Making The Most Of A Twitter Chat
Huddle, huddle, roil and muddle
I remember the first Twitter chat I attended. It was #journchat, one of the first, if not the first, Twitter chats created.
Image: Maria Johnson via Flickr, CC 2.0
It drove me nuts.
The stream moved so quickly, it was really hard to keep up with what was going on. And if there’s one thing I pride myself on, it’s being able to keep up with several things at once or, as the jargonites would put it, “multi-task.”
And if I’m being honest, some of the tweets people shared seemed so puerile, I said to myself, “Do they really work in public relations?”
Hey I can pull a Simon Cowell with the best of ‘em, though I try – for the most part – not to. And I suspect you can too.
As I started participating in more chats such as #pr20chat, #soloPR and then starting my own (#measurePR), I’ve come to learn a few things about how to make the most of a Twitter chat.
And that puerile is as puerile does.
So, especially if you are new to Twitter chats, I hope this will be helpful.
No barriers to participation
The beauty of Twitter is its democratic nature. Press conferences are held for the media. Professional development conferences are held for professionals in their fields.
But a Twitter chat? It’s there. It’s open. Anyone can participate if they jump on to the hashtag, regardless of whether they specialize in that particular field or not.
As a result, you have the potential for all sorts of comments – from seasoned professionals in the field, to curious onlookers or folks who dabble in the biz.
So no, all tweets will not be equal.
But I think that’s a great thing, since it gives us an opportunity to hear from many different voices… some of whom might become clients, if you’re nice to them.
What you can do: be willing to share (or re-share) information that might help explain the topic at hand to them, and point them to additional resources if they are interested in learning more.
I do this by keeping links to the introductory #measurePR post, as well as to the MeasurePR category on my blog handy. Then, when someone asks, “What is #measurePR?” I can give them a much better answer than I would be able to in 140 characters and the moment.
Resource bingo
Alex Talbott put it best:
Echoing Alex’s thought, Jodi Gersh said on Facebook:
And John Friedman:
This is one of the best things about Twitter chats.
When you go back and look at the transcripts, you’ll find people share a wealth of resources… blog posts, websites, and most of all, their own thoughts, often artfully captured in a perfect sound bite.
Most of the Twitter chats I’m aware of take place for an hour or so. But the great thing about them is that that hour is jam-packed with so much additional information, you could pretty much download all the additional resources shared during the chat and make it your own little handbook.
What you should expect: that the chat moderator(s) will provide a recap of the chat. All that I know do.
If they don’t, go to the WTHashtag page for the chat, like this #measurePR WTHashtag page, and pull a transcript for the chat. Save it as a .PDF file, and you’re good to go.
Bonus tip: sometimes WTHashtag acts funky and doesn’t catch all the tweets, especially if you let a couple of days go by before pulling the transcript. So try to do it as soon as the chat ends.
The other thing you can do is to go to Twitter Search, plug in the hashtag, and save all the tweets that were generated during the time of the chat.
This is a PITA, and I’m not talking bread, but it gives you a record of what was said.
Props to Kellye Crane for reminding me of this during the most recent #measurePR with Don Bartholomew.
The other thing that’s smart to do is, when the transcript is generated, look for any URLs that have been shared during the chat. If they’re resources you will find useful, bookmark them (I use Delicious or Evernote) for future reference.
Rules of engagement
This is an easy one.
What you should expect: anything and everything.
Like I said before, it’s Twitter. Anyone can jump in, jump out, and pretty soon you have the hopscotch and Hokey Pokey rolled into one.
Image: Philippa Willitts via Flickr, CC 2.0
All together now: you put your right foot in, put your right foot out, put your right…
This is actually a lot of fun, if you’re prepared to deal with it.
What you can do: make sure that you’re including the relevant hashtag with your tweets. A good way to do this is to participate in the chat using Tweetgrid or Tweetchat, which automatically include the hashtag with your tweets.
This way, you’ll see interesting tweets from Twitter users you might not be following, but who are also using the hashtag to participate in the chat.
By doing so, you can engage with them, continue your conversation outside of the chat, and the next thing you know, you’re on a plane to Alaska.
Bonus tip: most chat moderators will number the questions, e.g. Q1, Q2, and so on.
When responding to specific questions, start off by saying, “Re Q1,” or “A1,” etc.
You will help the moderator out immensely by doing both these.
First, because unless you include the hashtag with your tweets, they won’t be indexed in the transcript/search.
Second, numbering your answers helps others understand what specifically you’re responding to, as well as the moderator, which will help her (ok, “or him”) point you to previous answers that may help you get up to speed (if you’re asking a follow up question), as well as additional resources that help you out.
This is some of what I’ve learned by participating in, and moderating, Twitter chats. I’m sure there’s much, much more, because I’m not Simon Cowell, and I don’t know everything.
What have you learned about making your Twitter chat participation more effective and useful? Do share!
Filed under How To, Social Media, Twitter | Tags: #measurepr, #pr20chat, alex talbott, jodi gersh, john friedman, kellye crane, solopr, twitterchat | Comment (0)
Social Media ROI v. Impact: Don’t Confuse The Two
What exactly is ROI?
What is social media ROI?
Image: Mark Smiciklas via Flickr, CC 2.0
Is ROI or “impact” more important? Or are they equally important?
Should companies starting out in social media be concerned about ROI?
These were the questions we discussed on yesterday’s #measurePR chat with Don Bartholomew, aka @donbart.
It was terrific.
As Sean Williams said,
Don is a refreshing blend of theory and practicality when it comes to demystifying what seems to remain one of the most puzzling questions in the social media and measurement worlds.
At least, Sean said something to that effect, but I can’t find his exact tweet, so let’s assume I’m not misquoting him… too much.
Here are some of the tweets from yesterday’s session:
That’s meant to be “think,” by the way.
The key point that Don, Sean, and a few others were trying to drive home is that ROI is ROI is ROI.
It is not “value,” and it is not “impact.”
Update at 11:42 am: Don just corrected me, saying, “… one could argue ROI is a form of Impact, but Impact is not ROI.”
He’s right, and that’s what I meant, and should have said.
Back to your regular programming.
When we start trying to redefine “ROI,” we are opening a can of worms. Because the C-suite understands ROI as something very specific.
If we’re then going to try to change that definition, it can’t end well.
Focusing on Impact, on the other hand, makes a lot of sense, because here you’re starting out with measurable objectives (tired of that phrase yet?!).
Once you do that, you’re going to track your program(s) to see if they result in those measurable objectives… which should be created with some kind of impact on the business/organization in mind.
Do have a read through the transcript of the #measurePR chat with Don; there are some real nuggets in there.
The conversation was so interesting, that Don agreed to come back for Round 2 of the SM ROI discussion.
So save the date: Sept. 14, 12-1 pm ET.
If it makes life easier for you, you can RSVP for #measurePR with Don, Round 2, on Facebook.
It would be great to get some questions from you, so that we don’t have to repeat everything we discussed yesterday.
Will you send them along, either by leaving a comment below, or by shooting me an email or DM?
Don and I hope to see you there!
Filed under MeasurePR, Measurement, Public Relations, Social Media | Tags: #measurepr, don bartholomew, sean williams, twitterchat | Comments (2)Catching Up With #measurePR
The last couple of #measurePR chats have been interesting. A few weeks ago, we resumed our chat via a “community” edition, i.e. where we literally just chatted about measuring our favorite subject, PR. There weren’t any guests, or any set agenda – just… us.
Image: Proctor Archives, Creative Commons
You can get the June #measurePR community chat transcript here.
Then, last week, we were extremely fortunate that Lee Odden was able to join us, to talk about the confluence between SEO and PR measurement.
I can’t imagine you don’t know who Lee is. He’s an all-round brilliant (and nice) guy, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, and one of the people who doesn’t just get PR and SEO, but the measurement aspect as well. So it was really great that Lee was able to take time out of his busy schedule to join us.
Here are a sampling of tweets from the chat:
And perhaps my favorite:
Check out this great resource (among many) that Lee gave us: top 10 SEO tips for PR professionals; you can download the full transcript of #measurePR: the Lee Odden edition here.
And I hope you’ll join us next Tuesday, July 6, (12 – 1 pm ET) when Katie Paine, the undisputed queen of measurement, will return for an encore performance at #measurePR.
See you then!
Filed under Communication, MeasurePR, Measurement, Public Relations, Twitter | Tags: #measurepr, lee odden, PR measurement, twitterchat | Comment (1)Announcing #wgbiz Chats: Conversations By, For and Of Women in Business
Apparently some of our menfolk still don’t get this, but if there’s one thing we know -and love – about ourselves, it’s that we women like to talk.
(Image: Frits Ahlefeldt-Laurvig, Creative Commons)
We do a lot of that over at Women Grow Business, of which I’m editor, which is what makes it fun, don’t you think? Apart from useful, of course (and I hope you think it’s useful!).
Well, now we’re taking that to another level.
On April 12, we’re kicking off our very first Twitterchat for the #wgbiz community, which will take place on a monthly basis (the second Monday of every month).
Just as we do at WGB, we’ll chat about issues women entrepreneurs face, take questions on particular topics, and talk about anything and everything we need to grow as women entrepreneurs… and women.
I’m tickled, thrilled and triumphant that Tinu Abayomi-Paul (how’s that for alliteration?) will join us as our featured guest on April 12.
To put it mildly, Tinu’s a social media powerhouse.
Who better to talk about the benefits of inbound marketing someone who has the bona fides to show us how to generate leads and traffic from the WWW? The founder of Free Traffic Tips? I mean, why wouldn’t you ask Tinu?
As she’s been known to say, you “can’t knock her hustle.”
So please do join us on Monday, April 12, from 12-1 pm ET, to talk about all things related to inbound marketing. I’ll be moderating as @shonali, Tinu will be fielding questions as @tinu.
All you have to do to follow along or participate is jump on Twitter and watch (and/or use) the #wgbiz hashtag (that hashtag’s important, since it will allow us to capture all chat-related tweets in a post-chat transcript).
After all, there’s nothing we women like better than a good chat, is there?
Do spread the word among your cohorts, and I look forward to chatting in a week!
Cross-posted with minor edits from Women Grow Business.
Filed under Women Grow Business | Tags: inbound marketing, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Twitter, twitterchat, Women Grow Business, Women In Business | Comments (2)The Terrible Twos: Keeping Up With #measurePR
When I started the bi-weekly #measurePR chat on Twitter last month, I had no idea how it would do.
Yes, I could tell there was a need for it (conversations in several chats I sat in on turned in the measurement direction), and yes, I’ve done a little work in the area – but even if you hope and plan till the cows come home, you never really know if they’ll deliver the milk, do you?
OK, that’s my terrible analogy for the day.
Taken off it has. From some terrific guests, to being adopted as “the” hashtag for conversations related to measurement, #measurePR is almost like an infant running towards toddlerhood – “terrible twos,” anyone? – before it realizes it can’t actually run (image: Tomás Fano, Creative Commons), it’s still crawling.
Part of this running/crawling thing means that I’m left with so many thoughts swirling around in my head at the end of each chat – or when I listen in on related conversations outside of our regular chat window – that I’ve done a terrible job of capturing them. So I need to do better there.
But it also means that you can find a wealth of PR measurement-related resources, thinkers, and sharers, indexed by the hashtag.
I’m going to recap some of our past chats in greater detail (promise!), but in the meantime, here are downloadable transcripts for the previous chats to date:
- The first #measurePR Twitterchat on Feb. 2 featured Katie Paine (of which I managed to do a recap, which you can read here) who, I’m sure you know, is @kdpaine on Twitter;
- The second #measurePR chat featured research and measurement powerhouse Sean Williams, who tweets as @commAMMO;
- Richard Bagnall and Kristin Wadge were a “twofer” in the third #measurePR chat; can I just say how lucky the folks at Metrica are to work with them? They’re @richardbagnall and @kristinwadge on Twitter, by the way; and
- #measurePR #4 was the “community chat,” where the community led – and answered – the questions.
Today we have a terrific guest who’s taking time out of what I know is a very busy day to chat with all of us, Kami Watson Huyse (@kamichat) of Zoetica Media. Kami’s bio and credentials are so prolific I wouldn’t be able to do them justice here, but suffice it to say she rocks PR, social media, measurement and pretty much everything in that area.
Please join us from 12-1 pm ET on Twitter today (remember, the chat is bi-weekly, not weekly); use #measurePR with Tweetgrid, Tweetchat or your search method of choice to listen or participate in the conversation. See you there!
Filed under MeasurePR, Measurement, Public Relations | Tags: #measurepr, kami huyse, Measurement, PR measurement, Twitter, twitterchat, zoetica | Comments (4)3 Questions to Ask – and Answer – When Launching a Twitter Chat
As founder of the #measurePR Twitter chat, I was invited to, and participated in, #chatmixer last night (party image, David Domingo, Creative Commons).
The idea was to bring together folks who routinely participate in specific chats, in an online/Twitter “mixer,” in an effort to widen their Twitter circles (would that be Twircles?) – hence the choice of #chatmixer as a hashtag. Truth be told, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, though Justin Goldsborough, Heather Whaling and Valerie Simon were meticulous in their planning.
Turns out, I enjoyed myself thoroughly. It had a great party feel to it, and the last time I can remember the feeling of Twitter being such a party solely due to an effort like this (i.e. not related to an offline event) was the “kindness party” last year. I don’t even remember who organized that, except that Kim Wells brought it to my attention, and I had a whale of a time.
A chat is born
Anyhoo… during the course of #chatmixer, a new chat was born: #cookchat. (I cannot wait for that one.) And a few different people mentioned they were interested in starting chats as well.
This can be a very smart thing to do, especially from a marketing point of view.
But as with all bright ideas, you should play devil’s advocate and batter the heck out of your bright idea before you launch it. Better you find the holes in it & mend them before anyone else does, right?
First, read these excellent posts on participating in (by Jeff Hurt) and running (by David Spinks) a Twitterchat.
Now, just as when designing a PR strategy, here are three questions to ask – and answer – when launching a Twitter chat.
1. What gap will this chat help to fill?
If you look at What the Hashtag?! (now part of What the Trend™), you’ll see it’s currently tracking 9,900 hashtags. While not all of those are chats, that gives you a sense of just how many hashtags are out there.
Image: skipnclick‘s Flickrstream, Creative Commons
The primary reasons people participate in chats are, first, to learn something and second, to extend their networks. So if your chat is to be successful, it must fulfill these two desires.
If you look at this handy-dandy spreadsheet that Robert Swanwick created to track regular chats on Twitter, you’ll see a few chats that are fairly similar, as well as those that are quite unique.
There’s certainly nothing wrong in several people having the same conversation, albeit with different hashtags – it happens all the time. But if you want to give your chat a shot at succeeding (more on what this means in a bit), try to make it unique.
This is what Sarah Evans did with #journchat, what Kellye Crane did with #soloPR and, I’d like to think, what I’m doing with #measurePR.
What do the people you want to reach want to talk about? If you can answer that question – particularly with an answer that no one else has come up with yet – you’re off to a good start.
2. What will make this chat attract its target audience?
The quality of a chat – which is what will determine the perception of the chat and hence its profile – is dependent on who participates. You can design a great chat, but if you don’t have engaged, thoughtful and thought-provoking participants, it might end up being a one-hit wonder.
How do you bring the right people to the table?
Figure out what time of day and how often you’re going to hold the chat (this is particularly important if yours is not the only chat of its kind around)… and sustain it. Don’t set yourself up for failure; if your other commitments preclude a weekly chat, make it bi-weekly (or monthly, if you dare).
Whatever you decide, be consistent, since that is what will build your audience and community.
What you’re essentially asking people to do, as you build your chat community, is give up something else – work, family time, a movie, pizza – to devote their attention to your chat. Over and over and over again.
So make it easy and desirable for them to attend – that will go a long way in making it worth their while.
3. How will this chat become recognizable and identifiable?
Let’s face it, we in the social media sphere have the attention span of gnats. And I say that with no disrespect to gnats (image, Kaptain Kobold‘s Flickrstream, Creative Commons).
Like anything else in the branding space, repetition rules. So once you’ve figured out the name and aim of your chat, brand it well.
I’d go so far as to say, message the heck out of it.
Choose a smart, easy-to-remember hashtag that’s as short as possible; you want to make the most of those 140 characters of Twitter-estate. Register it on WTHashtag and add it to your bio.
Brand your chat frequently, but consistently. Because if you don’t, someone else might, and that will leave you considerably unhappy.
Which brings me to success – what does a successful Twitter chat look like?
It could be the dominant player in its niche with thousands of participants; it could be an extremely engaged conversation that leads to genuine discovery for a small but passionate group.
It could be the place where thought leaders in your field congregate; it could be people pitching you to be “on your show”; or it could be the generic use of your hashtag in conversations with a related theme.
Whatever the measure of success, you’re going to have to define it based on why you set out to build it… and if you really want to be successful, define this at the outset. I haven’t yet come across a Twitter chat that’s being sustained purely for fun, even if it was launched impulsively; if it builds, there’s a great deal of time and effort being put into it.
So figure out what you want to do with the chat, as well as what you want the chat to do for you (and it’s ok to want the chat to do something for you, that’s what business is about).
When you begin at the end, there’s a much greater likelihood you’ll get there.
What do you think, am I off the mark or on the money? If you’ve implemented successful tactics in launching and maintaining Twitter chats, please share them in the comments section below. All 9,900 hashtags (and growing) and I will thank you.
Filed under How To, Social Media, Twitter | Tags: #chatmixer, #measurepr, david spinks, heather whaling, how to launch a twitter chat, jeff hurt, justin goldsborough, katie paine, kellye crane, kim wells, sarah evans, Twitter, twitterchat, valerie simon | Comments (10)Of Cabbages and Kings and Measuring PR
We kicked off our first Twitterchat on measuring public relations yesterday, with the “queen of measurement” herself, Katie Paine. From 12-1 pm EST, we had an incredibly lively and vibrant discussion that surprised even me, the organizer – and I should know not to be surprised by anything on Twitter by now!
You might wonder why I borrowed from “The Walrus and the Carpenter” in titling this post. The thing is, Mr. Carroll’s poem is so full of beautiful whimsy, I can’t help but think it reflects some of the chaos we are still dealing with when it comes to measuring PR.
I write and speak often on this but really… why are we still going round and round in circles about something like AVE (ad value equivalency) which is essentially a measure of output when we know what’s really important to the C-suite is focusing on outcomes? Fortuitously, I stumbled across Pritesh Patel’s post on the subject of AVE as I was pulling this recap together, so do give it a read.
If I have one mantra when it comes to measurement – that’s it. Outcomes outcomes outcomes. Repeat after me: OUTCOMES.
But this recap isn’t (just) about me. So in that vein, here’s Sean Williams’ recap, which also looks at the AVE debate (or paroxysm, as he calls it). Below are some of the highlights of the chat, and you can find the entire transcript here.
The four questions posed were:
- What are the most common mistakes in measuring PR?
- How does a newbie get started in “smart” measurement?
- How has the PR measurement landscape changed over the years, or has it?
- Can you recommend some educational resources?
Here are just a few of the gems, and not just from Katie:
And those are just a few. I do hope you’ll read the transcript and share your thoughts via a comment below, or on Twitter using the #measurepr hashtag.
Katie – thank you so much for kicking off the inaugural #measurepr chat; I hope you’ll be back often as the featured guest!
A quick note on how we’ll proceed: these chats will take place every two weeks for now; if we see a great urge to increase (or decrease the frequency), we’ll do so, but for now, if you’re interested in PR measurement, do mark your calendars for the next one (February 16) from 12-1 pm ET, and every other Tuesday following.
And remember – we want to get your questions answered – so if you have questions you’d like to have discussed at a future chat, please email them to me at sburke (a) shonaliburke (dot) com – or, of course, you can always tweet me.
Until the next time – keep chatting and keep measuring!
More resources:
- The Institute for Public Relations has great resources on measurement
- I created a Twitter list of folks I think are leaders in measurement, so you might want to check them out
- As our featured guest, I think it’s only right to point you to Katie’s website and blog
- A presentation I made at PRSA09 on measurement, which may particularly help those of you at non-profits/with low or no budget
Image: Quinn Dombrowski, Creative Commons
Filed under MeasurePR, Measurement, Public Relations, Twitter | Tags: #measurepr, allan schoenberg, justin goldsborough, kathy moore, katie paine, Measurement, PR measurement, pritesh patel, sean williams, twitterchat | Comments (7)Want to Freelance? TwitterSource
I had a lot of fun co-hosting the first #soloPR chat on Twitter today. It was a shame that my co-host, Heather Huhman, was locked out of Twitter for the duration, but pros like Kellye Crane, Jen Wilbur, and many more shared great tips on a career as a freelance PR professional, especially for new/recent grads. That’s right, I put “career” and “freelance” in the same sentence; because it can be a great one.
You can see the entire transcript of today’s chat at the #soloPR What the Hashtag?! page, but here are some gems from today’s chat:
It was great to meet new folks and reconnect with friends like Jennifer Mitchell, a feisty San Diego-based pro. Jen and I agreed to use the term “an agency of one” (which I first heard from her and promptly appropriated – with her permission – for my website earlier this year) on separate coasts. And Shane Kinkennon put me squarely in my place with a beautiful definition of “higher marketing”:
Many thanks to everyone who signed on today. I hope you’ll join the erstwhile Kellye Crane as she moves the #soloPR chat forward every Wednesday, from 1 – 2 pm ET. If today was anything to go by, we just tapped into an amazing resource.
You.
Do you have more tips you’d like to share on a career in freelance PR? Do leave a note in the comments, I’d love to know.
Filed under Career, Communication, Public Relations, Twitter
| Tags: alison kenney, consulting, freelancing, heather huhman, jennifer mitchell, jennifer wilbur, kami huyse, kellye crane, pr, Public Relations, shane kinkannon, solopr, stephanie mrus, Twitter, twitterchat, wthashtag |
Comments (3)
