One of my favorite twitter tools that helps me get the most out of using twitter for my business is TweetChat.
As with many twitter tools, this one can be valuable in several different ways, first let me explain what it does: TweetChat allows you to, put any hash tag you might want to follow or use into a box at the top.
Once you do, you will see every tweet in the last few weeks with that hash tag displayed on the screen.
If you log into your twitter account through the site you will also see a 'tweet' box at the top where you can enter your own text and send a tweet - with one difference - every tweet you write will have the hash tag automatically affixed at the end.
No need to type it in, worry about forgetting it or mis-spelling it.
(Note: if you don't know what a hash tag is, it's also known as a 'pound sign' and looks like this #, a typical twitter hash tag is something like #ff, which is short for #followfriday) Ways to use TweetChat: Join Scheduled Conversations: You can use this twitter tool to participate in an ongoing conversation - for example, there are many scheduled Twitter chats.
A Twitter chat is when people are on Twitter at the same time discussing an agreed upon topic and using a particular hash tag.
An example of this would be #ideachat - which is a monthly discussion about ideas and usually involves an expert or author.
On the second Saturday of every month, people log onto Twitter and converse with one another by including the #ideachat tag in each tweet.
Then they watch what other people are saying, comment, ask questions etc.
You can see their conversations by visiting TweetChat and entering the hash tag #ideachat at the top.
Create Your Own Conversation: You can create your own conversation by choosing a hashtag.
No one owns hash tags, just check and see if the one you want to use has been used in the last month or so.
If it hasn't, you can 'claim it' and start using it - and you can use TweetChat to check, just enter the tag at the top and see what shows up.
It's a good idea to do a quick search on Twitter too, just in case.
Once you select your hash tag, you put it in your own tweets, invite people to participate and you can share a conversation.
(If this is all still unclear to you, the best thing to do is participate in a chat and see how it works.
) Give Participants A Place To Connect: If you regularly lead teleseminars or do something like online radio interviews, you can offer a hash tag for your listeners to interact with one another and share some of the information they learn from you with the rest of the twittersphere.
It's a great way for people to see a tweet with the hash tag on it and check it out.
They may end up following you, joining in the conversation, and then even heading to your website to find out more.
Give Participants A Way To Interact With You: During teleseminars or online radio interviews, if you use a hash tag and share TweetChat with your listeners, they can post questions and interact with you during the call or interview.
It gives them a way to feel like they are participating more and being heard, and it lets you address what they want to know without having to open noisy call-in phone lines.
Follow What People Are Sharing Or Share Yourself: You can also use TweetChat to watch what people are sharing and add your own information to the mix.
For example, many people share music on Mondays - the hash tag is #musicmonday.
You can share your own musical interests, or see what others have posted.
(You can also do this kind of a search within Twitter or another twitter client like Hoosuite, TweetChat is best used for conversational purposes, but you can do this if you like.
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