By Sandra Balzo
When my publisher, Severn House, asked me if I'd be willing
to participate in a Twitter Chat last month, I said, "You bet!"
Then I–a former publicist–promptly went online to find out what the heck a
Twitter Chat was.
I have issues
with Twitter. A 140-character maximum? I mean, really? I write books for
a living, remember?
Happily, Severn 's publicist, Alexandra, walked me through the
process. She'd be hosting the chat, which would last a mere 45 minutes. Heck, I
could survive anything for 45 minutes, right?
Alex went on to
explain that she'd start things out and then invite others to chime in. Still,
I didn't quite understand the nuts and bolts. How would people know this was
happening in the first place? And once they did, how did they
"attend"?
Turned out the
"how" was Twitter and social media, of course. Severn
tweeted the chat's date, time and hashtag and I did likewise, as well as put it
on Facebook, Linked In, Goodreads, etc.
As for how people
"attended," at the appointed hour they would simply search the
hashtag "#severnchat" to see the associated tweets and, in turn,
include that same tag in their own tweets.
Alexandra also
directed me to the site www.tweetchat.com.
At the top of the home page I would be able to enter #severnchat, hit
"go" and voila: All of the #severnchat tweets
would show up as they came in, without the clutter of other tweets. Plus, the
hashtag would automatically be added to my tweets so I wouldn't have to bother.
The night of the
chat, I poured myself a glass of red wine, sat down at my computer and
dutifully signed into TweetChat. Moments later, Alexandra popped up to let me
know she was there. Then a few more people chimed in, and we were off to the
races.
Alexandra had
warned me that it's easy to get frazzled and overwhelmed, so I just tried to
answer each tweet as it came in even if questions and answers overlapped. All
in all, I had multiple questions from nine or ten different people--plenty to
fill the fastest 45 minutes of my life and allow me to deem my first Twitter
Chat a success.
The chat was both
fun and frantic. My one and only disappointment was there's no way of knowing
who followed the discussion unless they actually spoke up.
That aside, I'd
definitely recommend a Twitter Chat as an effective way of connecting with
readers. Even better, the chat can be archived on something called
"Storify." That means that while your chat ends after 45 minutes,
your ability to use it for promotion goes on and on.
In fact, you can put
the link on your website, Facebook and various author pages, Linked In, or . .
. a guest blog! :-)
______________________________________________________________________
Sandra Balzo is an
award-winning author of crime fiction, including nine books in two different
mystery series from Severn House--the Wisconsin-based Maggy Thorsen Mysteries
and Main Street Murders, set in the High Country of North Carolina and
featuring journalist AnnaLise Griggs.Balzo's books have garnered starred
reviews from Kirkus and Booklist, while being recommended to readers of Janet
Evanovich, Charlaine Harris, Harlan Coben, Joan Hess and Margaret
Maron.
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Welcome back to Southern Writers Magazine's blog, Sandra. I'm so glad you gave us your experience with your Twitter Chat. Merry Christmas and I can't wait to read your latest book in 2013.
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