Social media is constantly evolving – with new algorithms and updates making it more difficult to keep up to date and achieve cut-through. To maintain the same level of engagement, communicators need to find different ways to use each channel, for instance, Twitter chats.
Twitter chats are scheduled, live conversations on a specific topic held on Twitter and they include a hashtag so that participants can follow the discussion. Questions are usually pre-planned, and the chat is advertised in advance, much like a live event. Twitter chats can help with engagement, provide an opportunity to educate audiences, and promote services in a way that isn’t pushy.
At CharityComms we used our first Twitter chat to generate awareness of our mentoring scheme, test something new, engage with our network and ultimately encourage new mentors to sign up. It was highly engaging, encouraging, and showcased our scheme.
Here is what we learnt that may help you get started with running your own Twitter chat too…
What you need to know
Twitter chats have a dedicated hashtag – this can either be specific to the individual chat, or the same one can be used for recurring chats. Using the same hashtag is beneficial when running a series of chats so followers can revisit them at any time. Recurring chats usually take place at the same time each week/month.
Topics and questions are decided ahead of time with questions pre-written to ensure the live discussion runs to time, while staying on topic. Answers can also be pre-prepared if appropriate – take for example if you would like to share your insights as an organisation.
The number of questions varies depending on how long the chat is, and the level of detail in the question (we tried four). Normally Twitter chats range from 30 to 60 minutes – we tried 30 minutes for our first one, so it didn’t feel overwhelming.
Guests can feature in a chat, but tweets are either posted in a takeover format on the host account, or just retweeted by the guest in their personal feed with the organisation posting the chat tweets.
Each chat tweet begins with Q and the number of the question, for example, “Q1”, and then answers are posted using A and the corresponding number, like “A1” – and anyone tweeting along is asked to label their responses with the appropriate number after A too. The chat hashtag is included in every question and answer so everyone taking part can easily find and follow the discussion.
Much like a live online event, they commence with an introduction and end with a closing thank you tweet.
Preparation and event running
The best place to start with planning a Twitter chat is by doing research – look at examples from other organisations so you can get an idea of how it all works, for example, Charity Hour’s weekly chat.
Next, decide on your topic, questions and hashtag and make sure they are relevant. Once we decided to run a chat based on our mentor scheme our social media and mentoring teams met to agree on the specifics and to brainstorm the questions and answers that we would post. We also did some hashtag research on Twitter to find one that isn’t frequently used, which resulted in #CharityCommsChat.
Decide on a date and time based on your audience engagement levels and analytics. In our case we wanted to pick a time of maximum engagement when communicators wouldn’t be as occupied with work tasks, so we ran it over lunchtime.
It’s important to also define and assign duties ahead of the chat – we would recommend delegating at least two people to manage the chat. One person can ensure it runs to time and interact with participants, while the other follows the conversation looking out for any issues.
Promote the chat in advance so that your network is prepared and invite relevant contacts. We contacted some of our mentors and briefed them beforehand, which helped to ensure engagement on the day and encouraged others to take part.
Schedule your intro and question tweets ready for the day – this frees up time to be reactive. Include any appropriate GIFs, imagery or videos.
On the day be ready to go at the launch time and react by liking, retweeting and replying to responses. We suggest using another platform so those running the chat can communicate, for example, a WhatsApp group. Conclude with a thank you and follow participants so you can continue to engage with them long after the chat has ended.
Takeaway tips
- Planning is vital! It takes time to research and seek inspiration, but this makes it less stressful on the day.
- Be brave. Trying something new is scary, so have confidence in what you’re doing.
- Learn and adapt. Our chat went by extremely quick and was very fast-paced so we will look at adjusting the time between questions next time.
- Ensure questions are framed for everyone. For example, tweaking “What is it like being a mentor?” to “What do you think is involved in being a mentor?”
- Schedule answers ahead of time. We posted our answers in real-time which meant we had less time to be reactive.
- Space out questions and answers to allow time for responses. We ran four questions with six minutes in between each and posted the answers three minutes after their corresponding question.
- Invite your network to take part. We only invited a small group of mentors this time, but we could have easily involved our wider network.
- Make sure responsibilities are clear. Split tasks between your team – one handling responses and tech and the other following the conversation to spot any issues.
Further reading and inspiration:
- Twitter chats: How to successfully host & participate in them
- How to Host a Twitter Chat That Connects with Your Audience
- How to Create a Twitter Chat: 4 Success Tips
- How to Host Your First Twitter Chat
- Charity Hour
- The National Academy for Social Prescribing’s Twitter chat
Want to develop your comms or social media skills further? The CharityComms mentoring scheme reopens for applications next week. Find out more.
Banner Image: ilgmyzin on Unsplash