Tweet Chats: Organized Chaos or Untapped Marketing Opportunity

While tweet chats can appear to be organized chaos from an outsider’s perspective, they are a fantastic way to enhance your experiences on Twitter by connecting and sharing with other individuals interested in the same topics.  For those that are unfamiliar with tweet chats, they can be defined as prearranged discussions that happen on Twitter through the use of a predefined hashtag.  The chat hashtag is used to link the tweets together in a virtual conversation so that all participants can follow along.  Formal Twitter tweet chats are arranged in advance and occur at a specific time. They also may include a formal agenda with a specific leader/speaker/moderator or they might involve a free flowing discussion between all participants. 

While marketers have embraced these chats as a way of connecting with fellow marketers and sharing ideas, companies/brands have been relatively non-existent in these conversations.  This may be an untapped opportunity for brands to truly connect and build trust with their audiences. 

A recent study from 360i showed that 75% of the tweets from brands/marketers can be classified as general brand information/news and only 16% are used to converse with consumers.  From a consumer perspective, 43% identified “sharing news/information about the brand” as their motivation for mentioning a brand and only 1% was allocated for conversing with the brand.  With more than 90% of tweets coming from consumers, “regular” people have become the voice of Twitter.  This has resulted in marketers focusing on trying to enlist these individuals to become brand advocates.

Tweet chats present an interesting opportunity for brands to engage directly with consumers.  However for it to work successfully, the intentions must be to add value to the community.  Consumers will see directly through tactics that result in a one-sided chat that focuses solely on the brand and it will turn them off almost instantly.

These chats can also allow a brand/product to create significant social capital.  For example, Gerber Baby Food (@gerberbabyfood) currently has about 600 followers and infrequently sends updates.  Creating a series of chats around topics mothers and soon-to-be moms care about would be an excellent way for Gerber to increase their following and create some positive social capital.  By bringing in guest “speakers” and discussing topics that their audience cares about, the tweet chats would be a great way for Gerber to really connect with individuals by sharing advice and answering questions.

For those interested in learning more about tweet chats, I would highly encourage you to participate in all or one of these tweet chats to learn firsthand:

• #blogchat – Moderated by @mackcollier, this chat covers all aspects of blogging on Sunday nights from 9 – 10pm EST.
• #socialmedia – Moderated by @Marc_Meyer and @JasonBreed this social media chat occurs Tuesdays at 12pm EST. Each discussion is also tagged with a number, such as #sm1, #sm2, etc.
• #imcchat – Moderated by @bethharte & @abarcelos, this chat focuses on integrated marketing communications and runs every Wednesday night at 8pm EST.

Here are some great tips on how to create a successful tweet chat. 

What do you think?  Would you participate in a tweet chat that was hosted / sponsored by a brand?  Would you incorporate tweet chats into your marketing campaigns?

Author: Brian Rice