CHATS AND HANGOUTS: BOOSTING SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT THROUGH CONVERSATION
One of the attractive aspects of social media companies for businesses of all sizes is that social platforms are usually designed to make individuals, and in this case companies more accessible. A business can directly address any complaints or questions about a company through FB comments or use Instagram to encourage conversation with your users.
Two platforms that have made communication between brands or celebrities and their fans or consumers more accessible and advanced are Google+ and Twitter. In the case of Google+—a social platform whose future seems unlikely but will keep many of its features—one of the blockbuster features they promoted early on were Google Hangouts in which an expert in a field, a celebrity, or a CEO can hold a video or text-based conversation with their fans, clients, customers, and interested participants.
Twitter, on the other hand, offers a feature that is not widely known, but is being increasingly utilized by pioneers in the field of social media marketing: Twitter Chats. The chat itself is not much different from Twitter’s general set-up and practices. A host usually monitors the conversation and answers questions posed by those who have signed up for the chat.
Chats and Hangouts are fantastic ways for you to communicate directly with your customers, making both you and your company seem more accessible in the process. So what are the best practices when setting up a Chat or Hangout?
First, it’s crucial that you define a clear objective—such as answering FAQs about a new development in your field or market—that will appeal to your target audience and that is not just about your company, but is actually tailored towards helping the online community.
Search on your respective platform for Chats or Hangouts with similar topics and study how these work. Pay attention to how the host controls the crowd and see who exactly they have invited as you might want to invite these users as well.
Once you’ve set a time for the event—lunch time is a great period as well as the after work time period of 6pm-10pm—and invited your followers and other users you think would be interested in the Chat or Hangout, prepare your questions well in advance so as to avoid any awkward pauses or slow points in the chat.
Finally, promote your chat by posting about it, buying sponsored posts or ads, and email all of the relevant addresses in your email database that you would think would be interested in your topic. Remember: you’ll likely have technical difficulties the first time you run a Chat or a Hangout, so perhaps pick a light topic for your first event or do a test run in advance.
By putting in the time to learn about your audience and to create a conversation topic that is of very real interest to them, you can make Chats and Hangouts an essential and highly effective facet of your social media marketing, allowing you to connect directly with your audience on a regular basis.
