Relationship Building: The Tweet Chat is Over … Now What?
Every week, I look forward to a good tweet chat discussion. Participating in the conversation or even just following along is a great way to learn, get inspired and to meet interesting people. Joining a tweet chat discussion is a new way to network and it’s proving to be effective. However, what happens after a tweet chat is over? The hour is up and people go their separate Twitter ways. Too often it seems that the dynamic interactions end after the event and some of the great connections are lost.
I wrote a post recently about networking where I stated, “Relationship building is my career.” It’s no longer just a part of my PR role; it’s the fiber in everything that I do. With that said, it’s so important to keep your networking top of mind. So, don’t just let the tweet chat end, take the steps necessary to stay in touch and keep the conversations going. Here are some of my tips to promote future opportunities connecting with peers, colleagues and new friends post-event, and to build upon the relationship that you started during the chat session.
1. Follow those who share the most interesting insights during the Twitter chat session and continue the discussion by reaching out with questions or additional relevant information.
2. Find your new contacts in other networks where they may be participating. Are they also on LinkedIn, Google Plus, and do they blog regularly? Get to know your new friends better by seeing what else they do and by checking out where else they participate.
3. Write a blog post about the chat session and the community’s participation. Storify is a useful tool to capture the best tweets of the discussion. Be the champion who shares the entire story and even educates those who didn’t get to attend an insightful discussion.
4. If the tweet chat hashtag is popular, and used frequently post discussion, follow along on a daily basis to engage more frequently with the community.
5. Do your homework. Be sure to take some time to follow up on the tips and new things that you learn during the chat session. If resources, books, tools, and apps are shared, then make a list and do some research. Anything interesting you uncover can be shared later through the community hashtag and beyond!
There are so many great communities with weekly and monthly chat sessions. For those of you looking for a couple of good tweet chat this week, you might want to check out:
The St. Louis Social Media Group has its #STLChat tonight (6/23/14) at 8:00 p.m. CT / 9:00 p.m. ET. I’m participating as a special guest and we’re discussing all things public relations and social media, from how social media has changed PR to the best strategies and practices for pros.
On Wednesday, June 25th you can join in a #PRStudChat community discussion with Jason Mollica, President of JRM Comm. Jason will be hosting a session on how to “Build Your Brand to Land Your Dream Job.” We’ll be focusing on various tips to build and manage your best possible brand.
Hope to see you at a future tweet chat and don’t forget to follow up post event. And, please feel free to share how you are building relationships when the tweet chat is over.
