keep them as short as possible – you don’t want your hashtag to take up too many characters of your tweet
• Check to see if they are already being used, either via consumers or other brands – you don’t want a tag that can’t easily be tracked or identified as special to the chat
• Consider your overall program and if it makes sense to use one hashtag for the entire program vs. a specific one for just the chat

#4 Pre-Chat Prep

Create a List

A week or two before the chat gather all the details above and create a cheat sheet document for your team. This can be formatted as a simple outline or table with the following information:

• Chat theme, date, time
• Official hashtags
• List of commonly referenced bit.ly links that you may need to use
• The list of chat questions and expected timing for each question during the chat (usually every 5-10 minutes depending on the chat)
• List of sample answers for each question in case needed
• An FAQ section for your team in case any sensitive questions come up during the chat and they (or you) need direction on how to respond
• Contact information for team members and client participating – even setting up a conference dial-in ahead of time can be helpful for communicating between various parties during the actual event

The important thing to remember is to strike a balance between being as prepared as possible while remaining flexible. The majority of your tweets should be ad-hoc responses, answers and questions to other participants – but it’s OK to help guide your team in the types of responses they can expect the brand to make and/or use during the chat.

Gather a Team with Specific Chat Responsibilities

If possible, and depending on the size of the chat, have more than one person staffing the handle – each with specific responsibilities. One person can own either asking or retweeting the questions and fielding answers while another can tweet more brand focused content and engage more proactively with the community. We’ve had Twitter chats before where 4-5 team members were involved and needed. Make sure you sit down beforehand and make roles/responsibilities very clear so there is no confusion when it’s time to begin.

Use a Twitter Tool

Use an engagement tool like Tweetdeck to help you manage the Twitter chat stream. If you aren’t already using one, set up your tool a few days before and start practicing. Create search columns for the various chat hashtags so you can see all tweets coming through for your chat.

#5 Reporting & Measurement

This is a critical part of social business and Twitter chats are no different. Consider the following metrics beforehand and make sure you set benchmarks ahead of time to measure progress from before/after a chat: 

• # of Twitter chat participants
• # of tweets with your hashtag
• # of mentions and RT’s of your content
• # of impressions from tweets during this time with your hashtag
• Follower growth from day before till day after chat
• List increases as a result of the chat, new relationships formed
• Clicks on links shared during the chat (can use bit.ly to track by creating custom URLs for chat)
• Impact of chat on your overall share of conversation (SOC) and any coverage received as a result of your chat
• New relationships built as a result of the chat with online influencers
• If doing a coupon promotion, clicks and downloads of coupon as a result of chat

Example TweetReach Report

When reporting results of your Twitter chat to the brand, also consider how you will maintain the momentum from the chat, either via continued engagement, targeted outreach or a series of additional chats in following months. Also consider how you can leverage content from the chat in other mediums, including creating conversation word clouds to use in internal market research reports, or interesting fan comments and funny quotes to share on Facebook and Twitter the next day.  

Additional tips to consider:

• Just because chat hours are over doesn’t mean the conversation has to end – assuming you have the resources to staff, keep it going as long as possible
• Consider the back-up plan should Twitter go down…it happens
• Use the chat hashtag before and after the chat to get your followers familiar and engaged on the topic
• Cross-promote the Twitter chat on other social networks like Facebook or LinkedIn if appropriate, encouraging your community to join you there
• Gather feedback – be open to suggestions from your community on topics they’d like to hear next time or what sort of content/answers they are looking for
• Consider adding a giveaway element to the chat – it can be a good tactic for increasing interest and participation, not to mention sharing the brand love with your community, just make sure it doesn’t override the value of the actual discussion happening
• Keep a running list of chat participants (either via Twitter’s list feature or in Excel) so you can track who participated and continue engaging with them after the chat ends
• Visit WCG’s SlideShare channel to review fellow colleague, Meghan Butler’s, deck on even more Twitter chat best practices and tips to promote your chat

And most importantly, be an active participant and resource for your community. Twitter chats are not a marketing platform for you to push out branded messages. They are most successful when brands use them to listen and engage with a community rather than speak at them.

Article Source  http://blog.wcgworld.com/2012/01/five-tips-for-a-successful-twitter-chat

Optimizing Your Tweets for Search

photo credit: Flickr

Twitter’s among the most powerful social networks in the world for brand awareness – which is why it’s of the utmost importance that you know how to tap into it.

Twitter’s been around for several years now, and there still appears to be a distressing number of organizations who don’t quite know what to make of it. That’s  rather unfortunate, as those organizations don’t understand enough to know what they’re missing out on. In the right hands, Twitter may well be among the most powerful social networks in the world.

I suspect this is tied to the nature of the social network. Twitter is something people use when they’re in transit. It’s a site they browse when they’re waiting for the train, sitting in the bathroom, or stuck in traffic.  It’s a social network they go to in order to share and discover new content; in order to share their stream of thought with the world.

Connect with a user on here, and they’re bound to spread whatever message you’re putting forward like wildfire.

Make Sure Your Profile Is Optimized First

Before you even think of tweaking any of your tweets, you need to have a look at your profile. Do you have a decent profile picture? Does your tagline flow naturally while still incorporating a few keywords related to your brand? Is your profile named after your brand (or something people would associate with it?)

If you answered no to any of those questions, then you’ve some work to do before going forward.

Tailor Your Tweets To Grab Attention – And Make Sure You Have A Voice

While I don’t deny that each and every tweet should have a headline, and that most should include a link along with a hashtag or two, I nevertheless maintain that your ‘voice’ is the most important part of your Twitter presence. It’s how you present yourself to your peers and followers, after all; just like a sleazy used car salesman is likelier to drive people away from his lot than sell them a Prius, tweets that appear mechanical, spammy, or boring will cause nothing but harm.

Let your personality shine through – keep it professional, but demonstrate that you are a real human being.

Time Your Tweets

There are certain dates and times when a tweet is likeliest to receive attention, but it tends to vary by region and demographic. If you know anything about your target audience, try tracking a few of them down on Twitter. Watch their habits – when are they tweeting, and how often? Working out what time most of their tweets were sent could give you a good idea of when would be the best time to make yourself heard.

Create A Keyword List

Although I’ve always been a proponent of a more organic form of SEO, it could be worthwhile to put together a list of all the major keywords you intend to use on Twitter. Keep them close-by, and don’t be afraid to occasionally drop one or two into one of your tweets (either into the body or as a hashtag).

Use Hashtags Whenever Possible (And Appropriate)

Speaking of hashtags…learn about them. Learn how they work. Learn what makes them tick. The most important thing here is that you don’t overuse them. You should never have more than three in a single tweet, and even then three could be two too many. Never start a tweet with a hashtag.

In order to figure out what hashtags you should be using, simply do a search on terms related to your brand (or to the tweet you’re planning to send). Note the terms that seem to be the most popular; these are your hashtags.

Understand The Concepts of Favorites And Retweets

While you should go out of your way to avoid pestering your fellow users, it can’t hurt to occasionally ask for a retweet when you’re sharing something particularly vital. Don’t forget to retweet a few things yourself, as well, in order to augment your own content.

Tweet Frequently

Last but not least, tweet with some degree of frequency and consistency. You might want to consider using some sort of management tool or setting up a tweet scheduler of some kind. Personally, I use Twuffer, but it’s up to you what you ultimately want to go with.

Article Source Optimising Your Tweets For Search Ducttape Marketing

Hashtags Across Platforms

Hashtags are one of the greatest tools social media has to offer, but also one of the most challenging to use correctly. Similar to most social media platforms, balance is key both in quantity and quality.

Marketers are fans of repetition, but using the same self-promotional hashtag in every single tweet might not be the very best strategy. At the same time, connecting with like-minded individuals, potential employees, and promoting your brand to the best of your ability often includes a strategy using hashtags and catchy phrases that could potentially go viral.

Early adopters are more likely to be familiar with how to use hashtags well than those just beginning to use social media as a tool. Even after spending a few months or years on Twitter, people still aren’t quite sure what hashtags are for or why they see them everywhere. And with the advent of Facebook hashtags and Instagram hashtags and yes, even Pinterest hashtags, there are plenty of places to be confused by them! 

Ready for a bold statement? Twitter is kind of like life—it all comes down to relationships with other human beings. The goal of social media is to build relationships in some capacity, and hopefully those relationships lead to something even more valuable in the future. The essence of hashtags is giants like Twitter and Facebook trying to help users create relationships and engage in conversation with people you know (and those you don’t). As long as your brand understands that hashtags are about more than feeding clicks or hoping for retweets, you’re using them well. They are the key to having more permanent experiences and listening to what the world is saying with the click of a button, which is actually an incredibly lovely concept.

So here’s how to use these challenging, rewarding little friends. First of all, Twitter recommendsno more than two hashtagged words or phrases per tweet. This might not seem like many, but it’s very true to Twitter’s central strategy– choose your words wisely, because you don’t have many. Additionally, don’t feel compelled to add a hashtag to every single tweet you write. If you tweet something only vaguely related to interior design, it truly does nobody any good to add the hashtag just in case.

And finally, check hashtags that you frequently use to find out what others are saying and how your brand can be a part of that. Hopefully as you use hashtags, related businesses and people will discover you and you’ll discover others as well. Twitter is the new word of mouth—the only difference being that the words are lined up nicely in your newsfeed.

To learn more, read our recent post about the #icebucketchallenge and how charities are benefiting from the use of hashtags. And look for future posts on hashtags in Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram– that’s right, it’s one big, complex conversational world! 

Maggie has a love-hate relationship with hashtags. She’s a writer at Social Media Contractors.
Aticle Source http://www.socialmediacontractors.com/hashtags-across-platforms/

How to Find Your Target Audience on Instagram

Whatever your goals are on Instagram, if you’re using the platform to market your business in any way, you need to make sure that you’re reaching your target audience on Instagram.

But how do you find them? Where are they? How are they using Instagram? How do you reach out to them?

Here are some ways to go about finding your target audience on Instagram and actually connecting with them.

Follow Event Hashtags

Whatever your industry, there are events related to it. They could be conventions or conferences. They could be seminars or announcements. They could be shows or celebrations. Whatever your events are, find the event hashtag(s) and follow them on Instagram.

For me, being that my target audience is business owners and entrepreneurs looking to learn social media, I follow social media conference hashtags closely. The Content Marketing World (#cmworld) conference just happened recently. I checked the hashtag on Instagram daily to find ideal target Instagram users.

I recommend you do the same, for whatever your industry events are.

But you have to do more than just follow the hashtag. You have to be active. It can be as simple as liking a bunch of photos tagged with the event hashtag. Go through the stream and “like” photos and posts.

Take some time to read the captions of the posts and engage in response. Answer a question. Offer a helpful piece of advice. Compliment the user. Or ask them a question about the event.

Taking the time to engage with these event attendees will usually result in a significant bump in those who follow you – and best of all, they’re your target audience!

With the recent #CMWorld event, I garnered about 10-12 new followers in a couple days. Other events I’ve used this method with have easily resulted in 20-30 new followers in a couple days.

Follow Interest or Hobby Hashtags

Much like the method for event hashtags, follow hashtags related to hobbies or interests that are relevant to your business.

If you provide health and nutrition coaching, follow tags related to health, like yoga, or pilates, or barre, or P90X, etc. If you sell pet specialty items, follow tags related to pets, pet fashion, grooming, etc.

Knowing your target demographic, you should know what they are interested in. Use this information to find those people on Instagram. Then use the same methods I just described above to engage, like, and have conversations with them.

See Who’s Following Your Competitors

If you’re looking for your target audience on Instagram, chances are they’re already engaging with and following your competitors. This makes it easy – they’re in one place.

Go to your competitors’ profiles, and click on their “Followers”. You can see the whole list of people who follow them. Depending on how many people follow them, this could be more time intensive than other accounts.

Scroll through the list of followers and find people that are your ideal clients. Look for people that are active, engaging, and match your ideal customer profile. Then scroll through their posts, like some of their posts, and join in the conversation by responding to comments, complimenting them, or answering a question.

This method is more time consuming than following hashtags but works just as well.

It’s important that you have the right, engaged followers on Instagram. Having 5000 followers who don’t care about your business or who never actually use Instagram are useless to you. Instead, focus on finding and building relationships with your ideal target customer to see real results on Instagram.

 Article Source http://jennstrends.com/find-your-target-audience-on-instagram/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter