Last Friday I hosted my first ever Twitter chat with Julien Bradley as part of her virtual book tour. We got to pick her brain about being a writer and get her thoughts about the writing process.

Since this was my first time hosting and as her assistant, I wanted to make sure this event went off without a hitch for Julien.

After all, our main goal is to connect with her fanbase in order to sell more books. And here comes a plug…check out her website to learn about her books of the Bakken series! 🙂

Needless to say I was nervous. I mean, I’ve seen chats on Twitter before. I even participated in one a looong time ago. But I wasn’t sure if there was a particular format. What kinds of hashtags I use. Ugh!

Of course I knew I could find help on the good ole world wide web. And sure enough it came through. The article that was most helpful was the one by Sprout Social.

Here’s the tips I took away from their article. Plus a couple of tips of my own and what happened in my first tweet for the chat.

Some Tips For A Successful Twitter Chat

1. Be prepared. Make sure you have a list of questions to tweet out and send a copy to your guest of honor.
2. Have a co-host or back-up. I didn’t anticipate this but my good friend Dana of I Am My Imagination jumped in on the Twitter chat. And I’m so glad she did! She saved my a** when she noticed I tagged the wrong Twitter handle in the first tweet! Geez Louise! There I go deleting that one and sending out a correction. Talk about embarrassing!
3. Research. Do a research of the top hashtags. For example, if you have a Twitter chat with a blogger, look for the best hashtags to use during your conversation.
4. Promote your Twitter chat. If you want to generate some buzz for your Twitter event you’re going to have to promote it. But don’t just promote it on Twitter. Share it across other social media channels.
5. Communicate with your guest before and the day of the chat. Explain how it works and the day of your event, have a quick meeting to answer any questions and maybe calm some nerves.

Wrapping Up

So those are the things I learned and my tips for a successful Twitter chat. I hope you found this post helpful!