twitter chat

How to Participate in a Twitter Chat

Last week, I participated in my very first Twitter chat and I have to admit that it went better than expected. Having never participated or followed a Twitter chat before I was nervous about keeping up with the content that was being shared. Not to mention I was participating on behalf of a client. With a bit of advice from my team, I was able to tackle the task and am pretty happy with the way things went. Now, that I have a Twitter chat under my belt, I feel comfortable providing advice to you for when it’s time for your first Twitter chat.

Here are my tips for how to participate in a Twitter chat.

Promote Your Involvement

If you plan on participating in a Twitter chat, consider promoting your involvement. Send out a tweet to your followers letting them know you will be involved to potentially help build the audience.
 

Create Twitter Lists Within HootSuite

I found that by adding the Twitter chat hashtag as a list in HootSuite it made it easier to follow the conversation(s). I highly recommend you doing this as well. HootSuite will automatically update the lists within HootSuite so you won’t miss anything!
 

Have Links You Want to Share Available

This can also be the opportunity to be a bit self-promotional. Our client had written a couple of blogs around the topic being discussed so I made sure to insert the links, but only when appropriate. Don’t bombard users with content that isn’t related to the topic being discussed.
 

Format Your Tweets Correctly

Generally, during a Twitter chat, the facilitator will ask a number of questions to keep the dialogue going. These questions are generally numbered from Q1, Q2 etc. When you want to provide your feedback to one of these questions – start your tweet with A1 for answer 1, A2 for answer 2 etc. Formatting your Tweets correctly will help readers others easily follow along.
 

Use the Right Hashtags

Know what the Twitter chat hashtag is and make sure to use it for each and every Tweet you send out. This will allow others following along to see your Tweets.
 

Engage in Conversation

Take this opportunity to engage with others participating in the chat. Respond to their Tweets and provide your feedback and insights.

Have you participated in a Twitter chat before? If you have any tips that you want to share, please do so in the comments below.

Download our white paper, Introduction to Twitter for Sales & Marketing for more great Twitter tips!
 

How to Participate in a Twitter Chat