Be Heard by DC: Join Our Tweet Chat Thursday

Posted by on Jul 7, 2015 in In The News | 0 comments

tweet_chat

I love it when things can do double duty and that’s what I have for you today. Here’s the deal: Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, and I are doing a Twitter chat at 1 p.m. Thursday, July 9 at #smallbizhillreport and I urge you to participate for two reasons:

  • We’ll have a member of Congress on hand so you can truly get your small business concerns heard by a lawmaker, and
  • If you haven’t participated in a Twitter chat before, this is your chance to get accustomed to the medium and the format.

Both of these points are important. The first because as small business people, we often feel like no one really hears our concerns. The second is important because Twitter and Twitter chats are a fantastic way to connect with your customers, prospects and industry authorities – and engaging each of these groups can give your marketing efforts a major boost.

Master the fundamentals

Let me give you another quick, two-item list. To prepare for Thursday’s Twitter chat you need to:

  • Get your questions and comments organized into 140-character tweets, and
  • Familiarize yourself with the best apps to use to participate in a Tweet chat.

If you have a burning question you want to pose or a killer point you want to make, type it out now and count the characters. It’s terrible to have something to say and find out that it’s too long for a tweet. Then you start struggling with editing and miss part of the online conversation.

Using the right software can be a big help. Check out Tweetchat.com. This online-app makes it easy to follow and participate in Twitter chats. I suppose I also need to mention that if you want to contribute to the conversation, you need to have a Twitter account.

By the way, not only will participating in our Twitter chat get your name out there a bit more, participating in others will also help you build your online reputation and following. You can find lists of Twitter chats at the places listed below. They are also useful to check when you get around to scheduling your own to be sure there’s not a major conflict:

  • Tweetreports has a twitter chat schedule (can also schedule your chat).
  • Twubs has a list (can also schedule your chat).
  • Calendar where you can view by topic/category.
  • Chatsalad lists chats that are about to start or are in the near future.

I look forward to seeing you online on Thursday!