Blogger Guide To: Twitter Chats

A Twitter chat is a live conversation where a host who creates a series of questions or a theme for the chat, and of course a coordinating hashtag. The hashtag serves ad a way for Twitter users to keep track of the chat and stay connected. Twitter is the most conversation friendly social media outlet, and so it is a great way to connect with, bloggers, brands, and companies.
Twitter chats have numerous benefits to them, such as increasing traffic to your blog, as well as provide a great networking opportunity with other bloggers and professionals in your field. Building relationships with other bloggers is so beneficial and can lead to future collaborations, and just some great friendships with people that get the whole blogging thing. Like anything worth doing in life, sometimes it can be challenging and sometimes hard to get encouragement, so having some blogger friends is seriously the best thing you can do for you, your blog, and your brands future.  

A lot of Twitter chats have a casual tone to them and are a lot of fun, but keep in mind that you should still act semi-professional. Twitter chats are a great way to get your brand, blog or business out there, but it don't spam the other tweeters. Let the conversations & questions about your brand happen organically. You'll get the opportunity to talk about yourself at the beginning of the chat when introductions typically take place. The rest of the Twitter chat is meant for learning about particular topics, and gaining insight from fellow bloggers.
When the moderators ask questions (Q1, Q2, ect) you typically reply with your response in the same format (A1, A2, ect, so others can easily follow along) It's also a good idea to retweet or quote the tweet you're answering so your followers know what's going on too.

It depends what niche you're in and what sort of things you would like to learn about, but I have gathered some of my favorites below.

Monday

Who: @Calliegisler
What: #CreativeCoffeeHour discusses different social networking strategies.
When:  Every Monday from 6-7PM PST

Who: @TheYoungHopeful
What: #CollegeCoffeeHour gathers college bloggers to discuss relevant collegiate topics.
When: Every other Monday 6-7PM PST

Who: @Ambitionista
What: #Ambitionista is a chat for dream-chasing women who want to share ideas and networking opportunities.
When: Every other Monday 6-7PM PST

Tuesday

Who: @ChelseaKrost
What: #MillennialTalk is a weekly discussion of various millennial topics and concerns.
When: Every Tuesday 5-6PM PST

Who: @PRStudChat
What: #PRstudchat creates conversations between PR students, educators, and professionals.
When:  Every Tuesday 5:30-6:30 PM PST

Who: @PopCosmo
What: #ChicChat features weekly topics about blogging, social media, and networking.
When: Every Tuesday from 6-6:30 PM PST

Saturday

Who: @GalPalGirlGang
What: #Galpalchat is founded by three young bloggers in hopes to create a place were bloggers can connect and inspire.
When: Every Saturday from 8-9AM PST

1. Use Tweetdeck
Tweetdeck is a customizable dashboard that you can organize into columns. For Twitter chats, I set up my columns for the home stream, @ mentions (which filters all tweets that mentions your Twitter handle), notifications (to keep track on favorites and retweets), and one for the Twitter chat's hashtag (which filters the tweets that include the hashtag).

2. Nail your into 
It's just like your elevator pitch, except instead of fitting it into 30 seconds, you have to fit it into less than 140 characters, because of the hashtag.  It's definitely a challenge getting all you want to say in less than 140 characters, but when you do master it, copy and paste it into your computer for other Twitter chats.

3. Participate 
Make sure all your focus is on the Twitter chat, because they are fast-paced, worth it conversations. Don't worry about trying to take notes, just retweet or favorite key takeaways which will relieve a lot of stress on your part.

4. Don't Stress
Twitter chats can be overwhelming, especially if it's your first one. It moves so fast but they are so much fun. So don't stress, just have fun and meet other creatives like yourself, and always remember that you can try it again next week.

Have you participated in a chat before? What are your favorite ones?