Twitter Parties & Chats for Brands and Organizations January 2011 Stephanie Schwab Stephanie Schwab Consulting www.stephanieschwab.com @socialologist Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 1 Overview Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 2 About Twitter • Simple, free micro-blogging application used by people worldwide to connect, by responding to a simple question: What’s happening? (in 140 characters or less) • Twitter's success lies within its simplicity and ease of use, combined with basic social networking capabilities and availability across different platforms 3 Twitter History • March 2006: First Tweet • March 2007: Tipping Point occurs at SXSW • May 2008: Growing pains, “The Fail Whale” • April 2009: Twitter goes mainstream, Ashton Kutcher vs CNN • September 2010: New Twitter • October 2010: New CEO, Dick Costolo 4 Twitter by the Numbers • 300,000: new users per day • 55,000,000: average number of Tweets per day • 160,000,000: registered Twitter users • 190,000,000: unique visitors per month • 600,000,000: average number of Twitter search queries per day 5 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/14/twitter-user-statistics-r_n_537992.html http://mashable.com/2010/03/18/twitter-infographic/ Twitter Community http://www.briansolis.com/2010/05/were-the-tweets-in-america/ http://www.quantcast.com/twitter.com 6 Twitter Hashtags CopyrightCopyright 2010, Stephanie 2011, Stephanie Schwab Schwab Consulting Consulting 7 Twitter Basics • @ Reply: Messages directly to someone – Use this to have conversations with other twitter users or mention them within a tweet – Ex: @socialologist Thanks for the great presentation! • THIS WILL BE SEEN ONLY BY @SOCIALOLOGIST (and people following you and @socialologist) – Ex: I’m so excited to be in a webinar with @socialologist about Twitter Chats & Parties • THIS WILL BE SEEN BY EVERYBODY • RT (Re-tweet): repost of someone’s update/post – Use this to share a someone else’ s great Tweet – Ex: RT @MackCollier There r no shortcuts 2 creating a valuable network on Twitter. Meaningful connections take time... Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 8 What’s a Hashtag? A hashtag is a number sign (also called a pound symbol, now hash symbol) used to indicate a topic, event or group within a Twitter message # Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 9 How are Hashtags used on Twitter? • To indicate that you’re taking part in a Twitter meme – Follow Fridays, indicated by #FF – #fail • To categorize your tweet within a larger conversation that’s happening, as with current events – #oilspill – #MLKday • To market a brand, product or service – #HormelSpam – #iPhone • To participate in a Twitter chat or party Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 10 Twitter Hashtags for Chats & Parties • Use a Hashtag to “group” together conversations for a live event • Keep up with the group by searching for that Hashtag within Twitter or a 3rd-party tool Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 11 How Do I Get A Hashtag? • Hashtags are unofficial – people create them all the time • Hashtags should be as short as possible, but also as unique as possible • You can check hashtags in use at: wthashtag.com Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 12 When to Create A Hashtag • For any event, online or off – Conferences – Parties – Major meetings – Online chats – Online parties • Create your hashtag early – before the event • Make sure users are aware of what it is in advance – Promote on Twitter as well as in other event communications • Encourage users to use the Hashtag for all their event- related tweets Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 13 Searching for a Hashtag • Twitter search is an easy way to track a Hashtag Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 14 Tweetchat.com http://tweetchat.com/room/gno Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 15 TweetGrid.com Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 16 Twitter Events Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 17 Twitter Chats vs. Twitter Parties • Chats are like offline social groups (knitting club, book club) enabled via Twitter – Happen regularly – typically weekly – Use same Hashtag every time – Cover the same (general) topic each week • Parties are (generally) brand-sponsored activities – Happen one time – Use the brand Hashtag – Could also use a party organizer ‘s Hashtag – Often created and managed by a Twitter party organizer – Topics tailored to the brand Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 18 Some Active Chats #journchat #hcsm #pr20chat #careerchat #blogchat #socpharm #latism #B2Bchat #scribechat #runchat Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 19 Some Party Providers Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 20 Chat/Party Participants • Moderator – Often the same person from week-to week – Could be the party organizer • Panelists – Special guests each week/each party – If a chat, could be a relevant guest for that topic – If a party, could be the brand, and/or “power tweeters” on a particular subject • Participants – Anyone who tweets with the chat/party Hashtag Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 21 Standard Chat Formats • Free for all – Like a cocktail party – Very hard to follow if you’re not a power user • Moderated, panel, or guest presenter – Driven by moderator/guest presentation or questions – Typically question and answer format – Much easier for a newbie to engage in Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 22 Typical Flow of a Moderated Twitter Chat Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 23 Developing a Successful Twitter Event Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 24 Define the Purpose and Format • Are you setting up something regular or is it a one-time event? • Do you have a guest, brand or topic you would like to focus on? • Is the Twitter event related to an offline event? • Are the participants Twitter- friendly or Twitter newbies? Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 25 Advance Setup • Define your Hashtag – Promote it to event participants • Do you need to train anyone on Twitter or TweetGrid in advance? • Create a TweetChat.com or TweetGrid.com chat page • When possible, create a landing page with information about your event – Moderator/panelists/guest info – Link to chat page – Hashtag info (in case someone uses something other than your chat page) – Time and date, of course! • Tweet about and promote the event – When tweeting, keep tweets under 120 characters so people can retweet it easily Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 26 Important Preparation • Create your questions (in Twitter format) in advance – 5-6 questions per hour is a good rule of thumb – Consider a rough schedule for the event, such as a new question every 8 minutes • Create tweets containing links to useful resources – You’ll have them handy if people ask about them • Be sure your panelists and guests know what the questions are going to be so they can prepare answers in advance • Be sure everything fits in less than 140 characters – 120 if you want people to retweet things Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 27 Moderating a Chat • Introduce yourself, moderator, guests – using their Twitter handles • Define the event – “this will be a one-hour moderated chat, I’ll provide questions and you can answer them by tweeting with the hashtag….” • Begin the questions – You might ask panelists to RT each question so their followers see them (outside of the chat) • As the chat flows, RT interesting tweets from panelists/guests or participants • At the end, thank the guests/panelists and participants – Give them links for follow-up – Link to chat landing page, if you are going to archive the chat there Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 28 After the Event • Immediately after the event, generate a transcript or archive the chat for use on your site – WTHashtag.com has an archive feature – Hashtracking.com is a new tool for chat archive and analysis • Add your archive, summary or outcomes to your event page • Thank your guests/panelists on Twitter later that day or the next day Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 29 Sample Event Transcript Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 30 Resources Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 31 Twitter Chat and Party Resources • Mashable: How to Start and Run a Successful Twitter Chat – http://mashable.com/2009/12/08/twitter-chat/ • Twitip: How To Participate In A Twitter Chat – http://www.twitip.com/tweeting-with-your-twitter-community-how-to- participate-in-a-twitter-chat/ • Jeanne Benedict: How to Host A Twitter Party – http://www.jeannebenedict.com/party-ideas/how-to-host-a-twitter- party/ • Comprehensive list of active Twitter chats, updated by the Twitter community – http://bit.ly/ChatSched • My posts about Twitter chats and parties – http://www.stephanieschwab.com/2010/09/14/what-are-hashtags/ – http://www.stephanieschwab.com/2010/09/15/twitter-chats-and-twitter- parties-for-brands/ Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 32 Any questions? Stephanie Schwab @socialologist www.stephanieschwab.com [email protected] 646-543-5511 Copyright 2011, Stephanie Schwab Consulting 33 .