Real-time engagement through social media Q&A sessions can be a great way to connect with your audience in a unique way. Social media Q&A sessions take place during a live webinar and allow audience members or those watching at home to ask questions via social media and get direct responses from those answering the questions. Hosting a Q&A session on Twitter is an effective way to get your brand’s message out there and can be used for anything from launching a new product to promoting a great campaign to introducing a personality to your community.
Social media Q&A sessions can be highly valuable opportunities that allow attendees and viewers to deepen their understanding of a speaker’s topic or connect the speech to specifics in day-to-day routines. It is a relatively easy and low cost mechanism to reach and engage with your followers, but it does require some considered planning.
There are many major benefits that come from hosting a social media Q&A session. The first benefit is the two-way conversation between the speakers and the audience. Instead of just feeding information to the audience, the audience is able to ask what they want to know. Interacting with the audience directly makes the conversations authentic and valuable.
Another benefit to online Q&A sessions is that they pump up your audience and get people excited. A live Q&A session will invigorate your audience. Since the audience gets to directly interact, people feel included, listened to, and understood in a way that almost nothing else can achieve.
Social media Q&A sessions can also be beneficial when trying to promote your brand. You have to be careful about promoting during a webinar, but it is much easier to promote during your answers to questions. If someone asks a question that can better be answered by the product, you can point the audience member to a link to the product.
While social media Q&A sessions can be very beneficial, it is important that they are done the right way. There are a few key aspects to consider when creating a social media Q&A session.
First, it is extremely important to pick the right timing for the Q&A session. Timing is crucial, so you should pick a time when your audience is most online and active. Check insights to see when your audience is most engaged online, and check other Twitter chats and Q&As in your industry to see what time they are happening.
Hashtags are key when you are hosting a Q&A session. The hashtag is how the audience will engage in the Q&A session. Decide on an easy-to-use and recognizable hashtag that will catch people’s attention and accurately sum up what the session is about. You need to ensure that your hashtag is informative so that anyone who stumbles across your tweets during the Q&A can immediately understand what is happening. It is important that you keep your hashtag concise so that followers will have space to include it with their question. Also try keeping it under ten characters.
Once you have your Q&A session planned and ready to go, you should promote shamelessly. Make sure you tell your audience about your Q&A session. Post about the session, include the time and date, and indicate what topics will be covered. Don’t forget to include your great hashtag in all of your posts about the session! Posts should alert people to the event a week before it is scheduled to happen, and then you should alert them again on the day of and during the event. Make sure it is ingrained in their memory! Post on all of your social media accounts, not just Twitter. Include information about it on your websites and email lists. The more you promote, the more successful your event will be!
