Published on June 12th, 2016 | by Guest

A Complete Guide on How to Participate on Twitter Chat and Stand Out

Are you in search of an easy and interactive outlet to share your ideas in real-time? Do you want to build your own brand image by making the best use out of Twitter? Then, Twitter Chat might be the perfect platform for you and your business! If you do not already have a Twitter account, sign up now, and this article will guide you in learning how to join a twitter chat and stand outamong the crowd.

In the following, a full depth discussion on how to join a twitter chat has been prepared from where you’ll get ideas on what is twitter chat? Why people use twitter chat? Some tools to use for twitter chat, best twitter hashtags, use of hashtag, how to participate on Twitter chat and many more.

What is Twitter Chat?

Twitter chat is an online event on Twitter, whereby a group of people discuss a certain topic of their choosing by using a particular hashtag. The time and date for the twitter chat is announced beforehand through a tweet or other social media posts from the host, guest or moderator of the event. The host conducts the chat by asking approximately 6-10 questions regarding the chosen topic, which are then discussed in the chat. This exchange of knowledge creates a great learning environment for all the participants.

You may have come across some of the best twitter hashtags already:

#Bufferchat
#Hubchat
#Sproutchat

How to join a Twitter chat

With the rapid increase in social media marketing, it is quite simple to understand why people use twitter chat. Twitter chat provides the vast exposure and network needed for any business to grow. It is a brilliant way to reach out to the target audience and expand one’s community. Marketers and entrepreneurs particularly, can take full advantage of this platform by finding the best twitter chats to join for their industry.

These chats are very organized and normally take place on a regular basis. In fact, after a certain time, you will begin to see familiar faces with whom you can connect more deeply.

So, if you’re interested in knowing how to join a twitter chat, you have come to the right place of the internet.

Below is the step-by-step guide of how to participate on twitter chat:

Search for relevant twitter chats

Finding the right chat is the most important step. This step comes even before learning how to join a twitter chat. It may seem like a daunting task at the beginning, but there are resources that can assist you in finding the most suitable chats for your industry.

These are some of the popular resources:

Google Spreadsheet – It is the one of the oldest resources that displays details about over a hundred twitter chats (time, hashtag and description) in rows.
The Chat Diary – The Chat Diary shows the list of hundreds of Twitter chats in a calendar-like fashion.
Twubs Chat Schedule – Twubs consists of a directory of chats that is regularly updated by its creator.
Tweet Reports – Tweet Reports has a wider range of chats than most, and these can be sorted out by topic, time etc.

Follow host/guest/moderator After deciding on a few chats, you can take the second step of the process, i.e. how to join a twitter chat. To grasp the opportunity by the beard, that is to say, to take the maximum advantage of the twitter chat, use your twitter account to follow the host and special guests who are scheduled to appear on the upcoming chats. By doing so, you can not only get a closer view of how the host and guests communicate, but will also be able to prepare ahead of time for the twitter chat. Hosts or moderators usually announce the time and topic of twitter chat well ahead of the chosen day. If you keep a watchful eye out for these tweets or posts, you will be highly benefited.

Research on the topic In order to understand what the others are talking about and to contribute your own thoughts, ideas or even arguments, you must research on the topic that has been selected by the chat host. You can do a quick Google search on the topic, or carry out an extensive research to gain more command over the subject matter. You can also prepare further by making short notes, or keeping a few interesting points in mind that you would like to share on the chat. You maybe even type them out beforehand and copy-paste them when the chat goes live.
Choose the tools wisely On your journey to learning how to join a twitter chat, this step is of utmost value. You can always simply insert the hashtag of your desired twitter chat on the twitter search bar and follow the conversation from there.But the best twitter chats to join, are often the ones with the highest number of participants. The flow of conversation is so fast, that you really need to be on your toes to be able to share your input or keep track of others’ tweets. To easily rid yourself of this dilemma you can use tools for twitter chat. There is a variety of tools to choose from, so you must choose wisely.

Here are some of them:

Tweetchat– From automatically adding hashtags to your tweets to letting you determine the speed at which incoming tweets show up on your screen, TweetChat will lend you a hand in leveraging a twitter chat. It also blocks spammers and filters out retweets.

Hootsuite–Hootsuite is very popular social media management tool that can be used to coordinate among different twitter chats at the same time by adding multiple streams.

Nurph – Nurph allows you to chat or pause a twitter stream at your will. It even has the option to record and replay twitter chats. Nurph also has an RSVP function that you can use to send chat invitations.

Tweetdeck – Tweetdeckis free and useful, and hence, one of the most popular tools. It helps to organize various twitter chat activities in columns so you can keep up with the questions as well as pause and read through the tweets that intrigue you.

Maintain twitter etiquette: Any social gathering has either a clear or unspoken etiquette that should be maintained at all times. Twitters chats are no exception. Many times, people are faced with a predicament where they are warned or even banned by the moderators of a chat. If you want to avoid such a situation, follow these tips:

Go with the flow – It is crucial that you go along with the flow of the conversation. If you are late to join the chat, read the previous tweets and make sure you do not answer questions that has been already discussed earlier.
Cite your information – If you use data, statistics or quotes from a certain source, name it. It will increase the authenticity of your tweet.
Don’t go off-topic – Only tweet responses that are relevant and useful. Do not ramble or start your own topic of discussion.
Be on your best behavior – Be pleasant in your tweets. Do not pick an unnecessary argument or say offensive things on your tweets.
Abide by the rules of the specific chat – Often, the host posts a set of rules along with the announcement of the event. Be sure to read them carefully and do as instructed.
Let your other followers know that you’ll be tweeting a lot during a certain time period- It is a common courtesy to inform your followers that they feeds will receive many tweets from you so that do not get disturbed by the sudden flooding of tweets.
Make the best use of hashtag – The hashtags are there for a reason. In order for your tweet to be seen by the other participants of the chat, and increase followers, you need to use the appropriate hashtag in every tweet during the chat session.

Sell your idea not your product: One thing to bear in mind while participating on a twitter chat is that, people are there to learn and exchange views. Just like you wouldn’t be interested, or rather you would be irritated by spams, so would anyone else. Be sure to never spam links or the same tweet. And never try to sell your products on the chat. However, if your product/service is relevant to the topic in question, or there your website has valuable information for the audience, then feel free to add those in your tweets.
Build your network: You will come across numerous interesting people through these tweet chats. Don’t lose the golden opportunity to make their acquaintance! You can get in touch by retweeting the tweets you liked the best, or even by privately messaging the tweeters and praising their ideas. You can create a twitter list of people that seemed important and interesting during the chat. Learn how to use twitter lists and increase follower count by following them first and sharing relevant resources that will be useful to them.

Conclusion

I hope this guide has given you a complete picture of how to join a twitter chat and leave a lasting impression on people. If you follow the aforementioned steps and experiment with the various tools for twitter chat, you will not only enjoy the time spent, but also learn a great deal of new things. Remember, at this day and age, business is as much about promoting your product as it is about branding your own image and expanding your community.

If you have more questions regarding how to join a twitter chat, please contact us. Keep us updated on your twitter chat experience by commenting below. Don’t forget to like this blog with your fellow tweeters. Happy twitter chatting!

Author bio:

Md. Nashir Uddin branded as Sheikh Nashir who is passionate in digital marketing strategist. SheikhNashir increase the knowledge about SEO, SEM, SMM and PPC and explore his knowledge between them who increase their business ROI. Follow him on twitter @sheikhnashircom

Tags: chat, complete, guide, how to, marketing, participate, social media, stand out, twitter