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While many individuals use Twitter to have conversations with friends and meet new people, they also use Twitter to hold regular discussions on industry and business related topics with peers. Twitter users refer to these peer-to-peer conversations as chats.
Most Twitter chats have one or more organizers who moderate the discussion and set the day and time for the conversation. Additionally, the chats use hashtags, which are words or phrases that are preceded by a "#" sign, example: #inboundmarketing. Hashtags allow people to follow the group conversation using Twitter Search. To follow a chat in your industry you can simply put the hashtag for the conversation into Twitter Search and watch the the tweets flow.
Many clients, marketers and executives believe that their industry is different from others. While this is true, it is not a fair objection to avoiding innovative marketing approaches. Now that you have a basic understanding of what a Twitter chat is, let us show you some examples across a diverse sample of B2B industries.
Weekly B2B Twitter Chats
1. #agchat - Moderated by @mpaynknoper, #agchat occurs from 8-10 pm EDT on Tuesday. The chat is an open dialogue amongst the various players in the agriculture, farming and ranching worlds. It is for people in agriculture, including those in the business of producing food, feed, fuel and fiber.
2. #aptchat - Moderated by @LisaTrosien @30Lines, #aptchat occurs from 3-4pm CST on Friday. The chat was created to discuss the apartment and multifamily housing industry.
3. #assnchat - Moderated by @pinnovation, #assnchat occurs from 1-2pm CST on Tuesday. The chat is open to any all members of the association community, including staff, consultants, volunteer leaders and members. With the goal to explore the present and future of associations.
4. #b2bchat - Moderated by @b2b_chat @kseniacoffman @jeremyvictor @kenthuffman @andrewspoeth, #b2bchat occurs from 8-9pm EST every Thursday. The chat is a weekly conversation for B2B marketers.
5. #bookmarket - Moderated by @corb21 @claudiaC, #bookmarket occurs from 4:00-5:00 EDT on Thursday. The chat's goal is to connect authors and publicists for the greater good.
6. #EyeConnect - Moderated by @AdvancedEyecare, #EyeConnect occurs from 12-1pm CST on the 2nd Weds of each month. The chat is for optometrists, ophthalmologists and eyecare professionals. Topics include practice management and latest developments in eyecare.
7. #icacaterchat - Moderated by @icacater, #icacaterchat occurs from 4-5pm PST on Tuesday. This chat is for conversations about the art and business of professional catering.
8. #KMers - Moderated by @swanwick @weknowmore, #KMers occurs from 12pm EDT on Tuesday. This chat is for knowledge professionals to share information about knowledge management.
9. #RNchat - Moderated by @RNchat @philbaumann, #RNchat occurs from 11:30am EDT on Tuesday. This chat is an open discussion for registered nurses. It covers a wide range of topics involving the nursing profession,healthcare, public awareness, how nurses can employ social technologies.
10. #tnl - Moderated by @fishdogs @pinkolivefamily, #tnl occurs from 8-10pm CST on the last Wednesday of month. This chat is for an audience of recruiters, researchers and other HR professionals interested in social media for recruiting and branding.
I encourage you to take a look at the these chats and see if one of them is related to your industry or possibly if you could start one for your industry. The networking and educational value of online B2B conversations can be invaluable if the content is on topic and moderated well.
Beyond the networking value, participating in these chats builds awareness for your business and provides a platform for you to share relevant content that you have created. Content sharing to an engaged and social audience often leads to increased traffic and leads to your web site.
Have you ever participated in an organized Twitter chat for your business?
| New Media thought leader, Brian Solis, will share how to implement and manage a Social Media Optimization (SMO) program.
Date and time: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 12:30pm EST Reserve your spot now to increase your visibility in social media! |