Twitter Chats: How to Create a Successful Tweet Chat

Are you familiar with Twitter chats?

Wondering how Twitter chats can help market your business?

To learn more about Twitter chats and what they can mean for your business, I interview Pam Moore for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.
More About This Show

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview Pam Moore, founder of Marketing Nutz, an agency specializing in social media marketing. One of Pam's areas of expertise includes Twitter.

Pam shares why businesses should host Twitter chats and the marketing benefits of running them.

You'll discover how to get started, where to find participants and ways to promote your Twitter chats.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!
Listen Now
You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, or Stitcher.

Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Twitter Chats
What Is a Twitter Chat?

A Twitter chat is a way to get people together at a predetermined time and talk about a subject. Their purpose is to organize conversation and connect people.

Pam says that if you're new to social media, and to Twitter specifically, then Twitter chats are a great way for you to learn how to use it. Twitter chats not only allow you to form a deep connection with a community, but Pam has also seen people empower their lives and businesses faster than they thought possible.

When you plan a tweet chat, you can make them formal or informal. You'll find out why Pam recommends that you have a combination of both. You can also do tweet chats in a series, which can help with your brand's positioning. With this type of tweet chat, you need to put together a strategy over several months.

One of Pam's clients, IBM, recently held an event called IBM Connect in Orlando, where they hosted tweet chats with some of the influencers and speakers for the event. The aim of these tweet chats was to generate awareness and excitement for the event, plus drive registration.

This particular chat had over 40 million impressions over the course of a few days, and included 2500 tweets. Nearly 600 people took part in the conversation.

You'll find out what comes after the tweet chat that is just as important as the chat itself and why you are left with a social asset.

Listen to the show to find out what IBM added to the front and back ends of their tweet chat for IBM Connect.

Why host a tweet chat?

One of the marketing benefits when you host your own tweet chat is that you can start to a build a community around it. You can capture the mindshare of that audience for a specific time on a regular basis. This gives you an opportunity to communicate and support your marketing objectives.

Your core goal is to focus on the needs of your audience. When you provide great content, which can bring good people to the community, then they'll begin to depend on you and want more.

Pam has seen so many people—clients included—grow their businesses and make connections and partnerships. It easily puts you in a leadership role.

Listen to the show to discover how a tweet chat can easily go viral.

How to prepare for a tweet chat

Pam says that the process includes both art and science. As the chat leader, you need to provide some framework, but you don't want it to look like you have planned everything that you say.

You have to balance structure with flexibility and agility. In a structured-style tweet chat, you have a list of questions. Pam usually creates a list of questions and has a specific topic to talk about.

Pam is the leader of the GetRealChat, which is held weekly to educate and help the audience. As the leader,