Today will mark the fifth #shehechat for me and Shelby Sapusek. In our first month here’s what we’ve learned about bringing a Twitter chat to life. In no particular order, here’s the good the bad and the ugly:
- Announce your topics ahead of time. Many people have commented that they set time aside once they see a topic that interests them.
- Occasionally, conduct your chat in a live venue where folks can show up. This encourages participation and allows people to see how focused chat moderators are for 60 minutes.
- As much as possible acknowledge everyone who participates in the chat. Think of participants as guests in you home. They would not go unacknowledged or ignored.
- When possible it is easier to moderate a chat if you are face-to-face with other moderators and can pass responsibilities back and forth with verbal queues.
- Expect the unexpected. Even with preselected topics conversations will go in directions you don’t expect. Go with this flow, this is when the good stuff happens.
- Before your first chat take some time to develop a list of topics. We had about 25 topics defined before our first chat. We constantly add to the list and when time is short we can pick from the pot of unused topics.
- Don’t be so rigid that you feel you need 4 or 5 topics each week. Some topics need 10 minutes and some need 30 minutes or more. Think about that when deciding how many topics to announce for the week.
- Allow time for Q&A. This is one we are still working on. This week we are planning to leave at least five minutes at the end for open questions.
- Promote, promote, promote. Don’t assume people will just show up or remember. You are competing with a very crowded digital space.
- Be careful of the hash tag you choose. In our case lots of people have misinterpreted the meaning.
Week 5 #shehechat topics
- How to do a marketing campaign via social media. What are the best practices?
- When to go dark. When do you draw the line and let go of social media for a time?
- If you died today, what social media catch phrase would you be remembered by?
Oh, and if you’re new to #shehechat, here is some background:
* Introduction to #shehechat and how to follow along on Twitter
* Our blogs on this site in the “She Said, He Said” category which started #shehechat
Be sure to join us this evening at 8pm CST on Twitter and follow along with the #shehechat hashtag.
Neat will separate some time.
Always a pleasure to chat with you Raul. Whenever you can make it we’d be honored by your participation.