5 Things I Learned From Hosting My Own Twitter Chat
June 6, 2016
In honor of launching my newest course on Twitter chat hosting, #CHATBOSS, I thought I’d create a recap of some of the most important things I’ve learned while hosting a Twitter chat.
If there’s even some small part of you that have thought about chat hosting, whether on a consistent weekly basis or as a one-time event around your product or service launch, these insights will hopefully be ultra helpful.
The real value of Twitter is in real-time conversations
I’ve used Twitter in countless ways. I’ve used it as a personal brand in order to secure internship and post-grad job opportunities, as a PR and social media blogger, and as the voice of various companies I’ve worked for. Through each application, I’ve seen how invaluable real-time conversations are.
While it’s great to use Twitter as a way to introduce yourself to someone new or quickly catch up, it often leads to building surface-level relationships of one-off conversations. Where Twitter holds the most value is in its live chats where like-minded people can all gather in one shared place. That’s where deep connections are made and advice is spread like wildfire.
You will reach your target audience and beyond
Of course knowing your target audience is important before starting your chat, which is something we cover in #CHATBOSS, but what about the people who join that are outside of your target audience? This is bound to happen since Twitter is a public forum and chat hashtags catch on quickly, but this can provide an interesting learning opportunity.
For example, if you’re hosting a chat for branding and graphic designers, you may see some web designers or even photographers come to chat depending on the topic. While your target audience continues to be those branding and graphic designers, you will still learn a lot from the other creatives who join. You can learn from how your target audience interacts with other creative types as they share their own unique perspectives.
Your position is to facilitate the space, not dictate the conversation
I even want to give myself an a-freaking-men for this. *insert crying laughing emoji*
Your job is not to fiercely direct the conversation to exactly where you want it to go. Your job is to create a space, determine a topic, and let the conversation flow and happen on its own. The quality of the conversation is much better that way anyway.
No matter what, own your process
In my conversation with Ashley Beaudin, the host behind the #fireandwindco chat, in my 10 episode audio series on community building, I discovered how differently we both run our Twitter chats. While I create and share the questions before the chat, she creates the questions as she goes. While I prioritize welcoming each participant to the chat, she prioritizes speaking truth over participants who need it most.
Neither Ashley nor I am wrong in how we approach our Twitter chats. Different communities call for different leadership styles so determining what your process is from the get-go helps everything run more smoothly. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, just like in any other area of your blog or business.
You’re ultimately building more than a Twitter chat
You’re not just building a Twitter chat. In essence, you’re building a hub for your community, a place for them to support and rally around one another. That’s a really special thing.
If you’re ready to grow your brand’s community by hosting your own Twitter chat, I created the #CHATBOSS course just for you. Along with learning how to be an epic chat host, you’ll also learn how to narrow in your focus, find your purpose, and connect with your people. It’ll have you like WHOA, trust me.
