The other week I was having a meeting with some friends who were planning an event. In preparation for the event I suggested having a twitter party. I then explained to them what a twitter party was and how to do it. The next thing I hear about is they are planning an event and inviting people and their computers to come and tweet.
That is not a twitter party.
A twitter party is held in the wonderful world of virtual reality, aka, in a chat room, specifically twitter. You don’t have to go anywhere, except for where you’re computer is and you don’t even need to shower…..for this.
The power of a twitter party is the hashtag that you create for the party. It can be related to the entity hosting it, a nonprofit cause, business or anything else, but you’re got to have a hashtag that connects the people.
The way it works
Promote the party a couple weeks out, using the hashtag that you created. Pump up the event through you twitter account and any related accounts that may be interested in what you’ll be talking about. Usually a twitter party will last one hour and have four questions, one every 15 minutes or so.
These aren’t difficult questions and are relevant to the reason for the party. Give away a prize to a randomly selected person who gets the question correct.
People may come for the cause or business, but they’ll stay and engage for the prizes. However, during that hour of the twitter party you’re building enthusiasm and awareness about whatever you’re talking about.
I’ve attended twitter parties on gospel music, dog food, pork, children’s products and other topics that I don’t know anything about. I had fun, learned a little bit and even got a prize from a couple of them. I came for prizes and stayed for the networking and knowledge. They work, are very cost effective and can be an amazing tool in your marketing arsenal.
