Branded and topic-focused Twitter Hours: a recipe for engagement
There you are, scrolling your Twitter feed (let's be honest, none of us call it X), and you come across an interesting looking Q&A with its own hashtag. By the looks of it, it happens every week at the same hour. You've just stumbled on a #TwitterHour.
Over the years, Twitter Hours, designated blocks of time where users tweet using a specific hashtag, have become a powerful tool for building communities, promoting brands, and generating real-time conversations. Hosting a branded or topic-focused Twitter Hour can be a particularly effective way to tap into this potential, attracting a targeted audience and boosting engagement around your chosen theme.
It's fair to say that they're not as popular as they once were, but that's probably a good thing. Where once they were being overdone, there's now space for them again and more opportunity to get people participating.
Twitter Hours offer a structured way for users with shared interests to connect, learn, and have fun.
Benefits of hosing your own Twitter Hour
Your own Twitter Hour can help you unlock several benefits:
Reach
A well-organised and effectively promoted Twitter Hour can attract a large audience, both within your existing follower base and beyond. Hashtags make it easy for people to discover the conversation.
Engagement
Twitter Hours are inherently interactive. Participants ask questions, share experiences, and retweet valuable content, boosting overall engagement metrics.
Brand awareness
For businesses and charities, hosting a Twitter Hour related to your niche can increase brand awareness and attract potential customers, donors or users.
Community building
Twitter Hours foster a sense of community around your brand or topic. Participants feel connected and valued, leading to increased loyalty.
Lead generation
You can use Twitter Hours to capture leads by offering valuable information or exclusive content in exchange for email addresses or social media follows.
Content creation
The conversations and insights generated during a Twitter Hour can be repurposed into blog posts, articles, or even future tweets.
Tips for creating and hosting your own Twitter Hour
So, now you know what a Twitter Hour is and are familiar with the benefits, let's dive into some tips on running one successfully.
Choose a relevant and engaging topic
Pick something that aligns with your brand or interests and resonates with your target audience. For instance, if you're a charity that offers mental health coaching, you could host a Twitter Hour during which a selection of your coaches answer a mixture of pre-planned questions and questions from participants that help explain what it involves
Promote in advance
Spread the word about your Twitter Hour through tweets, blog posts, and other social media channels. Give yourself plenty of time to promote it before the inaugural event, so you have a better chance of good attendance, and maybe even offer an incentive to encourage people to join.
Set a clear date, time, and duration
Make sure people know when and for how long the Twitter Hour will take place (yes, the clue is in the name, but it's still a good idea to manage expectations - especially in relation to what will happen once the hour is up - you might bow out, but that doesn't mean the conversations can't continue!)
Create a catchy hashtag
This will help people find the conversation and join in. But make sure it's also relevant to your topic, a catchy hashtag with no meaning isn't going to attract people to join your Twitter Hour as well as a hashtag that's clearly linked to the topic - for instance, want people to engage about charity fundraising? #CharityFundraisingHour will work better than a hashtag that doesn't mention that topic. Also, remember to include the word Hour in your hashtag for this to work.
💡 BONUS TIP: Use CamelCase in your hashtags so that the text-to-speech software used by the visually impaired can read them. It also reduces the risk of your hashtags appearing to say things you didn't intend, like Amazon Prime!
Invite guest speakers or influencers
Partnering with relevant figures can attract a wider audience and add credibility to your event.
Prepare discussion questions and prompts
Keep the conversation flowing by providing icebreakers and topics to talk about. Branded graphics cards are great for this.
Actively participate and respond to tweets
Show your audience you're engaged and interested in the conversation.
Use Twitter polls and Q&As
Encourage audience participation and gather valuable insights.
Track and analyse results
Like with everything else you do with digital marketing, use Twitter analytics to see how your Twitter Hour performed and identify areas for improvement.
Key takeaways about TwitterHours
Running your own regular brand or topic-focused Twitter Hour is definitely worth considering.
By following these tips and choosing a compelling topic, you can host a successful Twitter Hour that benefits your brand, builds community, and generates valuable engagement.
Remember, the key is to be prepared, interactive, and provide value to your audience.