Twitter Chats: How Marketers Can Benefit From Twitter Chats

Do you participate in Twitter chats?

Want to discover how to get the most out of them?

To explore how marketers can benefit from Twitter chats, I interview Madalyn Sklar.
More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

In this episode, I interview Madalyn Sklar, a Twitter marketing expert. She's host of the Twitter Smarter podcast and hosts a weekly Twitter chat at #TwitterSmarter. She blogs about Twitter at MadalynSklar.com.

Madalyn explores the power of Twitter chats and how to benefit from them.

You'll discover tools to make marketing with Twitter chats easier.

Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below.
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Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Twitter Chats
Madalyn's story

Madalyn had been doing online marketing for a long time, and when social media came about she was hooked. Twitter was her favorite, because the 140-character limit forces you to be concise.

She shares that whenever she traveled to different events and conferences, she asked people what was their favorite platform and why. She was amazed at how many people said they didn't like or understand Twitter.

As a result, she went on a mission: to help people become Twitter Smarter. She began using the hashtag #TwitterSmarter as she developed online classes and eventually launched Twitter chats.

Listen to the show to discover how Madalyn and I first crossed paths.

What's a Twitter chat?

The most simple description of a Twitter chat is a group of people coming together on Twitter for about an hour each week to have a conversation that revolves around a pre-determined hashtag. As long as people include the hashtag in their tweet, they're part of the conversation.

It's a great way to meet lots of like-minded people, as well as receive and give advice, Madalyn explains. She encourages people to learn from her chats, but also to chime in and share their own expertise.

A common approach, the one Madalyn takes, is to host a guest who does a Q&A for each Twitter chat.

Listen to the show to hear my analogies to Twitter chats.

Why participate?

Madalyn says that last year, she made it her mission to participate in as many Twitter chats as possible. She confides that it's not been easy; it takes effort to be a regular participant in several hour-long chats each week.

Twitter chats are great for helping you connect and network with people.

For example, when Madalyn started going to #MediaChat, she didn't know anybody. She started to connect with people and ended up having a side conversation with Matt Diederichs from Hootsuite, which is one of her favorite platforms for scheduling tweets.

Later on, she hosted Matt as a guest on her podcast and her Twitter chat.

Side conversations are a common occurrence during Twitter chats, Madalyn adds. You're still actively participating and using the hashtag, but you're also creating a small community within the big community. It's a great way to make valuable, strong connections.

Listen to the show to hear why Madalyn refers to Twitter chats as "cocktail parties."

Where to find Twitter chats

Madalyn finds that it works best to run a Google search for your topic and "Twitter chat" in Google search. Another option is to type in "Twitter chat," and you'll find some directories.

Since directories aren't always reliable or up to date, Madalyn also recommends looking for chats on Twitter (you can identify them by the repetitive hashtag). Once you dip into a chat, you'll hear about others. She says you can also find out about specific chats in Twitter bios, because many times hosts will mention them there.