By John Foley, Jr., Chief Marketing Officer at Grow Socially
What is a Twitterview? It is where people have a live interview on Twitter.
So how does it work? The first step to making your Twitterview a successful promotional tool is to create its hashtag. A hashtag is simply the pound symbol (#), followed by the name of the Twitterview. The name cannot have any spaces or punctuation in it. An example of a Twitterview name with its hashtag would be “#FoleyOnSocialMedia.” You would use “#FoleyOnSocialMedia” in order to search for it on Twitter as well. Once the hashtag is created, the best way to promote your Twitterview to your audience is by announcing it in all of your social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, Web site, etc.).
While the interview is happening, you must always include the designated hashtag for that specific interview in each tweet. This way, every tweet that is exchanged during the Twitterview will show up when your audience searches its hashtag.
I recently participated in a Twitterview with the topic of “QR Codes and Video Tags in Tourism.” By taking part in this hour-long discussion, I was able to interact with tourism marketers from all over the country, including Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, California, and Montana. These were just the people who were actively participating in the discussion; however, I was probably promoting myself to many others who were just following along.
Throughout the Twitterview, we all discussed where QR codes can appear, where the codes can direct a person to, and why they would be useful and beneficial for the user. I was able to promote myself, QR codes, and QReateandTrack, a QR code service that one of my businesses provides. Using the Twitterview, I was able to promote myself in a variety of ways. The first way was by introducing myself with: “Hi, I’m @JohnFoleyJr from @interlinkONE. #TourismChat.” Here, I attached my Twitter handle, “@JohnFoleyJr,” my business’ Twitter handle, “@interlinkONE,” and the Twitterview hashtag, “#TourismChat.” In that one little tweet, I shared links to my personal Twitter profile and interlinkONE’s Twitter profile.
Further into the discussion, someone asked where he could learn more information about QR codes. I responded to this inquiry by including the person’s Twitter handle in the tweet followed with: “If interested, whitepaper here: #QRCodes ‘Using QR Codes to Reach the Busy, Mobile Consumer:’ http://ilnk.me/5058. #TourismChat.“ Here, I not only acknowledged a participant’s request for more information, but I also shared the link with everyone who was following the Twitterview.
Meanwhile, a representative from interlinkONE joined the Twitterview as well by using QReateandTrack’s Twitter handle, “@QReateandTrack.” While using this, she was able to answer questions and promote QReateandTrack on behalf of interlinkONE. Some of the ways she was able to give great tips, answer questions, and share links were by tweeting:
- “@QReateandTrack: QReateAndTrack.com. There you can create the QR code and also track it. You can see where and when it was scanned. #TourismChat”
- “@QReateandTrack: You could go about finding more info by setting up a landing page and asking people for more info. That would work. #TourismChat”
- “@QReateandTrack: We created this poster: http://ilnk.me/5065. Each time it is scanned, the QR code changes its response. Try it out! #TourismChat”
Remember, Twitter only allows your tweets to contain a maximum of 140 characters, so that is why the tweets have to be very blunt and straightforward.
When the Twitterview was close to conclusion, I gave a few final suggestions and tips by tweeting:
- “@JohnFoleyJr: Tracking needs to go beyond a scan to a page. Metrics are important. #TourismChat”
- “@JohnFoleyJr: Don’t think big brother! Think reaching the mobile audience. #TourismChat”
Lastly, I thanked all of the attendees for joining the Twitterview and gave one last promotion of myself and the representatives from interlinkONE: “@JohnFoleyJr: Thanks! Any questions, ask me PLEASE! Or follow @QReateandTrack or @JasonPinto. #TourismChat.”
Twitterviews can be extremely useful when you are trying to market to a new group of people or industry. By participating in these online discussions, you are able to make a lot of connections in a short amount of time, and you can learn a lot as well. Take the time to do some searches on your favorite hashtags, and if you want to conduct your own Twitterview, ask some of your favorite tweeters to join in. Good luck!
