You wouldn’t call a customer and then not talk once they picked up the phone, right? Think about Twitter in the same way. Once you decide to pick up your Twitter handle and begin dialing, be sure you have something to say. Or better yet, leave it to other people to ask you questions on topics that will benefit your business.
If you are looking for ideas, Twitter Q&A’s are a wonderful catalyst for organizations to build their presence and engage in conversations.
Best of all, they are cheaper than a phone call (free) and they are easy to organize. All you need is a great topic and some preparation.
Following is the first part of a four part series on how to implement a successful Q&A on Twitter from start to finish.
The series includes:
- Suggestions for building a stronger presence leading into the Q&A session
- Best practices for promoting and conducting the session
- Options for engaging the audience during the session
- Ways to keep the conversation going after the session
So what do you need to begin building a stronger presence?
Step 1 – Review Your Bio
This is often the first thing we scramble to get done when setting up a Twitter account. If you already have a bio, take a moment and quickly check it for the following items.
- Make sure to include the company, your title (if applicable), and any key words that might be of interest to those you are trying to reach. With the proper mix of terms you can increase your chances of being picked up in organic searches on Twitter or on the web. Also remember that Twitter is all about engaging in conversation. While your bio should be professional, it should also be personable.
- For example: Constellation Research Industry Analyst. Provocateur, keynote speaker, disruptive tech, innovation, author, biz strategist, contract negotiator. CEO. Club DJ.
Step 2 – Gain Followers
In most cases, companies and individuals considering Twitter are looking to engage with influencers, potential clients, and peers in a new and meaningful way. In order to do this you need followers.
While hosting a Q&A can help boost your engagement and followers, leading up to the Q&A you should start following Twitter users that are important to your business.
The good news is the folks you should follow on Twitter are the people you should be following in your day-to-day business life – pundits, influencers, and sometimes your competitors. Now you just need to start following them on Twitter. Also be sure to check-in with your team. From your sales people to your PR team, they can all help identify who you should be following.
Step 3 – Give yourself some time to get established
If you don’t have a large following already, take the time to get the right audience in place before scheduling a Q&A. As in life, it takes time to establish a foundation on Twitter. You need to establish a voice by focusing posts on a set of industry themes or topics you know your target audience will want. With these themes and topics in mind you can really begin to increase your visibility.
There are several techniques you can use including:
– Focus posts on a set of industry themes to establish voice on Twitter. The clearer your voice is on Twitter the more successful you will be.
- Tip: Don’t just post company news. It’s important to create a meaningful conversation that includes industry-centric content, as well as those topics focused on your company.
– Increase activity to demonstrate your commitment, engage followers, and build relationships on Twitter by posting at least 3-4 tweets per day. And remember this has to be consistent. You are engaging in a conversation. If you pick it up and drop it off, your followers will lose interest.
- Tip: If you feel like doing this on your own may be difficult, you can create a Twitter account that is accessed by multiple members of your team. Each person can be responsible for one tweet at day.
– Share opinions and commentary by responding to articles and posts by industry influencers and sharing your thoughts on major industry and business developments.
- Tip: In Twitter you can create ‘Lists’. These lists are curated by the user and typically have themes. For instance, a list could be mobile advertising influencers. Under this list you would have your top five influencers. As they tweet you will have a direct window into what they are sharing and can comment on their tweets. This not only gives you a steady stream of content, it allows you to engage with influencers.
– Whenever possible, tweets should include the Twitter handles of industry influencers to encourage additional conversation.
- Tip: Using the @ Twitter handle not only alerts the person who you are addressing that you are listening to their commentary, it alerts their followers. This can help further establish your presence and build you personal community of followers.
– To engage with other Twitter users, it is important to strike a balance between original tweets, re-tweets, @replies and link sharing.
- Tip: Re-tweets and @replies should be focused on interactions with industry influencers to boost awareness among their followers for your Twitter efforts, with the ultimate goal of having them follow you.
With that we will give you some time to digest what we’ve shared and begin sharpening your Twitter presence by implementing these tips. This will prepare you for the next part in the series shedding light on best practices and logistics for setting up the Q&A.
Additional resources: @TWITTER: #BESTPRACTICES for more Twitter best practices.
