When it comes to growing your business’ presence on social media, one of the most productive uses of your time is to participate in Twitter chats. For those of you not familiar with the concept, these are hosted business networking events on Twitter which are based around a pre-defined hashtag (#). Examples which I regularly participate in are #seochat, #northwesthour and #lancashirehour. In short, they’re Twitter based networking hours where both local and international businesses (dependent on the chat) discuss their business, each others businesses and general ramblings! They’re a great way to network with others in your industry or local area and can certainly help to boost your authority on Twitter. As such, here’s three great reasons why you should partake in Twitter chats:
1. Grow Your Following
Of course, to succeed on Twitter you need to ensure your following grows but that it grows in the right way! Trust me when I say that 200 followers who regularly interact with you is far more valuable to your business than 2,000 who simply aren’t interested. Twitter chats are a fantastic way to grow your following in an organic way but by connecting with people who actually have an interest in what you’ve got to say. Whether they’re other local businesses or those from further afield yet in your industry, you’ll see your following growing rapidly when you participate in Twitter chats, so long as you’re doing the decent thing and following others on the chats too!
2. Build Relationships
As well as simply growing your following, you’ll see yourself networking either with others within your industry or other local businesses. As I’m sure you’re aware, businesses can be built or broken on relationships so it’s certainly something worth working on! By connecting with other businesses, be that re-tweeting them, tweeting at them or favouriting their tweets, you’ll be building relationships which will hopefully, in the future, extend to well beyond simply a virtual relationship!
3. Build Your Authority
Lastly, participating in Twitter chats will see you build your overall social authority! Whether that’s by increasing your Klout score or simply increasing your overall social visibility, you can be confident that, through these chats, you’re building your authority either within your industry or within your local area. By showcasing your industry knowledge and expertise, you’re sticking in the minds of others and, as with all networking activities, who knows when these people will need your services?
Above all, whether you’re participating in one a week or multiple a week, there’s no doubting that it’s doing wonders for your social presence and if you’re not already participating in them…you should be!