We are talking about Twitter chats today! (Yes, that’s a Twitter chat about the Twitter chat strategy:))
***As you may have guessed we highly guarantee @TwChat for holding your own Twitter chats (Please check this article: How to Set Up Twitter Interview with Influencers (+Free Guidelines Template!))
Our guest today is the social media pro and my good friend Alan K’necht @aknecht
**To join us please sign in here -> Twchat.com/hashtag/vcbuzz
About Alan
Alan K’necht @aknecht is the public speaker and founding partner at Digital Always Media, co-host of #SocialChat Mon 9pm Eastern & Author of The Last Original Idea.
Alan’s #SocialChat co-host is the awesome Michelle StinsonRoss @SocialMichelleR
Questions we discussed:
Q1 Why did you decide to start #SocialChat? What were your objectives?
@seosmarty Started as a spinoff from #SEOChat a chat I was very active in. Myself & @SocialMichelleR kept high-hacking the chat. We had the full support of #SEOChat and they even helped us promote the first few chats.
@jessytroy Yes WOW! It’s all about using Social to make friends & friends help friends. That’s how it works. #vcbuzz
— Alan K’necht (@aknecht) March 25, 2014
Our objective at first was simple. Gather a group of people who wanted to explore business side of social & exchange ideas.
I have no idea what was the first. Many years ago before I heard of TChat, my stream would fill up on a Hashtag. I’m sure TwitterChat’s have been going on since Hashtags appeared, not sure when they were named.
Q2 What’s your most exciting (maybe unexpected) result/benefit of holding a Twitter chat? What did you achieve?
No sure I agree with this “Alan K’necht has wasted approximately 491 hours writing tweets on Twitter” via twopcharts.com
I agree especially when we exchange ideas & information RT @SEOAware: @aknecht That is not wasted time! #vcbuzz
— Alan K’necht (@aknecht) March 25, 2014
1st was how many people returned each week to join in the promoted topic. 2nd is how many great people I met through #SocialChat many of which have grown into great friends. The biggest surprise was getting invited to give a Key Note address in Dublin, in part because of #SocialChat Another surprise was the reach. #SocialChat regularly has participants from Western Europe all the way to central Australia
Q3 Please list best practices of hosting a Twitter chat
- Pick a chat name that is short. Characters are at a premium, don’t waste them on your hashtag.
- When picking a time slot, think where is my audience in the world & schedule accordingly.
- Plan ahead, pick topics that resonate with your target audience. Mid day vs. Evenings for example.
- Have questions you’re going to ask ready ahead of time. Keep them short so they can be RT’d easily.
- Promote, send out tweets well in advance stating the topic & the date & time.
- If appropriate get a guest & encourage them to help promote the chat.This increases your exposure.
- Provide a guideline for guests to understand how to respond to questions. e.g. Do I respond to @viralcontentbuz or @seosmarty
- Lastly, create a transcript of the chat & share it preferable on a website
@seosmarty Fav tool right now is @hashtracking also @Storify if good if you need a free tool for your transcripts #vcbuzz
— Alan K’necht (@aknecht) March 25, 2014
A3: I used http://t.co/9lZPHk3DvR to see when my followers were most active, then hosted my chat in that window #vcbuzz
— Niclas Marie (@niclas_marie) March 25, 2014
Q4 What’s the ROI of a Twitter chat? How can you tell if you are successfully managing a Twitter chat?
ROI & Social is always a difficult thing to measure, and Twitterchats are no different. I look at audience growth and engagement factors, and the growth in my personal followers as primary KPI. We’ve had a few sponsors over the years, so that can generate some $. But only tiny amounts & more often just prizes. We run ads on socialchatnetwork.com & when people go there to read a transcript we might get a click #pennies. Both myself & co-host have been invited to speak at various conferences purely because of #SocialChat = +ROI
Hears a great example of TwitterChat ROI. Last night I mentioned my slide deck from #pubcon with link -> tons of views on SlideShare! Also remember when measuring a TwitterChat it’s not always the number of participants, but the quality of those who participate
Q5 How to promote your Twitter chat? How to engage more people?
1st is via Twitter to our followers and we encourage regulars to RT the tweets. We’ve also created a Facebook & G+ page & promote it there. During chats we encourage ppl to connect on FB & G+
The best promotion for a TwitterChat is when others tell their friends to come. Word Of Mouth key to all Social Marketing!
@seosmarty easy initially we asked them to Pls RT the topic announcement. Now many just do it on their own. #vcbuzz — Alan K’necht (@aknecht) March 25, 2014
Also look at @ChatSalad they help promote TwitterChats with scheduled tweets 5 min before the chat starts. Also follow after the chat & thank top participants. Makes the know they are appreciated. They then want to join again & promote. Here’s an example of today’s TwitterChat from @hashtracking … lots of info on participants
Q6 From what I remember, you combined Twitter chat with the Google Hangout? How was it working out for you?
We’re still testing this out. What we’ve settle on is doing Google HOA as a video summary. of the weekly cha. We then take the Hangout video and embed it into our existing TwitterChat summary blog pos. Most difficult part of HOA is getting our featured guest to give us a second hour during the week for it. They’re all so busy.
Here’s an example of when we embedded the HOA with our chat summary the guest was @seoSmarty
#tip Key with HOA, you need to be comfortable in front of the camera. Practice a few solo or with a friend first. #vcbuzz
— Alan K’necht (@aknecht) March 25, 2014
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