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Three Ways To Make Your Twitter Party Not Suck

Previously I wrote that Twitter Parties Are Stupid. Well, they don’t have to, and if you don’t think of them as a sales tool I suspect they’re just fine. Here are three ways to make your Twitter Party not suck.

1. Don’t have one. If you don’t have a twitter party it won’t suck. Plan some time to discuss a topic, or learn something new. If my only party invitation for the week is to a twitter party, I just might off myself.

2. If you must have a twitter party, allow the brand to host. I adore Jyl and #gno twitter parties are the only reason anyone would ever try one. Jyl saw a need, filled a void and then invited brands to join in. Why isn’t the brand at the party? If you’re crayola and you want Jyl’s audience (and trust me they do) why wouldn’t you be there? With every sponsored event I’ve been to in real life, a brand representative has been present. Is your twitter party hostess your brand representative? You’re doing what has the potential to be a very personal event, be there. Be personal, it’s social media, be social.

3. Do something with the hashtag. Hashtag.org is a fantastic place for marketers. It is not a destination for shoppers. I get that y’all want to show that you got something to “trend” but twitter is not a place where content lives on. Twitter is the phone company, once it’s said it’s out there and can be morphed, but it certainly isn’t crawled by the search engines (well Bing does have one cool thing..) so why would you work so hard to get everyone to say a brand name only to have it disappear with a *poof*. If you want a hashtag to have legs, add it other places. Have the participants post their favorite tweets on their own sites the following day, do something, make it last. Yes, I do have the answer to this problem, but I can’t give you everything for free, can I?

If you don’t know what a Twitter Party is, consider yourself lucky. Basically there’s a host(ess) and a topic and a brand. They pick a set period of time and everyone talks about the topic and the brand for an hour or gawd forbid two. Do not let anyone try and convince you it’s part of a larger marketing plan, it is not. Marketers did not come up with this, they just pay off unsuspecting women with small bits of cash so they’ll continue their unpaid evangelism.

15 thoughts on “Three Ways To Make Your Twitter Party Not Suck”

  1. Your post makes sense in so many ways, especially the part about ” twitter is not a place that content lives on.”

    I was thinking about hosting a Twitter party for the launch of my new humor site next year, but I don’t feel it will be worth the time and effort.

    You do give genuine advice and in case you haven’t been told, thanks.

    Hugs and Mocha,
    Stesha

  2. Jessica,

    I love step 1. Don’t have a Twitter Party. I think twitter is a good tool to utilize bringing people together, but I dont feel like Twitter itself is a reason for a party. I want to know what i’m accomplishing by attending an event. The last tweetup that I attended that I knew wouldn’t just be visiting with friends was a Muroc event in Dallas to support some movie promotions, and there was a real purpose behind the event.

    Does Twestival count as a tweetup? ;)

  3. Good tips, though an organization that partners with Jyl/#GNO is going to get more participants than they would on their own in most cases.

    Your points about hashtags and going beyond the one-night stand mentality are important ones.

    Like you, I have more to say on this, but I’ll save it for the paying customers. :-)

  4. Commercials disguised as parties? Sounds like Pampered Chef and those candle/basket gatherings I used to get invites to back in the states. Around here sex toy parties are all the rage judging from the number of business cards I see on bulletin boards where mommies gather.

    I participate in discussions and in short fiction exchanges via #tags, but the content is usually off Twitter via links. “Chatting” on Twitter is too much work and why do women not see that being paid in trinkets is not really being paid?

  5. I guess I was one of the lucky ones, I didn’t know what a Twitter party was. I was curious after I saw you tweet that Twitter parties suck and someone replied that you were pissing in Cheerios (I’ll never eat Cheerios again after that comment). Luckily the drug companies haven’t jumped on the Twitter party bandwagon. Can you picture me touting the benefits of Zithromax on Twitter? On second thought, a Twitter party for Cialis could be extremely entertaining!
    Thanks for the post!

  6. I would like to say that last night’s #momsrock party was quite a success. Moms Rock the Economy is all about showing support for mom owned businesses. Not just mom-made… but mom owned. We have lawyers, accountants, passion party hosts, knitters, artists, marketing specialists, web designers… All Moms!

    I was thrilled to see so much networking going on beyond the #momsrock directory! My pet project will be highlighting a new Mom That Rocks each week. Really excited.. in case you can’t tell! :)

    Twitter parties can get annoying… but some… like this one… have a cause.

  7. I’ve participated in a couple #GNO parties and didn’t quite see the novelty, except the one that Guy Kawasaki participated in. He answered my questions. The ladies? Too busy to be social, I guess.

  8. #Xanax??? Why didn’t I think of it before? ;) Account execs, watch out! I’ve got some serious pitching to do (for the mere pennies I make, apparently!).

    In the meantime, we’re focusing on a little awareness raising this week and talking about how to help kids succeed at school. I know, it’s no wine without calories, but it may actually make a difference! And… to your point… OfficeMax will be in the house. :)

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